TELEVISION, FILM and VIDEO VIOLENCE
Jack Sonnemann, Director AFF
- "Fully 50% of all crime and violence in society today can be blamed on television and film violence." Dr Brandon Centrewall, past President of the American Psychiatric Association.
- New York Academy of Sciences says, "continued viewing of television violence by children can have a lasting effect on their character and personality leading to serious criminal activity and antisocial behaviour of all types."
- Professor Kenneth Hirsch from California State University has studied screen violence since 1968 and says "distorted perceptions of reality, violent behaviour and tolerance of real-life aggression are at least three consequences empirically (not based on theory) linked to viewing media violence."
- University of Pennsylvania's Prof Anne Allbright warns that "Research proves that children who watch a lot of violence on TV were more likely to become criminals that those who were protected from violent images on the screen."
- London Professor Elizabeth Newsome from Nottingham University Child Psychology Unit exposes "new evidence of links between violent entertainment and aggressive behaviour among children."
- Professor Andrew Simms, past President of Royal College of Psychiatrists in London says, "Watching specific acts of violence has resulted in mimicry of behaviour by children and adolescents that would have otherwise, literally, been unimaginable."
- The American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and the U S Surgeon General all agree that "TV violence is harming children and causing violence in society."
- Commission on Violence and Youth of the American Psychological Association says, "Children's exposure to violence in the mass media, particularly at young ages can have harmful lifelong consequences."
- Victorian Crown Prosecutor Richard Read says, "... the present level of violent crime and violent sex crime in Australia is linked to the proliferation of increasingly violent and pornographic videos, magazines and other material..."
- Senior lecturer in Psychology at Macquarie University, R Power says, "If there was no relationship between what is modelled on the screen, and the behaviour of people, we would not have advertising campaigns."
- Despite the scientific proof that media violence is harmful to children:
- John Dickie is Australia's Chief Censor and he insists that children do not get 4 letter words from television, they pick up bad language from within the family and the biggest cause of violence was family upbringing with media influence at the bottom of the list.
- Dr Patricia Edgar is the Director of the Australian Children's Television Foundation and she says, "I fear there is a perception that television violence causes violence in the community."
above info from AFF's submission on media violence "Suffer the Little Children"