Television and Social Behavior; Reports and Papers, Volume I: Media Content and Control

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 059 623 EM 009 664 AUTHOR Comstock, George A., Ed.; Rubinstein, Eli A., Ed. TITLE Television and Social Behavior; Reports and Papers, Volume I: Media Content and Control. INSTITUTION Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior,Washington, D..C. PUB DATE Apr 72 NOTE 556p.; See also EM 009 435, EM009 665,EM009 666, EM 009 667, EM 009 668 AVAILABLE FROM Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Of fice, Washington, D.C. 20402(DHEW Pub. No. HSM 72-9057) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$19.74 DESCRIPTORS *Commercial Television; Content Analysis; Environmental Influences; *Programing (Broadcast) ; Program Planning; Role Perception; Social Behavior; *Television Research; *Television Viewing; Viewing Time; *Violence ABSTRACT Six studies and an overview focus on the amount and character of the violence portrayed on television (TV), the circumstances and milieu in which this violent fare is created, and the formal and informal influences which affect the selection and prohibition of TV content. The overview serves as an introduction to the six studies and summarizes their emphases and findings. In the first study, Gerbner analyzes and compares the programming of 1969 with that of 1967 and 1968, dealing with the quantity and quality of v3olence. In the second study, Clark and Blankenburg examine violence on TV and match their results against various measures of environmental violence. Greenberg and Gordon obtained data on what is perceived as violence in the third study, and Cantor discusses the factors influencing the selection of content for children's programs for the fourth study. In the fifth study, Baldwin and Lewis report on how top professionals responsible for producing adult drama perceive their role in regard to violent content. The final study consists of reports of four social scientists on TV violence in the United States, Great Britain, Israel, and Sweden. (Author/SH) 54-444`fg; Publications of the Television and Social Behavior Program Report of the Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committeeon Television and Social Behavior Media Content and Control (Reports and Papers, Volume 1) Television and Social Learning (Reports and Papers, Volume 2) Television and Adolescent Aggressiveness (Reports and Papers, Vol- ume 3) Television in Day-to-Day Life: Patterns of Use (Reports andPapers, Volume 4) Television's Effects: Further Explorations (Reports and Papers, Vol- ume 5) Television and Social Behavior: An Annotated Bibliography of Re- search Focusing on Television?s Impacton Children For sole by the Superintendent of Documents, 15.8. Government Printing Office, Washington,D.C. 20402 411. (NJ TELEVISION AND wSOCIAL BEHAVIOR REPORTS AND PAPERS, VOLUME I: MEDIA CONTENT AND CONTROL A TECHNICAL REPORT TO THE SURGEON GENERAL'S SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TELEVISION AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS SEEN REPRO. DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG- INATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN- IONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDU- CATION POSITION OR POLICY Edited By George A. Comstock end Eli A. Rubinstein Editorial Coordination: Susan Lloyd-Jones U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Health Services and Mental Health Administration Notional Institute of Mental Health MOO Fishers Lane Rockville, Maryland 3 Staff Members Eli A. Rubinstein Vice Chairman, Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee George A. Comstock Senior Research Coordinator John P. Murray Research Coordinator Michael Adler Staff Assistant Eileen Marchak Research Assistant Susan S. Lloyd-Jones Editor Joseph D. Reck ley Administrative Officer Margaret D. Salladay Secretary Laura A. De Lisi Secretary Former Staff Members Douglas A. Fuchs Senior Research Coordinator (through 6/70) John P. Robinson Research Coordinator (through 9/70) Harold Leigh Administrative Officer (through 10/70) Thomas Brubeck Information Officer (through 5/71) Deborah Cutler Research Assistant (through 8/70) Jan W. Lipkin Secretary (through 4/70) Advisory Committee Members 1ra H. Cisin Charles A. Pinderhughes Thomas E. Coffin Ithiel de So la Pool Irving L. Janis Alberta E. Siegel Joseph T. Klapner Anthony F. C. Wallace Harold Mendelsohn Andrew S. Watson Eve line Omwake Gerhart D. Wiebe PREFACE This document is one of five volumes of technical reports resulting from a broad scientific inquiry about television and its impact on the viewer. In the spring of 196e, by Congressional request, the DHEW ini- tiated a special program under the general auspices of a Surgeon Gener- al's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior. The major emphasis was to be on an examination of the relationship between televised violence and the attitudes and behavior of children. During the ensuing two years, more than fifty scientists participated directly in this program of research and produced over forty scientific reports. The reports which are included