THE FIRST AMENDMENT

"Congress shall Why make no law respecting an Censorship Won'1i establishment of religion, or S1iop Violence prohibiting the by exercise thereof; Judith Levine or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble."

Prepared for The Media Coalition, Inc. TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 1

I. The Social Science 4

1. VIOLENT CRIME 5

2. INDIVIDUAL AGGRESSION 8

r 3. MISINTERPRETING REALITY 16

II. How Not to Stop Violence 19

1. GOVERNMENT REGULATION 19

2. CENSORING KIDS 23

ill. The Real Causes of Violence

and Crime 29

Iv. How to Help Kids Be Smart

Media Consumers 34

1. ADULT GUIDANCE 34

2. VOLUNTARY RATINGS 35

3. MEDIA LITERACY 38

Conclusion 40 ©Copyright 2000 The Media Coalition, Inc. 139 Fulton Street Endnotes 42 Suite 302 New York, NY 10038 212-587-4025 Acknowledgments 48 [email protected] www.mediacoalition.org

NOTICE: Material in this report is protected by copyright. It may, however, be reproduced or quo�ed with appropriate credit. Psychological Association have declared that TV, film, music and video games teach casual atti­ tudes about belligerence and aggression toward others. The government has launched a fleet of study commissions, all starting from the same premise.2 Unsupported and hyperbolic claims fly. "The entertainment industry gets away, literally, with murder," said House Judiciary Committee INTRODUCTION: Chairman Henry Hyde (R-ill.), introducing a far­ The Media as Scapegoat reaching violent-content regulation bill. Even some scholars have thrown away their customary link From the catastrophic bombing in caution and represented the between media Oklahoma City to shootings in workplaces, res­ and violence as a scientific certainty. Testifying taurants and places of worship, America has before a Senate committee shortly after Little­ recently witnessed a number of extraordinarily ton, social psychologist L. Rowell Huesmann of dramatic crimes. The most alarming have been the University of Michigan compared the "risk" shootings by students at schools, culminating in of exposure to media to smoking in causing can­ link the April 1999 multiple murders at Columbine cer. Of the evidence of a causal between High School in Littleton, Colorado. media violence and real violence, the American Such crimes are extremely rare. "The The debate is Psychological Associa­ chances [of a fatal school shooting] are literally marked by wild tion's spokesman stated, one in a million," said Northeastern University hyperbole: The "To argue against it is like criminaljustice scholar James Alan Fox. One media 'are arguing against gravity. "3 irony of the debate over violent media is that it getting away, Responding to occurs at a time when the violent crime rate has literally, with what they claim to be fallen dramatically. Violent crime is now at its murder,' said the will of the people, lowest level since 1973.1 Nevertheless, violence Henry Hyde remains a serious problem. lawmakers have proposed If tragedies like the Columbine shootings restrictions on a vaguely were to spur an honest national search for the and broadly defined category of ''violent" media In deeper causes of violence and a true commit­ content. June 1999, Chainnan Hyde proposed ment to real prevention and child protection, prohibiting the sale or distribution to minors of this dark cloud would indeed have a silver lining. books, magazines, recordings, video games or Unfortunately, the opposite is happening. The Web pages with "obscenely violent" content, Littleton shootings have occasioned a frenzy of including "sadistic or masochistic flagellation" sensationalist journalism and opportunistic poli­ and "torture." Booksellers and other retailers ticking from both right and left. In the rush to could have been sentenced to ten years in jail for assign blame for the alleged epidemic of youth violating the ban. Hyde's was only one of 44 violence, one supposed culprit has been repeat­ amendments on cultural issues brought to the edly singled out: the entertainment media. House floor in three days. Another bill, also Relying on old and controvertible defeated, called for a rating and labeling system evidence, professional groups including the for all media under the purview of a committee American Medical Association and American of bureaucrats at the Federal Trade Commission.

2 1 It imposed a civil fine of up to $10,000 on retail­ ers who broke the law. In the end, the House defeated both proposals. But they quietly approved many others and passed a resolution calling on Congress to "do everything in its power to stop these portrayals of pointless acts of brutality by immediately eliminating gratu­ itous violence in movies, television, music and I. video games." It remains to be seen what "every­ thing in its power" will mean. THE SOCIAL SCIENCE: Although parents have told pollsters Studies Don't Support the they want something done about violence in the Conclusion That Media Cause media, they are often wary of governmental solu­ Real-life Violence tions. For instance, since V chip-equipped televi­ sion sets became available in the summer of 1999, consumer response has been cool. "I don't know "It seems obvious to many people that how the V chip works," one father said, "But I watching violent programs or engaging in violent don't really trust that someone else is going to games would make children aggressive," Univer­ have better judgment than we will."4 As this sity of Toronto research psychologist Jonathan father suggests, Americans may be less eager Freedman testified in October 1999 to the House than they seem to let lawmakers whittle away Bipartisan Task Force on Youth Violence. But our democratic freedoms and parental preroga­ what appears to be true is not always true, he tives on the dubious premise that laws restrict­ noted. "The earth is not fiat, the sun does not ing children's access to violent content will revolve around the earth. Staying in bed for as is somehow protect them from future Littletons. long as possible not the best way to recover Before taking such drastic steps, it from surgery, crazy people are not inhabited by all behooves us to re-examine the "incontrovertible" evil spirits ....Scientific research has disproved social-science data on media and on violence. We of these obvious facts."6 must also look hard at the problems inherent in Contrary to the claims of politicians and such restrictive policies and weigh their hoped­ pundits, the experts do not agree on the "obvi­ for benefits against the costs they could exact ous fact" that violent content in media causes on kids, families and the body politic. • real-life violence. "What is most striking," wrote a committee of the New York City Bar Associa­ tion that looked at a sample of the 20,000 to 30,000 scientific references to aggression and violence, "is how little agreement there is among experts in human behavior about the nature of aggression and violence, and what causes

humans to act aggressively or violently. "6 Although it has dominated recent public conversation, the social science used to support claims of a relationship between media content and real violence is weaker than many would

4 3 suggest. It falls almost exclusively into one minor out of thepublic library.9Video games have become area of research psychology. Of the 20,000 to a $6 billion industry, with rentals increasing 50%, 30,000 references mentioned above, which to $804 million, from 1997 to 1998 alone.10 include theoretical, empirical, and analytical Aside from the increase in the number work in criminology, sociology, biology, and other of media products and outlets-Web sites, TV disciplines, this group of psychologists has pro­ channels, movies and games-some surveys duced only 200 to 300 original studies. The vast show that there is more violence in these prod­ majority of those 200 to 300 studies concern ucts than in the past. According to the 1998 television, and many were conducted decades University of California/SantaBarbara's National ago, before academics had developed a sophisti­ Television Violence Study, the percentage of pro­ cated understanding of how people interact with grams from 1994 to 1997 that contain violence media. Indeed, some of the most authoritative during prime time rose 14% on network TV and work on the causes and preventives of violence 10% on cable. (Studies conflict, however; some regards the media as such a minor factor that it report drops in media violence during the same isn't mentioned at all. In Understanding and periods while others find rises.)11 Preventing Violence, its highly regarded 1993 But allstatistics on crime point in the compendium of biological, psychological and same direction. Violent crime by both adults and social science research, the National Research youth has declined dramatically in the 1990s. Council devised a matrix of "risk factors for vio­ Between 1993 and 1998, according to the lent behavior." Among the scores of social and National Crime Victimization Survey of the U.S. individual factors were poverty, access to wea­ Justice Department, violent crime rates fell 27% pons, communications skills, drug use, and neu­ and property crime rates dropped 32%. That rep­ robiological andgenetic traits. Exposure to violent resents the lowest level recorded since the sur­ 2 entertainment media was notably absent. 7 vey's inception in 1973.1 Violent crime committed Shooting the Messenger will begin, by children and teens is at its lowest since 1987 then, by looking at the broader social trends that and has fallen 30% from 1994 to 1998. The arrest belie the claims of a link between "bad" media rate for weapons violations amongjuveniles also and high crime rates in America. The report will saw a 33% drop between 1993 and 1998.13 And then tum to the psychological studies commonly school violence-fights, injuries andweapons car­ invoked to support restrictive social policy and ried through the doors-has been falling steadily point out their numerous shortcomings. since 1991, according to studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.14

1. VIOLENT CRIME: HOMICIDE RATES "No doubt violence on television and in the ARE UNRELATED TO MEDIA CONSUMPTION. movies heightens aggression among some people some of thetime, " the eminent criminologist James

In America in the 1990s, a time Q. Wilson commented. "But we have virtually no of astonishing media proliferation, evidence that it affects the serious crime rate."16 violent crime has fallen. There is no correlation between

