NCJ Number
177339
Date Published
1996
Length
210 pages
Annotation
This study explores the major issues and participants in the public policy debate on violence on television in America, with attention to the 28 congressional hearings on the subject held since 1954.
Abstract
The framework used in the study is the Broadcast Policy- Making System by Krasnow, Longley, and Terry. This is a model that provides a descriptive and systematic method of studying the complex relationships among participants in broadcast policy making. The model facilitates the analysis of long-term policy formation and regulation distinctive to the broadcast industry. Using this model, the study identifies the trends, patterns, and motivations of participants in the debate over violence on television. The debate over violence on television is presented in three distinct phases, each with a specific focus and set of policy participants. The early phase of concern dealt with the effect of television violence on a growing juvenile delinquency rate; the second with the social and behavioral effects of television violence on society as a whole; and the final phase involved proposed legal and legislative remedies for reducing television violence. The historical analysis of the debate is viewed by the author under these three phases. Appended chronology of significant events in broadcast regulation and violence-on-television legislation and a chronological index of congressional hearings, as well as 308 references