School Shootings Research Paper

After reviewing many case studies about whether excessive or extensive violent television news coverage leads towards violent conduct is up for debate. Interestingly enough many scientific organizations have openly stated that violent media coverage causes aggression, and examined the association between media violence and violent behavior. It has been reported that there has been more than 3,500 research studies to prove that there is in fact a connection between media violence and violent behavior. Out of these 3,500 studies only 18 of them have not been able to relate media violence and violent behavior. Clearly there is overwhelming evidence to prove this relationship is accurate,

School shootings have become well known around the world due to the coverage by the media. . These shootings are a serious concern and have parents constantly concerned about their child’s safety when they are at school and also have students thinking twice about any unusual or suspicious behavior. The media appears to play a large part in school shootings and it is important to analyze the deviant behaviors of the shooters in these horrific instances and the fear they create in schools. Does the media play a large part in school shootings or does the media play a large part in the sensationalism of school shootings and the fear they create both in schools and with parents?

There is no question that television and films these days are filled with violence and antisocial behavior. Virtually every show, movie or news story nowadays has some sort of violent theme. Studies have shown that for every hour of television, there are 6 violent exchanges shown, and this number increases to 14 exchanges an hour

Think about how often children watch television. Over the past years the amount of time children spend watching television has dramatically gone up. With this increase there is also an increase in the amount of violence that is on the television. Many individuals ask themselves why the violence among children and youth has gone up. The fact that violence is everywhere a child looks could be one of the main answers for this devastating question.

these murderous teens had a history of being bullied and a history of acting out that resulted in arrest. Over half these adolescents had a history of drug abuse. Further, theses teens surveyed in the study all used guns, with the most common being a 12 gauge shotgun and had mentioned killing or harming peers before. Finally, almost all of these mass murders took place at schools with a few exceptions (Meloy et al., 2001).

For years there’s been a contended debate on whether or not violence in the media harms children. On television, thousands of murders are being broadcasted to children who are in Elementary School, they are witnesses to hundreds of thousands acts of murder and general violence. In Media Now, ethics come to play and discussions regarding the question who is truly responsible for media effects comes into play? Watching too much violent TV and playing too many violent video games takes a toll on children's social and physical development, researchers report. It seems as though the more TV kids watch the more they are subjected to isolation and refrain from spending quality time with friends outdoors. Media now discusses the role of producers

There are few debates that have been contentious for so long as the debate of whether violent medias contribute meaningfully to crimes. Because of the majority of shooting events committed by younger shooters, many politicians regard cultural effects as a potential contributing factor, while others dismiss media as a contributing factor. Within the social science community, a similar division exists (Ferguson, 2015). For example, some professional supporting groups, like the American Psychological Association (APA), released policy statements of a clear association between media violence and societal aggression (Ferguson, 2015). On the contrast, actively, a group of estimated 230 media scholars, criminologists, and psychologists wrote an open letter to the APA. In this letter, they asked APA to withdraw their policy statements and cease from making casual speculation.

Do behavioral issues caused by violence in the media manifest American society? Mass media researcher, Cecilia von Feilitzen (Stockholm University, Sweden), cautions against distorting a complex problem. Feilitzen believes, “there has been too much focus on the causal relations between media exposure and violence in society, with a failure to differentiate among different kinds of influences” (McLellan). People are quick to blame television violence for behavioral activities that children demonstrate, without realizing that there are other important factors that also play a role in such behavior, for example, violence in the real world. For the most part, while some people contemplate that the news for instance, is full of violence, Times Mirror, a nationwide survey found that (of 1,516 Americans conducted February 20-23) that comparing today’s generation with those of the 1980’s believe that the news amplifies the expanse of violence in America (Pew Research Center). Violence is seen throughout society, not just in the media. The problem with society is that they think that by impeding children from watching certain things, it will be less likely for them to follow in the same footsteps. Even so, if that was completely true, why is it that some of those exact children end up with a worst criminal background than those who actually grew up watching TV violence as a child? What children watch, may have some impact on their adulthood, but that is beside the point. It does not

Violent behavior is something that is innate to the human brain. It has been an instinct of humans since the beginning of our creation or our evolution from a primal state in order to primarily survive and maintain our supremacy atop the hierarchy of all living organisms. We are naturally violent creatures, and this natural tendency for us to exhibit violent behavior isn’t helped by the extreme lack of shelter from and glorification of violent actions through mainstream or alternative news outlets as well as depictions of such actions through other forms of media such as: movies, entertainment television, cartoons, and video games. According to the professing of multiple studies the violence in today’s massive multimedia culture is to be blamed for much of the violence of which we witness on a daily basis within our country. The professing of these studies is reflective of the drastic increase in societal violence in the United States during 1965. A year that marked the first time a generation raised on television would come of the average age of committing violent crimes. (Bushman, 2001, Media Violence and the American Public, pg. 478) These copious amounts of violence that are depicted in our cultures mass media outlets have negative effects on both adults and children. While we exercise our naturally violent minds through seeing and hearing such acts of violence on a daily basis, not only do we

"Children born today will witness 200,000 acts of violence on television by the time they are 18" (Peterson). One must realize that eliminating all violence from the screen would mean that most programs including history, nature, and many educational shows would have to be canceled as well.  Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, in his press release, "Tune out the Violence," cites the National Institute of Mental Health, a government agency who found that "80.3 percent of all television programs contain acts of violence.  The typical program includes 5.21 incidents."  These are surprising and alarming numbers.  This leaves one wondering; what would be left to watch?   Taken these circumstances into consideration, the media does have the power to alter the viewpoints of its audience, especially the all-too impressionable minds of children.

The impact of television violence on youth behavior has been an issue for many years. Television stations and their executives tend to deny television’s contribution to youth violence. Unfortunately, there is a direct correlation between television viewing and violence. This provides one possible cause for the shocking rise in violence on Americas’ school campuses. Communications technology is expanding through the entire global community. Children everywhere are being born into a world of images and messages, which are largely separated from their home, school and spiritual lives.

With school shootings becoming a frequent occurrence in our country, we have to ask the question on whether or not the violence produced in children has been influenced by his or her surroundings. Could the violence seen in television shows lead the way to these actions? With these violent situations growing we have to start looking into this issue. TV programs should be held moderately responsible for the violent actions of children because they promote negative influences.

Children and adolescents in the United States are exposed to violence in increasing numbers each year. This may seem like an obvious statement, but consider the following: The average child watches 21 to 23 hours of TV per week. This means that by the time this child reaches age 70, he will have spent 7 to 10 years in front of the television. And with regular Saturday morning children's television containing about 20 to 25 acts of violence per hour, it is no wonder the average person has viewed around 200,000 acts of violence by the time he reaches 18 years of age. And while tragedies such as Columbine cannot be explained simply by blaming media violence, it currently appears

Watching violent shows on television increase the chances of kids being involved in violent and criminal behavior as they become adults since the kids learn from what they watch. As stated by Larry J. Siegel in “Criminology: The Core”, children of six-years old spend an average of two hours a day engaging in television media. He also states that kids that watch more than an hour of violent television programs increase their probabilities of being involved in assaults, fights, robberies, and other aspects of violent actions and aggressive behavior as they transition to adulthood. (Siegel, 2017, Ch. 5-4b.).

Distinguishing the various programs available for viewing proves that TV is a scapegoat. There are lots of violent and shocking programs and there are ones that have little