Today, 98% of American homes have a TV the rates of television viewing and set, and 40% have three or more; VCRs are a fea­ homicide in the industrialized ture in 84% of American households.8 Twice as nations during the period after II. many videotapes arerented daily as books checked World War

6 5 In 1949 fewer while the number of TVs climbs with regularity, than 10% of American A cross-national the crime rates rise and fall irregularly in each homes had a television. study linking country throughout the period.18 Centerwall's At the turn of the 21st rising TV own­ thesis failed to pass its own test and was, quite century, as noted, almost ership with simply, demolished. everyone has at least one rising crime set. Maybe it's logical that was demolished Countries with less media-but the tube has been blamed by America's more poverty and political repres­ for just about everything preeminent sion--often have more crime. that's gone wrong in the criminologists last half-century. One Machete hackings in Rwanda, lethal researcher who set out stoning of women under Afghanistan's Taliban, to prove this culpability was University of murder and kidnapping in Colombia, street crime Washington epidemiologist Brandon S. in Haiti-in these countries, people have had lit­ Centerwall. And as recently as 1999, he was tle exposure to media. More plausible reasons for being quoted in such influential publications as this violence are political and religious strife and the Senate Judiciary Committee's report on chil­ repression, drug trafficking and poverty. dren and violence, which elevated his conjecture to a "finding": "[If] hypothetically, television tech­ 2. INDIVIDUAL AGGRESSION. nology had never been developed, there would be 10,000 fewer homicides each year in the In his testimony to Congress, Toronto's United States, 70,000 fewer rapes and 700,000 Jonathan Freedman stated that a thorough fewer injurious assaults. Violent crime would be review-in-progress of the new studies about the half what it is."16 Centerwall extrapolated these relationship between media and real-life violence estimates from figures of TV ownership and has reinforced his conclusions of a decade earli­ homicide in four countries after World War II. er: "The research demonstrates either that Three of the nations enjoyed steady rises in TV media violence has no effect on aggression, or ownership during the period, but in the fourth, that ifthere is an effect, it is vanishingly small."19 South Africa, televisions were banned until 1975.

Using South Africa as a control, he concluded Short-term laboratory and con­ that "the introduction of television [into Canada trolled field experiments: insignifi­ and the U.S.] caused a subsequent doubling of cant and contradictory results, [their] homicide rates."17 overblown conclusions. 20 Centerwall's sweeping claims drew much criticism, but the most devastating rebuttal came Laboratory experiments measure re­ from criminologists Frank Zimring and Gordon sponses to contrived stimuli in controlled environ­ Hawkins, both of the University of California's ments. From them, social scientists have gathered Earl Warren Legal Institute. Using Centerwall's the strongest evidence that after witnessing an methodology, they continued to chart TV owner­ intentionally harmful act in a movie or on TV, a ship and lethal crime in Centerwall's four coun­ person is more likely to act harmfully. After tries for the years following his inquiries, and watching a filmof a teacher kicking a blow-up they added postwar statistics for France, Bobo doll, children battered Bobo, too. Students Germany, Italy and Japan. On these graphs, who watched boxing films were more willing than

7 8 those who didn't to administer shocks to an errant encourage pro-socialbehavior can also disinhibit research assistant. In other studies, people who aggressive behavior." They cite one study conduct­ watched media with violent content responded to ed in the late 1970s, in which the aggressiveness questions about hypothetical provocative situa­ of a group of normally pacific preschoolers tripled tions, and, more than those in the control group, after watching Sesame Street andMr: Rogers."IA imagined themselves striking or punishing others. But the further you mov.e from the her­ Video games do not "teach kids to as metic atmosphere of the laboratory, the weaker kill," retired Army Lieutenant the links between media and aggression become. Colonel Dave Grossman claims. In fieldexperiments-where the stimulus is con­ The much-quoted Grossman, leader of trolled, but the reaction is recorded in such nat­ ural settings as a school or hospital-the results his own invented academic discipline of "killolo­ have been less clear than in the lab.21 Lab and gy,"26 expresses opinions; he does not report short-term field studies sufferfrom many of the social scientific findings. Perhaps the largest same problems. investigation ever of video-game play, and partic­ ularly of aggressive content in games, was a

Watching fictional violence may recently completed four-year study by the excite the viewer, but not necessar­ Australian government. Its conclusions contra­ ily to aggression. dict Grossman's claims. Watching children and teens in arcades and at computer screens, Experiments on the effects of adrenaline researchers witnessed "high levels of ertjoyment," have found any activity that stimulates this fight­ excitement, challenge, friendly competition, and or-flight hormone, whether watching an exciting much laughter and talking. "Verbal or physical aggression toward others was negligible," the TV show or riding a stationary bicycle, will increase just about any feeling or behavior the report said, and what there was came softened main researcher tests for, whether it is generosity, by joking. "The type of aggression was punitiveness or anger.22 Criminologists Zimring robust treatment of the equipment."2eAustralians and Hawkins suggest that when the child punch­ play the same video games as Americans. if es the Bobo doll, he could simply be exhibiting Even you looked to commercial video excitation, or "physical tension and the need to games for killing lessons, they wouldn't help you. discharge it," with "no important link to the pro­ "I don't see how anyone would learn to fire a pensity to commit a serious assault on another weapon accurately from these games without Krisak, human being." The catharsis of hurting the doll some form of mentoring," said Colonel Ron could even lessen the likelihood of taking out who conducted firearms training at Fort Dix.27 any frustration against another person.23 The main problem with lab and con­

The same aggression can be aroused trolled field experiments is that they by "good" media or "bad" media. tell us little about real life. They don't replicate the real viewing, lis­ tening or game-playing experience. "It is seldom acknowledged," wrote behavioral scientists Kenneth Gadow and Joyce In Spratkin in one review of the major field studies, order to test one factor at a time in ''that television programs specifically produced to the lab, investigators screen only one class of

10 9 shows or games-say, very violent or not at all other kids. They found that the boys who played violent-to each group of subjects within a short violent video games moved about rowdily and period of time. This makes sense from the point treated the toys roughly, more than those who of view of experimental efficiency and purity, or played nonviolent video games. But neither "elegance." But this is rarely the way media are group bashed other children. Still, the research­ used. In real life, a video garner may desire the ers concluded that violent video games caused kill-or-be-killed thrill of Quake II for 20 minutes, "aggression. "28 University of Utrecht communica­ then feel like rebuilding civilization with Civiliza­ tions scholar Jeffrey Goldstein pointed critically tion. He's also probably playing with other kids, to this conclusion as typical of much work in the joking, competing, commenting and resting. field. "What the researchers actually found," he Similarly, a violent TV show is interrupted by said, "was an increase only in harmless aggres­ commercials, channel surfing, chats with family sion against objects, most likely the result of members andtrips to the kitchen. All these increased excitement generated by the aggres­ activities alter the messages, mood and effects sive video game. "29 of the media experience. Most studies of media violence and

The acts that measure aggression in its effects measure these correla­ tions out of context, that is, without an experiment are not the same as hurting another human being. the meanings and values surrormding what children watch or how they play. For obvious ethical reasons, these stud­ ies can measure nothing more than behavior One of the main theories undergirding toward inanimate objects or an unseen or hypo­ the research in this field, as well as most com­ thetical person. As a result, the subject can mon sense thinking, is "social learning" the idea behave sadistically with no real-life inhibitions. that a child who sees a Halloween movie or plays Even preschoolers know that the Bobo doll, Quake will adopt the attitudes and imitate the unlike little Jennifer or Jamal, feels no pain when behaviors portrayed on the screen. At least since they punch it. Equally important: Bobo doesn't Albert Bandura's famous Bobo doll experiments punch back. Such studies may even subtly elicit in the 1960s, an oversimplified interpretation of meanness in their subjects. The child in the social learning theory has trickled down through study not only knows she will escape punish­ the ranks of research psychologists to the news­ ment, she might even conclude that the adult hour talking heads and to frightened parents: kicking the doll or showing a violent film Monkey see, monkey do. approves of bad behavior. Thus, she may imitate A big piece of social learning theory is the behavior to please the experimenter. left out of this interpretation: the larger world Psychologists call this a sponsor effect. of relationships and meanings in which the child Despite the fact that experiments mea­ views a show, associates the images in it with sure aggression toward objects and imaginary things he knows and feels, and behaves when people, not real people, researchers commonly the picture is turned off. This is the context. infer that aggressive play with toys shows a ten­ The first part of the context of media dency to be aggressive toward people. In 1995, violence is what happens inside the story and for instance, Irwin and Gross had boys play video how the story is told. Most studies of the "inci­ games and then play both with toys and with dence" of violence in the media are nothing more

