TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Study: Children's TV Studded With Dark Acts

Study: Children's TV Studded With Dark Acts

Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)
Thu, 2 Mar 2006 22:32:41 -0500

Study: Children's TV Studded With Dark Acts
- Mar 2, 2006 09:49 PM (AP Online)

By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Children's television is studded with violence, much
of it darker and more realistic than when an anvil dropped on Wile E.
Coyote's head, a watchdog group reported on Thursday.

The Parents Television Council analyzed 444 hours of kids' daytime
programs last summer and detailed 2,794 violent incidents, even after
sifting out "cartoony" moments like those involving the Road Runner.
That's 6.3 incidents an hour _ more than the PTC found in prime time
aimed at adults during a 2002 study.

Programs like "Teen Titans" on the Cartoon Network and ABC Family
Channel's "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" often feature intense fights
with swords, guns and lasers, the group said.

It detailed a scene on Fox's "Shaman King" where two characters have a
lengthy sword fight. One character is knocked out by a blow to the
head, and his opponent reaches into the chest of his screaming rival
and pulls out his "soul," leaving him dead.

There's nothing wrong with fanciful, fantasy violence, said Brent
Bozell, PTC founder. "I grew up with `Tom and Jerry' and I think I'm
OK," he said.

"Popeye beat up Bluto and you cheered," he said. "That was perfectly
fine. Now the protagonists will be caught in dark, powerful,
oftentimes scary scenarios where there is hard violence."

Violent cartoons can increase children's anxiety, desensitize them or
lead them to believe that violence is more prevalent _ and acceptable
_ in real life than it really is, said Dr. Michael Rich, director of
the Center of Media and Children's Health at Harvard University's
medical school.

Children under age 8 are cognitively unable to distinguish between
real and fantasy violence, he said. Rich studied reactions to the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and found children much less upset than
their parents, perhaps because they couldn't distinguish it from what
they saw on TV regularly, said Rich, who endorsed the study.

- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=56322400

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