Violence In Mass Media (Part II)
Violence in Media Defined:
Violence as described in the dictionary is any “physical force exerted so as to cause damage, abuse or injury.” Based on this loose definition alone a number of violent acts depicted on television such as foul language and psychological abuse would not be included. Hence social scientists have for years tried to come up with an all-inclusive definition that would precisely define violence in media.
For close to 25 years, social scientists have used Gross G. Gerbner and his colleague’s definition of violence to measure the incidence thereof on television. According to Gerbner and his co-researcher’s, for violence to be recorded, it has to be reality based, possible and within the sphere of human experiences, stemming from intentional or accidental causes like accidents and natural catastrophes. It however “rules out idle threats, verbal abuse or comic gestures with no credible violent consequences” (Potter 1999, 67-68).
Some social scientists are of the opinion that making use of this definition would discount verbal acts and other antisocial behaviors that recent studies show to be increasing in incidence. This in effect would not give an accurate picture of the level of violence on TV today. It would in fact give the impression that violence on TV is decreasing, given that depictions of serious and criminal physical violence such as murders have leveled off in recent years (Potter 1999, 78).
A much broader definition is espoused by theoreticians to better monitor violence on TV and to make it better resonate with the public’s definition of violence. A definition that takes into account actual and intended harm on the TV victim, whether the consequences are seen or unseen by the viewer must be considered if there is to be any real and relevant recording of TV violence.