12 11 TV than a tally of scenes of force wielded with the that will determine how they react once away intent to hurt. Such "neutral" bullet-counting from the screen. "31 implies that the effect of seeing any scene of force-from a Roadrunner cartoon to a Termina­ Studies of long-term effects: "mixed tor film-is to inspire enthusiastic approval or and unimpressive results,"32 more blase dismissal of violence. The point is not that conflicting interpretations. such portrayals have no emotional or intellectual impact. Rather, the meaning of violence depends Every critical report of violence in the largely on the context-whether the violence is media trots out terrifying numbers about how rewarded or punished, banal or calamitous, many thousands of simulated acts of murders humorous or serious. And while reactions to a and mayhem a child witnesses during his forma­ given scene vary from person to person, the con­ tive years. These statistics imply a scary chain text affects every viewer and determines of events: each bloody scene etches a lesson whether she comes away scared, angry, amused, in the child's brain. Impression is laid upon excited or altogether unaffected.30 impression, so that eventually any values of The other part of context is the human peace and compromise are crowded out by the environment in which a child consumes media. maxim that might makes right. The next time In a letter to the Britishjournal The Psyclwlogi,st, the child witnesses a bully pushing around a psychologist Anne Sheppard suggested that smaller kid, he won't intervene. If someone aggressive behavior regularly elicited in the lab challenges him, he'll put up his dukes. Over might be hard to create in everyday family life. time, the fear is, the media will desensitize him "Unlike the experimenter, some parents have to belligerence by others and disinhibit him strategies for coping with their children's behav­ from resorting to it himself.33 ior after viewing violent TV, such as Power Some kids spend great amounts of time Rangers," wrote Sheppard, in front of various screens. It is understandable who carried out five years that parents worry that over time, this experi­ The context of of research on the effects ence could turn their children into surly or hurt­ media images ful of TV on children. "They people. However, science does not support affects whether alter the antecedent and/or this fear. a viewer comes reinforcement conditions, away scared, so that unacceptable be­ Even the most-respected longitudi­ angry, amused havior is either not dis­ nal and cross-cultural studies do or bored played or is not encour- not support the claims made for aged." In other words, them about the long-term effects parents talk to their children about whether of TV-viewing on kids' aggression. attacking your little sister with an AK-47 (or even kicking her in the shins) is the way to re­ One of the most ambitious and frequent­ solve a dispute about who gets to ride the new ly cited longitudinal studies assessed groups bike. And if the child does kick his sister, the of boys and girls ages 9 to 11 from the U.S., parents chastise him. "Social learning theory also Finland, Poland, Australia, Israel and the emphasizes the importance of cognition on be­ Netherlands over six years in the 1970s and havior," Sheppard continued. "It is the meaning early '80s. This work, steered by research that children construct from what they see on psychologists Leonard Eron and L. Rowell

14 13 Huesmann, yielded much useful information dren without fathers, poor children, children who about the relationships among such factors as lived in families and with peer groups in which parental punishment, socioeconomic status, aggressive behavior was normative andchildren intelligence, television viewing and aggression.34 whose parents disciplined them with physical But contrary to the American authors' punishment."But allthat manipulation yielded claims, the study did not provide convincing evi­ "only tiny, statistically insignificant" numbers indi­ TV dence that watching more violent TV contribut­ cating any relationship between exposure to ed to children's antisocial behavior over time and violence and antisocialbehavior. "Television view­ was in different countries. In the U.S., the correla­ ing not a factor in the development of aggres­ tions showed a small increase. In Finland, the sive behavior among the children in the sample," correlations for boys increased, then decreased, the authors concluded. 38 then increased again; for girls, they decreased, 3. MISINTERPRETING REALITY. increased, then declined again. In Poland, the graph was similarly bumpy. CommentedUniver­ sity of Toronto psychologist Jonathan Freedman, Correlation is not causation. "There is no discernible pattern in the changes. "35 All the political arguments for restrict­ link Over many years, it is nearly impos­ ing media because of a purported between sible to isolate television or games media violence and real violence are based on as factors that make a child aggres­ studies finding a correlation between the two sive. Other researchers find other phenomena. But correlation is simply two conditions or personality traits things happening in proximity, at the same predominating. time, in the same person or people. One of those things does not necessarily cause the The Dutch researchers in the study other. The alarm clock ringing at six a.m. does above strongly dissented from the claims of Eron not cause the sun to come up. In fact, deter­ and Huesmann. When they took away the effects mining when correlation can be read as causa­ of low intelligence and the propensity to aggres­ tion is a crucial and controversial issue in sion that some kids displayed at the debut of the every science. "Causality is very hard to study, they found, "the relationship [between TV prove," explains Carole Vance, professor of and aggression] disappeared almost completely."36 anthropology and Director of the Program for Another study considered state-of-the-art the Study of Sexuality, Gender, Health and in design and method37 came to conclusions that Human Rights at Columbia University's were almost exactly the opposite of Huesmann's Mailman School of Public Health. and Eran's. Psychologists J. Ronald Milavsky and Horst Stipp assessed more than 3,000 Midwestern "Correlation is a firststep, likea red flag, students over three years. "Measures of violence of a possible relationship that's worth exposure were conceptualized in eight different investigating. After that, many research ways" (realistic shows versus cartoons, high levels designs that go beyond correlation are of violence versus low levels, etc.). "Effects were organized. These better studies feature sought among every different theoretically plausi­ prospective, longitudinal designs and ble subset of the sample, such as children who designs that try to avoid various biases had a history of prior aggressivebehavior, chil- that can produce apparent but mistaken

16 15 causality. Only after many, many studies Henry Jenkins, director of the Compa­ have been done, by different investiga­ rative Media Studies Program at the Massachu­ tors, using different designs, with many setts Institute of Technology, explained the arguments about possible other explana­ Columbine shooters this way to the U.S. Com­ tions for the relationship, is causal rela­ merce Committee in a hearing on youth violence: tionship even plausible." "Far from being victims of video games,

The social science data gleaned over Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had a 40 years are remarkably similar. complex relationship to many forms What varies is the significance of popular culture. They consumed attributed to very small numbers. music, films, comics, video games, tele­ vision programs. All of us move After several studies, the evidence of a nomadically across the media land­ correlation between media andviolence is still scape, cobbling together a personal weak. Therefore, a causal relationship isn't plau­ mythology of symbols and stories sible. The body of data is compromised in other taken from many different places. We ways, too. Studies that find a "null" effect-that invest those appropriated materials is, neither a positive or a negative effect-tend with various personal and subcultural to be published in obscure journals, if at all, and meanings. Harris and Klebold were are excluded from reviews and analyses. That drawn toward dark and brutal images skews the "average" effect upward.311 Pointing to which they invested with their person­ what he has called this body of "pathetic" evi­ al demons, their antisocial impulses, dence, Toronto's Freedman cautioned his col­ their maladjustment, their desires to leagues not to leap to conclusions: hurt those who hurt them. "So far, most of the conversa­ "Some of those who read the available tion ...has reflected a desire to under­ research carefully may conclude that the stand what the media are doing to our effect probably exists. Otherswill find children. Instead, we should be focusing that they are unable to make a reason­ our attention on understanding what able guess, and still others will be led to our children are doing with media. "41 think that watching TV violence proba­ bly does not affect aggression. But the Inconclusive and controvertible data, research has not produced the kind of much of which does a crude job of describing a strong, reliable, consistent results that complex and poorly understood social process, we usually require to accept an effect should not be the basis of highly consequential • as proved. "40 public policy.

Even the best studies looking for a straight line between what we watch and how we think or act are of limited use. They vastly oversim­ plify the ways we live in the media environment.

