FCC recommends crackdown on TV violence

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recommended to Congress April 25 that action be taken to address violent programming on television, which research indicates can increase aggressiveness in children.

In the release of a long-awaited report, the FCC responded to a request from a House committee to consider whether television violence should be regulated similar to the ways the government regulates sexual content and profanity.

The commission reviewed numerous studies conducted by the medical and social science communities and found that research on whether watching violent programming actually causes aggressive behavior in children is inconclusive.

“However, major studies, including those by the surgeon general and the Federal Trade Commission, have found that exposure to violent content on TV is associated with an increase in aggressive or violent behavior in children,” Chairman Kevin Martin said, adding that some of the effects of exposure to violence are emotional desensitization toward violence in real life and having a higher tendency for violent behavior later in life.

“These findings make clear, and the commission today affirms, that exposure to violent programming can be harmful to children,” Martin said.

Critics of the FCC report said a crackdown on violence would prohibit the right of free speech.

“The job of policing TV for children is one for parents, not the government,” Caroline Fredrickson of the American Civil Liberties Union said.

But the FCC found that parental controls such as the V-chip and the TV ratings system have “limited effectiveness” in protecting children from violent content, and the commission suggested an “a la carte” system in which viewers could purchase channels individually or in smaller bundles to avoid those that are most harmful to children.

The Parents Television Council (PTC) applauded the FCC report and noted the increase in gratuitous violence on television in recent history. PTC studies found that violence on prime-time broadcast television has increased 75 percent since 1998 and the television season that began in the fall of 2005 was one of the most violent ever recorded. (BP)