in these five volumes are the independent work of the participating r.:Isearchers. These results have all been made available to the Scientific Advisory Committee as evidence from which the Committee could then evaluate those findings and draw its own conclusions in the preparation of its own report. However, this work is of significance in its own right and is being published independ- ently as source material for other researchers and for such interest as the general public may have in these technical reports. In any broad scientific undertaking of this nature, where many individuals are involved , a careful balance between collaboration and independence of responsibility must be established. During the two and half years that this program of research was active, a constant effort was made to protect the scientific independence of the individual investiga- tors and, at the same time: 1) to foster both cooperation and exchange among the researchers, 2) to develop as much of a total program structure as possible, and 3) to permit maximum communication and feed- back among the researchers, the full-time staff responsible for planning and implementing the total research program , and the Scientific Adviso- ry Committee responsible for the final assessment andevaluation of the research. This is not the place to describe in detail how that balance of collaboration and independence was established and maintained.I believe, however, that these five volumes of technical reports provide an accur- ate and meaningful indication of our success in achieving the goal. The reports themselves are the products of the respective authors. They have been edited only to insure some comparability of format and to delete any excessive redundancies in review of the literature or intro- ductory material. In some instances, where a report seemed initially too long the author was requested to reduce the report without deleting any critical material. All editing done by staff was submitted for the author's approval. We believe the result has made each of these five volumes a more readable and integrated totality than would otherwise be expected iv from a collection of research reports produced under the timecon- straints of this program. In each instance, the integration of the five volumes was further established by the inclusion of an overview paper which attempts to summa- rize and relate the papers in that volume. These overview papers are also the independent work of the respective authors. It would be difficult to convey to the reader the extraordinary efforts required by all participants in this research program to bring the endeav- or to its published conclusion within the time allotted. Despite that time pressure, these volumes demonstrate an unusually high level of both productivity and quality for an area of research which has had more than its share of complexity and controversy. In addition to the work of all persons directly engaged in this program, a very large number of individuals at one time or another provided advice and guidance to the researchers, to the stall, and to the Scientific Advi- sory Committee. It would be impossible to provide a complete list of these additional consultants. The total count is in the hundreds. While their names are not visible in these products, their counselwas often a very significant factor in the course of an individual piece of research or in a decision on the direction of the research program. To all those individuals, this program owes a special debt of gratitude for the collective wisdom made available to us. And finally, on behalf both of the members of the Scientific Advisory Committee and of the staff who served the program,I wish especially to express much appreciation to the participating researchers who did the work and wrote the reports that contributed the new knowledge con- tained in these volumes. Eli A. Rubinstein Vice-Chairman, Surgeon General's Sciendfic Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior 6 Contents Page New Research on Media Content and Control (Overview). George A. Comstock 1 Violence in Television Drama: Tivnds and Symbolic Functions. George Gerbner 28 Trends in Violent Content in Selected Mass Media. David G. Clark and William B. Blankenburg 188 Perceptions of Violence in Television Programs: Critics and the Pub- lic. Bradley S. Greenberg and Thomas F. Gordon 244 The Role of the Producer in Choosing Children's Television Content Muriel G. Cantor 259 Violence in Television: The Industry Looks at Itself. Thomas F. Baldwin and Colby Lewis 290 The Structure and Content of Television Broadcasting In Four Coun- tries: An Overview. Michael Gurevitch 374 The Structure and Process of Television Program Content Regu- lation in the United States. George Gerbner 386 Television Programs in Great Britain: Ccntent and Control (A Pilot Study). James D. Halloran and Paul Croll 415 Structure and Content of Television Broadcasting in Israel. Dov Shinar 493 Television in the Socialization Process: Structures and Program- ming of the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation.

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