18 17 Judges have been repeatedly uncon­ vinced that the claimed harms of violent images and words are demonstrably real and that the proposed regulations would alleviate them. "Every court that has addressed this issue has held that violent content is Constitutionally protected speech," noted Michael Bamberger, one of the country's preeminent First Amendment laWYers.44 II. Supporters of laws that restrict minors' How Not to Stop Violence access to sexual media have argued that when the safety of children is at stake-"if just one 1. GOVERNMENT REGULATION: NO LAW child is saved"-some speech is expendable. A ABRIDGING MEDIA WITH VIOLENT CONTENT Constitutional right is abstract, they say, while violence is real. This argument comes up against IS GOOD LAW.42 the many different meanings of violence, the role of government in a democracy and the false Increasingly, laws regulating the distrib­ promise that censorship protects children. ution to minors of media containing "gratu­ itous," "excessive" or "obscene" violence are Content regulation immediately coming to the floors of state legislatures and founders on a fundamental problem: Congress. Whenever such bills have become You can't distinguish the "good" vio­ law, however, civil libertarians have challenged lence from the "bad" violence. them as violations of the Constitutional right to free speech. Each time, the judges have sided Often, violent-media regulation is with the laws' challengers. Given the fundamen­ deemed unconstitutional on the grounds that it tal importance of protecting even the vilest, is too ''vague"-that is, a reasonably intelligent most abhorred speech in order to safeguard citizen can'tfigure out when she's about to break democracy, the courts have imposed an the law, and a government official has too much extremely high standard of proof that such leeway to decide she has broken it. "protective" legislation actually is protective, Which, for example, would you want the and protective from actual harms. The Supreme government to find "excessively," "gratuitously" Court wrote in Turner Broadcasting System or "obscenely" violent? The tale of a man who Inc. vFCC: kills his father,has sex with his mother, and then gouges out his own eyes? That's Sophocles' "When the government defends a regula­ OedipusRex. How about Shakespeare's Titus tion on speech as a means to ...prevent Andran'icus, in which two rogues murder a man, anticipated harms, it must do more than rape his wife, hack off her hands and tongue, and simply posit the existence of the disease then are avenged by her father, who slits their to be cured. It must demonstrate that throats, pours their blood into the bowl held the recited harms are real, not merely between his daughter's stumps, butchers them, conjectural, and that the regulation will grinds their bones, cooks them and feeds them to in fact alleviate these harms in a direct their mother? The originalFaust, published in and material way. '"13 1587, climaxes when the Devil rips the doctor's

19 20 soul from his body, splatteringflesh and brain. It does not help to eliminate words Fairytales, too, are routinely peppered with dis­ such as "excessive" or "gratuitous" memberment, arson, and child and animal abuse. and define violence "neutrally." According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs' "Merchandizing Mayhem," a sur­ Two "child-protective" billsintroduced vey of the incidence of violent scenes in popular in Congress in 1993 defined violence as "any act culture in 1998, the top-grossing film with the that has as an element the use or threatened use most scenes of "serious violence" was the of physical force against the person of another, Academy Award-winning Saving Private Ryan. or against one's self, with intent to cause bodily In fact, this film accounted for fully 30% of all harm to such person or one's self." Using that such scenes on the big screen that year. Could definition, Ken Burns' Civil War and the Three the same artistic goals have been achieved by Stooges could be found harmful to minors, as a less graphicfilm? Maybe. But perhaps the intense well as the National Football League games and, realism of the violence was necessary to portray as a committee of the New York City Bar Associ­ the sacrifices the ation argued, "an overwhelmingly large percent­ Allied troops made to age of our culture."46 Are the scenes defeat fascism during Pondering the obstacles to regulating of bombs and World War II. violence in media, Chief Judge Harry Edwards blood in Saving Or consider of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington Private Ryan the video game War in D.C. Circuit wrote that he could conjure no def­ 'good' violence Heaven, an advertised inition of violence that would safely guide regu­ or 'bad' violence? "Christian"product, lators to "distinguish between harmless and in which players take harmful violent speech," or "fix rules designed the part of either angels or devils, brutally smit­ to ferret out gratuitous violence without run­ ing their enemies in a fight to the finish. War in ning the risk of wholesale censorship of televi­ Heaven is no more or less violent than many sion programming."46 parts of the Bible itself. Free-speech advocate Jim d'Entremont Suppressing media is an improper notes that "films that are reviled for their vio­ way for government to protect citi­ lence-like Bonnie and Clyde, The Wild zens from crime. Bunch, Carrie, Natural-Born Killers, or InBill v Superior Court (1983) a Basketball Diaries-are often films that cri­ tique the violence that our society foments." mother sued the producers of the "gang movie" These films depict "bad" violence to demon­ Boulevard Nights for liability in the death of her strate the evils of violence. Which is to say, daughter, who was shot while walking from the violence in these films is used in the service theater to the bus stop after the film. The plain­ of the good. tiffclaimed the :filmmakers were negligent in fail­ Inevitably, judgments about what is ing to provide audiences protection from antiso­ good and bad violence are matters of taste and cial types the movie would attract, people who individual morality. Defining bad violence, said might feel inspired to perpetrate a copycat crime Motion Picture Association of America Presi­ after seeing violence on screen. dent Jack Valenti, is "like picking up mercury The California appellate court stated with a fork." that such liability would have a chilling effect

21 22 In the late 19th century Anthony on any other producer who might depict such Comstock, chief special agent of the New York subject matter, though no one could know what Society for the Suppression of Vice, pored over effect it might have on a particular viewer. In irummerable moral "traps for the young" that ordering a summary judgment in favor of the were a staple of middle-class households-half­ producers, the judges defined the role of the dime novels, "story papers" and even the daily state as follows: newspapers.49 The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children "kept a watch­ "When speech is of such a nature as to ful ey� upon the so-called Museums of the City," arouse violent reaction on the part of the whose advertisements were "like magnets to lawless, the first obligation of the govern­ curious children." According to one society ment is to maintain the peace and enforce report, a play featuring "depravity, stabbing, the law ... not to silence the speaker."47 shooting, and blood-shedding" so traumatized a

2. CENSORING KIDS: CRACKING DOWN ON 10-year-old girl that she was found "wander[ing] YOUTH CULTURE DOESN'T PROTECT KIDS. aimlessly along Eighth Avenue as ifincapable of ridding herself of the dread impressions that had In The In May 1999, shortly after the Littleton, filled her young mind."60 a 1914 issue of Agnes Repellier, a popular conservative Colorado, murders, a North Carolina high-school Atlantic, student typed the words "The end is near" on a essayist, inveighed against the film and publish­ computer screen as a joke about millennial mad­ ing industries "coining money" by creating a gen­ ness. Another student saw the message, called it eration sophisticated in sin. She may have been the first essayist to propose a governmentally a threat, and the school agreed. The boy was run rating system, asking "the authorities" to bar expelled for a year, then arrested. After three nights in jail, he was found guilty in state court. minors "from all shows dealing with prostitu­ His original 45-day jail sentence was suspended, tion."51 (Today that category would include films In but he was penalized with 18 months of proba­ like Pretty Womanand TradingPlaces.) the 1920s and '30s, jazz came under attack, in the tion and 48 hours of community service. A 13- '50s, comic books were regulated, and in the year-old student in Texas fulfilled an assignment 1960s, rock and roll was to write a "scary story." His story mentioned the shooting of real people. He was arrested and In the 19th decried as a source of the century, plays evil that produced every­ jailed for six days.48 In the Denver area, schools featuring thing from premarital banned black trench coats, because the Columbine shooters and their friends were 'depravity, sex to resistance to the known to wear them. shooting, and Vietnam war. blood-letting' Today, these These excessive sentences and overre­ were called examples seem prudish, actions to teenagers' behavior not only violate the Constitutional rights of minors, they also 'magnets to quaint, or simply wrong. curious children' What is outrageous in one contribute to kids' disaffectionfrom school and era is ho-hum in another. the law. As child protection, they are useless, But the generation gap has been around for at and may even be counterproductive. least two centuries. Since there has been any­ thing resembling youth culture, adults have been Every generation wants to protect its children from "corrupting" culture. exercised about its forms of expression. Frank

23 Sinatra called Elvis Presley's music ''the most People want a safe space to explore the more brutal, ugly,desperate, vicious form of expression depressing aspects of the world they live in. They it has been my misfortune to hear," and ''the mar­ don't want to feel guilty for not being happy all tial music of every... delinquent on the face of the time, they don't want to be told to get on the earth." Today's generation of parents blamed Prozac, and they don't want to force themselves heavy metal and rap music for young people's to put on masks for the benefit of the people suicide and alienation in the 1980s; video games, around them. "113 The journal of Columbine shoot­ Internet chat rooms, raves and other aspects of er Eric Harris opened with the sentence: "I hate youth culture have all come under fire in the '90s. the fucking world." He also hated, among numer­ As technology gallops forward, with kids confi.­ ous other people and things, slow drivers in the dently at the reins,adult technophobia has fast lane, the WB network, Tiger Woods, and, if become outrage. Adults often attempt to censor, his suicide is a clue, himself. Did The Cure or not only what kids see and hear, but increasingly, Nine Inch Nails make those goths depressed? Did what they say and create. a neo-Nazi Web site teach Harris to hate every­ body? Will prohibiting sales of CDs or blocking Censoring "ugly" or disturbing Internet sites to minors cheer up unhappy kids, images and words won't make kids or tum a boy like Eric Harris into a peacemaker? safer, but could endanger them. "When people want to censor material that they find vile or violent or disturbing, it's as Advocates of censorship say that shield­ if they think all the emotions that give rise to the ing children from certain words and images pro­ interest in [those materials] will go away," said tects them. In fact, it can endanger them. For David Sanjek, director of the BMI Archives and a instance, Internet filtering software installed in former educator. A lot of what attracts kids to the computers of New York City's public schools horror movies or hostile lyrics, he said, is "trying has blocked students' access to Web sites about to deal with issues of power" central to growing breast cancer, child labor, anorexia and safe sex. up and making it in school. "A child isn't going to High-school students cannot call up information give up his desire to destroy what has power about diabetes among black and Hispanic teens over him ifyou don't let him go see a Freddy because the relevant sites mention erectile dys­ Krueger movie," Sanjek added. function.52 Such "protection" will only diminish kids' ability to keep themselves healthy and to The media provide symbols for kids' participate intelligently in a complex world. expression, and outlets to fantasize away aggression.

