A nightly G rated horror show

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A nightly G rated horror show
Herald-Sun
1 December 2004

In the supermarket a boy no older than three pointed his bread stick rifle and shot me. I grabbed my chest – he got me, smiled and put my jar of honey in my trolley. Later that evening the news was awash with images of an American solider pointing a gun at an injury Iraqi insurgent’s head. I was horrified.

Horrified that I hadn’t made a link between the boy with the breadstick and the images of war. Horrified that perhaps my own three year old may have seen the footage. He was in bed, but the television news begins at 4.30pm these days. Since September 11 our media is full with the images and stories of war, and a new generation of young children have been exposed to it. Every night.

Have we become so used to the violence in our community and on our television that we accept it as normal?

We want to believe that the violence in our media doesn’t impact on our children: ‘I grew up watching television and I haven’t killed anyone.’ Makers of television, movies and video games spend many dollars convincing us television isn’t harmful. If we accept the research that violence on television is directly linked to more violent behaviour in our kids, we must then be responsible for monitoring what they watch.

Recent publications from the Victorian Parenting Centre (VPC) are putting the issue of violence in the media back on the agenda. Research into the impacts of violence on TV has been going on for 30 years. This research states overwhelmingly that the images like the war in Iraq on our television screens increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behaviour in our children.

Sure, we cynically cry out, but what is the harm in using sticks as guns and playing good ol’ cops and robbers in the backyard: our grandparents and parents played these games?

While every child will not become a murder and there are other reasons for violence in our society the harm is the fear and insecurity the reporting of war and its images bring. The harm is that generations ago our grandparents didn’t know what war looked like – our children do. And, the reports from VPC tell us that primary school children often become frightened and concerned for their safety. The harm is that we know Generation X was born into images of Vietnam, the first televised war, and they have a greater suicide rate than any other generation.

We have all experienced the loss of a loved one – death is not a pleasant experience, even in the best circumstances. But, everyday on our television has images of death. Everyday we see pictures of people next to gun toting terrorists so close to death.  Everyday we hear the latest death tally. Everyday we are exposed to the violence and horror of war. And, if our children are watching (and the Australian Broadcasting Authority say nine out of ten primary school children are) they are exposed to it too.       

Media violence increases the likelihood of increased violence and aggression in out children. Our current television ratings system doesn’t work at addressing this. The television news has a happy family viewing rating of G. And, we don’t know how to regulate our own viewing anyway, let alone our children’s. Ratings hold little relevance when the television news is prepared to show dead soldiers and nighttime bombing raids.

So, if the people who make the laws are slow to change, then parents need to start asking themselves: how much war is my child watching?

Daniel Donahoo is a Fellow at OzProspect, a non-partisan, public policy think tank.

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