Blotting out "bad" media won't make bad fe elings go away. A rap song about a murder is not a mur­ der, a heavy metal song about suicide is not self­ A student of Henry Jenkins at MIT who annihilation. The cross-dressing Marilyn Manson had been a goth formany years described what is not a seducer. When he snarls at the Church, that identity,with its black clothes andtaste for he's not burning a cross. As MIT's HenryJenkins macabre music, meant to her. "In high school, told Congress, kids know that pop culture per­ before there was even the label goth, some of the formers are putting on an act, playing a part-a disenfranchised youth started to hang out togeth­ part that offers a sublimated outlet for the audi­ er to give ourselves a safe place to be depressed. ence's anger at authority or ambivalence about

25 26 sexuality or organized religion. Similarly, no only fuel the trade in fake identification, and killing is going on in the killingrooms of Doorn. other forms of subterfuge. It could also backfire The video game instead gives kids a play space in anotherway. Said one 14-year-old interviewed to work out fantasies of destruction without by TheNew York Times, "Ifyou put more destroying anything but pixels on a screen. restrictions on [a movie], kids will just want to go even more."69

Entertainment media such as video games have other positive uses. Kids have Constitutional rights too.

In more literal ways, video gamescan be "Minors are entitled to a significant mea­ therapeutic. Psychologists have taken advantage sure of First Amendment protection, and only in of thestate of "relaxed alertness" induced by games relatively narrow and well-defined circum­ to treat attention deficit disorder, depression and stances may government bar public dissemina­ anxiety54 and to rehabilitate people with brain tion of protected material to them," observed injuries.66 And they're educational. Video games the Supreme Court in 1957.80 This is still true.61 hone logic and coordination skills. Players com­ Whatever you think of what kids are watching, monly achieve the highly pleasurable combina­ listening to or saying, they have a Constitutional tion of deep concentration and intellectual mas­ right to it. And curtailing anyone's rights threat­ tery called "flow." That, plus the motivation to ens everyone's rights.• win, puts players in an optimal frame of mind for learning-anything from the Highway Code for drivers58to safe-sex negotiation.01 In fact, video gaming is positively associated with higher IQs: Kids with higher scores play video games more.58

Prohibition provides fertile ground for illegal activity.

Prohibition turned out to be one of the biggest social-policy mistakes of the 20th centu­ ry. The popular demand for liquor created a booming black market. This gave the burgeoning American Mafia a leg up in business, created a wave of violent crime and made every social drinker a criminal. Especially because the evidence is so weak that violent content in the media presents a danger to kids, crackdowns on access may do children more harm than good. Do we really want them to have to break the law to see a movie with violent content like a classic John Wayne movie or Schindler's List? Some critics have suggested that such enforcement might

28 27 Bernard Friedlander, now retired from the University of Hartford, applied an apt name to these interactions: the "ecology of violence."64

Family dysfunction. The research linking family troubles with child aggressionM and adult crime is voluminous. In a summaryof the literature, Julie Withecomb, a III. forensic child and adolescent psychiatristfrom the The Real Causes of U.K., named poor family functioning and socioeco­ Violence and Crime nomic status as "two of the most important factors in the genesis of aggressive behavior in the majori­ This report cannot begin to survey the ty of individuals." Depressed and neglectful par­ causes of man's inhumanity to man, which has ents, frequent and exaggerateddiscipline, parental been the subject of scientific, philosophical and strife and battering, andphysical or sexual abuse artistic inquiry for centuries. Nor can it offer the instill suspicion, self-loathing and anger in a child. last word on why America has the highest rate of These can produce a hair-trigger temper and a violent crime in the industrialized world.62 It can, tendency to tum to violence.66 Young murderers however, attempt to put the alleged role of the frequently report they have been abused.67 Family media into perspective. The roots of individual structure in itself, such as single motherhood, does aggression and high rates of violent crime are not predict children's aggression, however.158 deep and complex, historical, cultural, economic and personal. Poverty. "Poverty itself does not explain much of

Multiple factors: the "ecology the variance in violent behavior," argued Eron, of violence." Nancy Guerra and Huesmann in 1997. "However, "The truth is no one factor by itself pre­ each of the accompaniments of poverty probably dicts aggressiveness very well," wrote Eron and contributes its own effect-homelessness, over­ Huesmann. Although these two are the most­ crowding, lack of opportunity, economic depriva­ cited proponents of the theory that television tion. And these then interact with the biological can cause aggression, they never suggest fiction­ and psychological factors, e.g., low birth weight, al images are solely or independently culpable. neurological trauma, learning disorders, bad socialization practices of parents, etc."69 "To understand the development of The results speak for themselves. In 1991, aggression, one must examinesimultane­ a third of jail inmates were unemployed prior to ously a multiplicity of interrelated social, being locked up, and a third had annual incomes cultural, familial and cognitive factors, under $5,000.70 Historically, high unemployment each of which adds onlya small increment and high crime go hand in hand. "Murder peaked to the totality of causation. It is unrealistic in the Depression in 1933 at 9.7 homicides per to expect that any one of these factors by 100,000," Nat'ion columnist Alexander Cockburn itself canexplain much about aggression. pointed out. Meanwhile, recent substantial drops But in conjunction with each other they in adult crime have coincided with the longest

may explain a lot about aggression. "83 economic expansion in American history.

30 29 Poor education. Institutions and Alternatives. The most reliable According to the Sentencing Project, correlate to violence is the number of men, ages 65% of state prison inmates in 1991 hadn't com­ 18 to 34, in a given area.77 pleted high school.71 Among prison inmates 25 and older, a full 40% couldn't read or write.72 Biology. Poor education contributes to poor parenting, Limited intelligence or learning disabili­ which can lead to childhood aggressiveness and ties, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses later criminal behavior. sometimes contribute to violent behavior. Early, more deterministic theories of the genetic caus­ Failure to communicate. es of criminality have been supplanted by re­ The cultivation of what psychologist cent neuroscience that explores the complex Daniel Goleman calls "emotional intelligence" is interaction between body and environment not just a yuppie parenting trend. It can be an throughout a lifetime.78 For instance, a recent antidote to violence. In a Times/CBS New York study found that early brain injuries may inhibit poll of 1,083 teenagers in October 1999, the most a person's ability to make moral decisions later frequently cited cause of school violence was on, even if he or she is raised in a stable home "pride/being made fun of." The second cause was and educated well. 79 "people don't get along/argue. "73 That jibes with research about violent delinquents. Such kids, Guns. especially if they have been themselves abused, Guns may explain homicide trends over may be constantly on guard for slights and chal­ time. Historians believe that during the 19th cen­ lenges. They may even be certifiably paranoid. tury, at least some cities had more crime than Abused children also tend to use fewer words to they do today.80 But there were fewer murders express their feelings. "This impaired emotional then, simply because assailants used knives or expression may result in children acting out clubs, which usually didn't kill the victim. their distress as violence."74 Criminologist Zimring argued that the mini-wave of youth homicides in the 1980s was not the Gender. work of a burgeoning generation of remorseless Although America has seen a slight "superpredators," but an artifact of the number increase in violent crimes by women, you could of semiautomatic handguns on the street and say that violence isn't an American problem, it is their employment in crimes related to a brief but an American problem. Ninety percent of male viciously destructive period of high crack murderers are men, as are 99% of rapists.75 cocaine use.u Almost every study linking media consumption Gun ownership may also account for with increased aggression sees such effects in America's extraordinary lethal-crime rate. An boys far more than in girls, if effects are illuminating study published in TheNew observed in girls at all.76 England Journal of Medicine compared crime rates of Seattle, Washington and neighboring Age. Vancouver, British Columbia from 1980 to 1986. "Crime rates increased in the 1960s as The cities are fraternal twins-residents' baby boomers hit their crime-prone teenage incomes, education and ethnic backgrounds are years, but it has been essentially stable since almost identical; they watch the same TV chan­ then," according to the National Center for nels. Overall crime rates were almost the same in

31 32 the studied period; exist­ ing gun laws were strictly 'If you punch enforced in both cities. me in the fa ce, But the rate of assaults I get a bloody involving firearms was nose,' say s one seven times higher in violence expert. Seattle, and the risk of "If you shoot being murdered by a hand­ me in the fa ce, rv. gun 4.8 times higher. Why? I die' Because Vancouver's gun How to Help Kids Be restrictions were far more Smart Media Consumers stringentand firearm ownership was lower, the researchers concluded.82 1. ADULT GUIDANCE. Jens Ludwig, a political science profes­ sor at Georgetown University, described the rela­ Most Americans agree that decisions tionship between guns and crime this way: "The about what we or our children see and hear availability of guns doesn't affect the rate of should be made by consumers, not by the govern­ crime, but it affects the rates of crimes commit­ ment. Yet many parents feel unsure about their ted with guns, and therefore the rates of lethal ability to take a strong hand in influencing their crime. If you punch me in the face, I get a bloody children's viewing, listening and playing habits. nose. If you shoot me in the face, I die."• Parents are actually more powerful mediators of the popular culture than they imag­ ine. In Eron and Huesmann's cross-cultural study of TV effects in thel970s, there was one sample of children among whom the effects [of violent content on television] were particularly weak­ the kids growing up on Israeli agricultural collec­ tives, or kibbutzim. The reason: When the kids watched TV, the adults talked with them about the content of the shows, including the social costs and meanings of violence. At the same time, cooperative behavior was rewarded and competition and fighting were condemned on the kibbutz. Any values communicated by television were understood in the context of the communi­ ty's values. Some families' values dictate that there will be no television in the house at all, no Nin­ tendo, no VCR. The kids may watch TV or play video games at their friends' homes, they may complain-but they also seem to find other ways of amusing themselves. But the majority of American families don't opt out of entertainment

34 33 technology in the home. For them, the common­ nudity, sensuality, language, drug use, etc. The sense notion is that the best way to guide kids' current movie rating categories are "G: General media consumption is to do just that: take note audience. All ages admitted;" "PG: Parental guid­ of what they're watching, help them understand ance suggested. Some material may not be suit­ it and set limits. But a thoughtful investigation of able for children;" "PG-13: Parents strongly cau­ the effects of family interaction on children's tioned. Some material may be inappropriate for experiences of television by researchers at the children under 13;" "R: Restricted. Under 17 University of Hartford and Yale's Family Tele­ requires accompanying parent or adult guard­ vision Research and Consultation Center found ian;" and "NC-17: No one 17 and under admit­ that it's not enough to prohibit shows you don't ted." Advertising for rated motion pictures, like. It's not even enough to watch with your kids including trailers, must also be approved and the and comment on the shows. "All categories of rating included. According to a 1999 opinion family talk about television are not associated poll, more than three-quarters of American par­ with positive outcomes for heavy viewers of tele­ ents find the movie rating system either "very vision," the researchers commented. "It is moral useful" or "fairly useful."84 judgment and explanation about issues present­ ed on television, rather than the simple act of Television. underliningor pointing out content in a neutral In 1993, the four major broadcast-televi­ manner, that characterizes the families of chil­ sion networks initiated the Advanced Parental dren who are skilled at comprehending several Advisory Plan, the legends that air on the screen aspects of the medium. "8.1 In other words, say before a show that contains sexual or violent what you think and keep saying it, irritating as content. The networks also reprogrammed their your kids may find it. schedules to air less violent shows in prime time. The following year, they agreed to conduct joint­ 2. VOLUNTARY RATINGS. ly an annual qualitative assessment of violence in programming. Shortly thereafter, the major cable Although there is no substitute for networks signed on as well, as part of their watching a program or looking over your kid's Voices Against Violence initiative.116 In 1997, the shoulder while he plays a computer game, rating broadcasters devised a more detailed system to systems can help adults and kids make choices work in concert with the V chip. about which entertainment they should con­ sume. Since as early as the 1930s, media makers Audio recordings. have written and administered their own volun­ The Recording Industry Association of tary ratings systems. America licenses a sticker for sound recordings, reading "Parental Advisory/Explicit Content."

Movies and videotapes. Use of the stickers is entirely voluntary. Re­ The Motion Picture Association of cording companies and their artists decide when America's current rating system was introduced it is appropriate to apply the sticker. The Na­ in 1968, replacing the highly restrictive Hayes tional Association of Recording Merchandisers Code. The rating board, whose members all have has worked with the RIAA to improve and stan­ parenting experience and whose demographics dardize the Parental Advisory logo. NARM offers reflect the country's, uses a number of criteria to music retailers free posters and counter cards evaluate a movie's content: theme, violence, that describe the program. Retailers voluntarily

36 35 display the items in stores to help parents under­ a Conunitment to Parents under which retailers stand the program. The way retailers choose to are encouraged to uphold the organization's rat­ use the program are as diverse as the communi­ ing system and agree not to sell computer or ties in which stores are situated. Some retailers video games rated Mature to persons under the sell no stickered product; some have an 18-to­ age of 17, unless they are accompanied by an buy policy, and some simply display and sell the adult. Products rated as Adults Only will not be recordings with the sticker as they would any sold to persons under the age of 18. other recording. In 1999, President Clinton and the National Association of Theater Owners (which

Video games. represent the proprietors of about two-thirds of The Interactive Digital Software movie screens in America) unveiled a plan that Association empaneled an Entertainment requires teenagers to show photo identification Software Rating Board in 1994 to review and for entrance to R-rated films. These voluntary rate interactive entertainment software. Its vol­ programs help parents exercise control over the untary ratings, praised by Senator Joseph movies and video games their children have ac­ Lieberman (D-Conn.) as the "most comprehen­ cess to, while emphasizing the need for parents sive system of any entertainment medium in this to take responsibility for what their children country," designate games this way: EC: content watch and play. suitable for everyone 3 or older; E: suitable for everyone 6 or older; T: suitable for people 13 and 3. MEDIA LITERACY. older; M: for mature users (17 and older) and AO: for adult use only. The ratings are comple­ A year or so ago, a New Yorker cartoon mented by short phrases that explain the con­ showed a computer scientist at her workstation tent of the video game. telling a colleague, "I have in mind a V chip to be implanted directly in children." In fact, such a is Voluntary industry efforts "chip" can be "implanted" in a child-and it far on ratings enforcement. more sensitive than any computer technology. It For many years, the Video Software is called media literacy, the skills of viewing Dealers Association has promoted a program media critically through an understanding of called the Pledge to Parents, to educate parents their methods and messages and the way they fit about motion picture and video game ratings and in with the larger culture. Along with educating to help ensure that children do not rent or buy kids in these skills, we can cultivate their ethical material their parents deem inappropriate. Un­ and aesthetic discretion in makingjudgments der the program, participating retailers agree not about what they see and hear. Media literacy and to sell or rent R-rated movies or M-rated video moral judgments are learned at home, in the games to persons under 17 without parental con­ community and in school. sent. Following the Littleton shootings, the Media literacy is now being taught in VSDA re-emphasized this program to retailers classrooms from kindergarten through graduate and the public.86 The Entertainment Software school. All use the insights and methodologies of Rating Board has supplemented the Pledge to a new scholarly discipline, cultural studies, to Parents program with a high profile campaign to understand texts from car ads to political cam­ encourage parents to use the ratings when paigns, hip-hop songs to sports. Critical con­ selecting games. In addition, the ESRB initiated sumption of media doesn't mean just talking

38 37 about what you like or dislike, or rejecting all the stuffteachers don't like, said Teachers College assistant professor James Albright. "Without be­ ing a wet blanket, we want students to get some distance on what they're reading and watching," said Albright. "It's easy to critique things that offend us. But we want them to look at the con­ struction of pleasure, too-how their pleasures Conclusion: are being mobilized by the culture." Media litera­ cy helps students identifythe "pre-existing The Cure for Problems meanings" packaged in the media they receive, Created by Speech Is More Speech, said Albright. "Then we want them to ask, What Not Censorship other meanings can we bring to this?" •

Our society achieves order by giving our elected government the authority to protect us by prohibiting acts we agree to be harmful, such as theft, rape or murder. But we achieve freedom by allowing the widest variety of beliefs to :flour­ ish. Unique to our democracy is the supreme respect we hold for the opinion of the minority, even a minority of one. The Bill of Rights pro­ tects every individual from the potential tyran­ nies of the government. It is hard to balance order and free­ dom in a democracy. The challenge is to guard this high principle, freedom of expression, while living with masses of "low" speech­ hateful language, disturbing art, ideologies preaching destruction. The number andvari­ ety of media products makes this challenge even greater. In the 21st century, the media are the air we breathe; we can hardly imagine politics, art or even religion without the media. In such an envi­ ronment, it is as crucial to debate the meanings andconsequences of the stories we show, sing and It is hard to send through cyberspace balance order as it is to grapple with the and freedom in threat of violent aggres­ a democracy sion in a country where weapons are plentiful.

40 39 These debates should rage in our schools and neighborhoods, in our families and where entertairunent and news are created. But the decisions about what to see, hear, say or think are far too personal and important to be made by a chip or a bureaucrat. The way to fight offensive speech is not to yield to fear and silence it, but to meet it with more and different speech, informed speech, critical speech. Only in Endnotes a robust intellectual and political exchange will we find answers to the violence that threatens INTRODUCTION our nation and the world. •

1. Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey, press release NCJ 176353 (Washington, D.C.: July 1999). 2. At this writing, the White House and Congress have an­ nounced the formation of such bodies in congressional com­ mittees, Federal Trade Commission, the Surgeon General's office, the National Institutes of Health and the National Academy of Sciences. One ad hoc panel of experts from inside and outside governmentis to be called the TaskForce on the State of AmericanSociety. Its subject has repeatedly been referred to as "the decline of American society." 3. Lawrie Miffiln, "Many Researchers Say Link Is Already Clear on Media andYouth Violence,"New York Times (May 9, 1999). 4. Catherine Greenman, "The V Chip Arrives With a Thud," New York Times (Nov. 4, 1999): Gl.

PART I

5. Jonathan Freedman, Testimony to the House Bipartisan TaskForce on Youth Violence, Washington, D.C. (Oct. 13, 1999). 6. Committee on Communications andMedia Law (Associa­ tion of the Bar of the City of New York), "Violencein the Media: A Position Paper," TheRecord 52 (Apr. 1997): 284. 7. National Research Council, Albert J. Reiss and Jeffrey A. Roth, eds., Understanding andPreventing Violence (Washington,D.C.: National Academy Press, 1993): 20. 8. Nielsen Media Research, 1998, 1999. 9. Valerie Fahey, "TV by the Numbers,"Health (December/ January, 1992): 35. 10. Sharon R. King, "Video Game Industry Makes Push at Self-Policing," New York Times (Oct. 12, 1999). 11. The Center for Media and Public Affairs, tracking of an 18-hour period on 10 broadcast and cable channels in 1992, found violence of all kinds, from fictional to cartoon to news

41 42 reports and movie promotions. Overall, the researchers Research" (Washington, DC: Interactive Digital Software recorded 1,846 violent scenes. 'I\vo years later, they tracked Assn., 1998). a 41% rise in violent scenes, to 2,605. Violence in promotion­ 21. Gadow and Spratkin, op cit. al spots for upcoming shows and movies also increased, by 22. Marcia Pally, Sex and Sensibility excerpts on televised 69%. However, during that same period,from 1992 to 1993, violence (New York: Ecco Press, 1994), typescript, 15. "serious" violence and gunplay in prime-time network pro­ 23. Zimring and Hawkins (1997):131. gramming declined substantially, according to the National 24.Gadow and Spratkin, 401-2. Television Violence Study. Joel Federman, ed., National 25. The currentstar of this particular show is self-styled Television Violence Study, (Santa Barbara: University of inventor of the theory of "killology" Lieutenant Colonel Dave California, 1998). Grossman, who files from coast to coast telling parents that 12. Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization video games "teach" children to kill. Grossman and Gloria Survey, press release NCJ 176353 (Washington, D.C.: July DeGaetano,Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill (New York: 1999). Crown Publishers, 1999). His contentions are unsupported, 13. Justice Department, Office of Juvenile Justice and and often contradicted, by evidence. See, e.g. Australian min­ Delinquency Prevention, press release (Washington, D.C.: isters study, at note 28. Nov. 23, 1999). 26.Australian Commonwealth, State andTerritory Ministers, 14. Nancy D. Brener et al. "Recent Trends in Violence­ "Computer Gamesand Australians Today" (Sydney, Australia: Related Behaviors Among High School Students in the 1999) United States," Journal of the American Medical 27. United Press International (Aug. 18, 1999). Association (Abstracts Aug. 4, 1999). 28. A. 1rwin and A. Gross, "Cognitive Tempo, Violent Video 15. Frank Rich, "Washington's Post-Littleton Looney Toons," Games, and Aggressive Behavior in Young Boys," ERIC New York Times (June 19, 1999). Document Reproduction Service No. EJ523517 (1995). 16. Orrin G. Hatch and Senate Judiciary Committee, 29. Goldstein, op. cit. "Children, Violence and the Media: A Report for Parents and 30. For a critique, see, Dale Kunkel, et al. "Measuring Policy Makers," (1999): 4-5. Television Violence: The Importance of Context," Journal of 17. Brandon S. Centerwall, "Television and Violence: The Broadcasting and Electronic Media 39 (1995): 284-91. Scale of the Problem andWhere to Go From Here," JAMA 31. Anne Sheppard, "Social Leaming and Video Games," let­ 267 (1992): 3059-63. ter to The Psychologist (November 1997). 18. Franklin E. Zimring and Gordon Hawkins, Grime Is Not 32. Freedman (1984): 243. the Problem: Lethal Violence in America (New Yo rk: 33. For a summary of research supporting this point of view, Oxford University Press, 1997): 238-47. see Stacy L. Smith and Edward Donnerstein, "Harmful 19. Freedman, Testimony to House Bipartisan Task Force Effects of Exposure to Media Violence: Leaming of (1999). Aggression, Emotional Desensitization and Fear," Human 20. The general critiques in this and the next section are Aggression: Theories, Research, and Implications for drawn largely from Jonathan Freedman, "Effect of Television Social Policy (New York: Academic Press, 1998): 167-202. Violence on Aggressiveness," Psychological Bulletin 96 Other social psychologists describe the social-learning (1984): "Television Violence and Aggression: What process in a slightly different way. They say viewing violent Psychologists Should Tell the Public," in P. Sudefeld and P. E. fictions contributes to the formation of general "scripts" that Tetlock, eds. Psychology and Social Policy (New Yo rk: come to dominate a child's imaginative resources. These Hemisphere, 1991): 179-89; William J. McGuire, "The Myth of scripts tell the child that confiict is to be dealt with using vio­ Massive Media Impact: Savagings and Salvagings,"Public lence, not words of reconciliation. L. Rowell Huesmann and Communication and Behavior 1 (1986): 173-257; Kenneth Laurie S. Miller, "Long-termEffects of Repeated Exposure to D. Gadow and Joyce Sprafkin, "Field Experiments of Media Violence in Childhood," in Huesmann, ed., Aggressive Television Violence With Children: Evidence for an Environ­ Behavior: CurrentPerspectives (New York: Plenum Press, mental Hazard?"Pediatrics 83 (March, 1989): 399-405, 1994): 153-86. Robert M. Kaplan and Robert D. Singer, "Television Violence 34. The various findings and interpretations of this study and Viewer Aggression: A Reexamination of the Evidence," have been widely published, e.g., L. Rowell Huesmann and Journal of Social Issues 32 (1976): 35-70. Kevin Durkin, Leonard D. Eron, "The Development of Aggression in "Computer Games: Their Effects on Yo ung People" (Sydney: Children of Different Cultures: Psychological Processes and Office of Film and Literature Classification, 1995); Jeffrey Exposure to Violence," in Huesmannand Eron, eds. Goldstein, "Video and Computer Games: An Update of Televisionand the Aggressive Child: A Cross-National

43 Comparison (Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1986): 1-27. Review 89 (1995): 1487. 35. Critiques include Freedman (1984) and Jo Groebel, "Inter­ 4 7. Bill v. Superior Court, 137 California Appellate 3rd,at national Research on Television Violence: Synopsis and Cri­ 1008-1009. tique," in Huesrnann and Eron, eds. (1986), op. cit.: 259-281. 48. Freedom Forum On Line (www.freedomforum.org) 36. 0. Wiegman, M. Kuttschreuter andB. Baarda, "A Longi­ "Outrages" (November 1999). tudinal Study of the Effects of Television Viewing on Aggres­ 49. Anthony Comstock, Trapsfor the Young (New York: sive and Prosocial Behaviors," British Journal of Social Funk &Wagrutlls, 1884). Psychology 31 (1992): 147-64. 50. Fifteenth Annual Report, Case 39,591 (New York: New 37. T.D. Cook, D.A. Kendzierski, andS.V. Thomas, "The York Society for the Preventionof Cruelty to Children, 1890): Implicit Assumptions of Television Research: an analysis of 15-16. the 1982 NIMH Report on Television and Behavior;"Public 51. Agnes Repellier, "The Repeal of Reticence," TheAtlantic Opinion Quarterly 47 (1983): 182. (March 1914): 207-304. 38. Horst Stipp and J. Ronald Milavsky, "U.S. Television Pro­ 52. Anemona Hartocollis, "School Officials Defend Web Site gramrning's Effects on Aggressive Behavior of Children and Filtering,"New York Times (Nov. 11, 1999). Adolescents," Current Psychology: Research and Reviews 53. Jenkins, op. cit. 7 (Spring 1988): 76-92. 54. "Pac-Man Rewards the Brain," Psychologie 10 (July/Aug., 39.Kaplan and Singer, 57. 1998). 40. Freedman (1991): 179-80. 55. Robert J. Taylor and Elizabeth Berry, "The Use of a 41. Henry Jenkins,Testimony before the U.S. Senate Com­ Computer Game to Rehabilitate Sensormotor Function merce Committee (May 4, 1999). Deficits Following a Subarachnoid Hemorrhage,"Neuro­ psychological Rehabilitation 8 (1998): 113-122. PARTII 56. A. R. Gray et al. "Individual and Group Learning of the Highway Code: Comparing Board Games and Traditional 42. New York City Bar Assn., 309. For an excellent discussion Methods," Educational Research 40 (1998): 45-53. of the Constitutional issues and dangers involved in the re­ 57. Rosalind Thomas et al. "Using an Interactive Computer striction of violent media content, see the New York City Bar Game to Increase Skill and Self-efficacy Regarding Safer Sex Association Committee on Communications and Media Law's Negotiation:Field test results," Health Education and "Violence in the Media: A Position Paper" (note 4). Behavior 24 (1997): 71-86; see also Jeffrey Goldstein's 43. Turner Broadcasting System Inc. v. FCC 512 U.S. 622, numerous reviews of video-game literature. 114 S. Ct. 2445, 2470 (1994). 58. Jeffrey Goldstein, "Video and Computer Games:" A 44. Davis-Kidd Booksellers, Inc. v. McWherter, 886 SW2d 250 Summary of Research on the Attractions, Effects, and (Tenn. 1993), struck downa restriction on the sale to minors Applications of Video and Computer Games (Washington, of material containing "excess violence." Video Software Deal­ D.C.: Interactive Digital Software Assn., 1997): 5. ersAssn. v. Webster, 773 F. Supp. 1275 (W.D. Mo. 1991), aff'd 59. Peter Applebome, "Theaters Vow to Enforce Ratings; 968 F. 2d 684 (8th Cir. 1992), held that ''unlike obscenity, vio­ Teen-Agers Vow to Get In," New York Times (June 15, lent expression is protected by the First Amendment." State v. 1999). Johnson, 343 So. 2d 705, 710 (La. 1977), declared that pro­ 60. Butler v. Michigan, 352 U.S. 380, 381 (1957). hibiting the sale of violent materials to minors exceeded the 61. Ginsburg v. New York (1968) limited minors' rights to limits placed on regulation of obscene materials by the U.S. access certain sexually explicit materials. Supreme Court. Sovereign News Co. v. Falke, 448 F. Supp. 306, 400 (N.D. Ohio 1977), overturned a statute defining as PART III "hannful to minors" material describing or representing "ex­ treme or bizarre violence." Allied Artists Pictures Corp. v. 62. According to recent statistics from the World Health Alford, 410 F. Supp. 1348 (W.D. Tenn. 1976) found excessive Organization, the homicide mortality rate in the U.S. was four violence, even with definition, is unconstitutionally vague. to eight times that of most European and British Common­ Eclipse Enterprises, Inc. v. Gulotta, 134 F 3d 63 (2d Cir 1997), wealth countries. National Research Council, 52. overturned a local law banning the sale of trading cards with 63. Eron andHuesmann, quoted in Bernard Z. Friedlander, the pictures anddescriptions of heinous crimes or criminals. "Community Violence, Children's Development and Mass 45. New York City Bar Assn., 320-1. Media: In Pursuit of New Insights, New Goals and New 46. Harry T. Edwards and Mitchell N. Berman, "Regulating Strategies," Psychiatry 56 (1993): 73. Violence on Television,"Northwestern University Law 64. Ibid., 68.

45 46 65. American Psychological Association, Viol.ence and Press, 1998): 35-38. Youth: Psychology's Response, Vol. I (Washington, D.C.: 82. John Henry Sloan et al. "Handgun Regulations, Crime, American PsychologicalAssn., 1993). Assaults and Homicide: A Tale of'I\vo Cities," The New 66. Julie L. Withecomb, "Causes of Violence in Children," EnglandJournal of Medicine319 (Nov. 10, 1988): 1256-1262. Journal of Mental Health 6 (1997): 433-442. 67. D.0. Lewis, R. Lovely, C. Yaeger and G. Ferguson, PART IV "Intrinsic and Environmental Characteristics of Juvenile Murderers," Journal of the AmericanAcademy of Child 83. Roger Jon Desmond et al. "Family Mediation: Parental and Adolescent Psychiatry 27 (1988): 582-87. Communication Patterns and the InJluences of Television on 68. Franklin E. Zimring,American Youth Viol.ence (New Children," in Jennings Bryant, ed., Television and the York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1998): 60. AmericanFamily (Hillsdale, N.J.: LawrenceErlbaum, 69. Leonard D. Eron, Nancy Guerra and L. Rowell Huesrnann, 1990): 304. "Poverty and Violence," in S. Feshbach and J. Zagrodzka, 84. Motion Picture Association of America, 1999. eds. Aggression: Biologica� Developrnenta� and Social 85. CBS, Capital Cities/ABC, Fox Broadcasting, and NBC Perspectives (New York: Plenum Press, 1997): 139. press releases (Feb. 1, 1994): "Voices Against Violence: 70. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Corrections Compendium, A Cable Television Initiative" (1994). and the Sentencing Project www.sproject.com (1999). 86. Interactive Digital Software Association. Video Software 71.Sentencing Project, op. cit. Dealers Association, 1999. 72. Marc Maurer, "Young Black Men and the Criminal Justice System: A Growing National Problem" (Washington, D.C.: The Sentencing Project, 1990). 73. Carey Goldberg with MarjorieConnelly, "Fear and Vio­ lence Have Declined Among Teenagers, Poll Shows," New Since this report was written, four documents have been pub­ York Times Web site (Oct. 20, 1999). lished that examine the causes and cures for violence, and 74. Withecomb, 434. that review the trends in youth crime. The documents are: 75. NationalResearch Council, 72. "Bruised Inside: What Our Children Say About Youth Vio­ 76. It's important to avoid reading a preference for loud, gory lence, What Causes It, and What We Need to Do About It," movies or warlike play as a signof aggressive intent in boys. released by the National Association of Attorneys General The point of play, after all, is to enact fantasies,and even pri­ (April 2000). "Final Report of the BipartisanWorking Group mates seem to make a distinction between play fighting and of Youth Violence," released by The United States House of the real thing. Aggressiveness in a boy, moreover, doesn't Representatives' Bipartisan Working Group on Youth Violence predict criminality in adulthood. A study of more than 1,000 (March 2000). "Rampage Killers," a four-part series published boys fromkindergarten through adolescence found little bad by the New York Times (April 9-12, 2000). "School House boys improve."It was clear that as boys grow older they gen­ Hype: 'I\vo Years Later," released by the Justice Policy erally show less andless physical aggression, opposition, and Institute/Children's Law Center (April 2000). hyperactivity," wrote the authors, Daniel Nagin andRichard E. Tremblay. "Trajectories of Boys' Physical Aggression, Op­ position, and Hyperactivity on the Path to Physically Violent and Nonviolent Juvenile Delinquency," Child Development 70 (1999): 1181-1196. Acknowledgments 77. P. Gentry, "Pornography andRape: An Empirical Analy­ sis," Deviant Behavior: An InterdisciplinaryJourna� 12 (1991): 277-288. The author wishes to thank Johnny McNair and 78. See, e.g., Debra Niehoff, The Biology of Viol.ence (New Shadan Azali for diligent and cheerfulresearch York: Free Press, 1999). assistance. Many thanks, too, to the staffand 79. Sandra Blakeslee,"Study Antisocial Behavior to Links board of The Media Coalition Inc., especially Early Brain InjuryThat Bars Learning,"New York Times David Horowitz, Chris Finan, GailMarkels, Judith (Oct. 19, 1999). 80. National Research Council, 3. Krug, Judy Platt, and Michael Bamberger. 81. FranklinE. Zimring,American Youth Violence: Studies in Crime and Public Policy (New York: Oxford University Design: Simon Computer Graphics Limited, New York

47 48 The Media Coalition, Inc.

• American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression

• Association of American Publishers, Inc.

• Freedom to Read Foundation

• Interactive Digital Software Association

• International Periodical Distributors Association, Inc.

• Magazine Publishers of America, Inc.

• National Association of College Stores, Inc.

• National Association of Recording Merchandisers

• Periodical and Book Association of America, Inc.

• Publishers Marketing Association

• Video Software Dealers Association

The Media Coalition is a trade association that defends the First Amendment rights of publish­ ers, booksellers, librarians, periodical whole­ salers and distributors, recording, motion picture and video games producers, and recording and video retailers in the United States.

49