A Plan of Action on TV Violence

Although rising and falling according to the prevailing political barometer, television’s level of violence, border to border, is almost always obnoxiously excessive. Whether cable or over-the-air broadcasting, mayhem much too often is the message.

Who is at fault?

Viewers blame producers, producers blame writers, writers blame networks, networks blame advertisers, advertisers blame viewers, viewers blame. . . .

Yadda yadda yadda.

Seeking to substitute action for this no-win “circle of blame,” the Center for Media Literacy in Los Angeles has created a savvy, robust, comprehensive, quite extraordinary “toolbox for change.”

Mixing metaphors, this “toolbox” is hot off the presses.

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Titled “Beyond Blame: Challenging Violence in the Media,” it’s a handsome educational kit containing audio- and videotapes and sophisticated print materials, all designed to “engage millions of Americans in a learning process from awareness to action instead of a fruitless process of blame,” Elizabeth Thoman, the nonprofit center’s founder and executive director, said recently.

In other words? “Stop moaning and groaning and do something about it,” Thoman said. “Don’t wait for somebody to do something about it. You do it!”

Doing something about it does not necessarily mean boycotting advertisers or starting a letter-writing campaign, in the view of the center, which sees its role as advocating only enlightened opinions, not specific opinions. Through education, it hopes to empower the public to make informed decisions about the media, whatever those decisions may be.

A pioneer in the nation’s growing media literacy movement, Thoman has made this project a central component of her crusade to inform Americans about the media wrap-around surround-sound that influences their lives. She also hopes it will generate badly needed revenue for the center (formerly known as the Center for Media and Values), which, like many nonprofit operations, continually teeters on a financial high wire.

“Beyond Blame” was financed through foundation support, individual contributions and other means. As for the latter, Thoman said that a balloon payment on a bank loan is about to come due, and she’s worried about being unable to pay it.

“Beyond Blame” is worth the struggle. Much broader than a how-to program for Mom and Pop, the three-part kit contains video-based lesson plans for several age levels--from elementary school to adult--for use by schoolteachers, libraries, religious programs, community centers, parenting classes and all those institutions, says Thoman, that function as “opinion leaders.”

Here, for example, is its broad description of its lesson plan for grades 4-5: “Explores the missing consequences of media violence and challenges Hollywood heroes and heroines. Kids discover how much violence they regularly see on TV and its impact.”

As for the kit’s overall perspective, here is another excerpt:

“Media violence is not the sole cause of violence in society but we can say that media violence reinforces the myths and images, beliefs and attitudes of a culture of violence. It is a messenger for violence as a way of life.

“For 40 years, we have asked the wrong question about media violence: Does watching violence cause someone to become violent? We know from personal reflection that watching violence does not itself cause people to be violent or we would all be murderers!

“A more relevant question we are learning to ask now is: What is the long-term cumulative impact of excessive violent imagery as entertainment doing to our individual collective psyches? What kind of personal value system and cultural world view are we passing on to our children?”

These are questions that some people remain unwilling to ask, witness some of the most frequently articulated rationales for not tampering with TV violence:

* You watched it when you were a kid, and you’re no violent criminal.

* It reflects the real world.

* It’s an essential component of drama.

* If parents don’t want their kids to watch it, turn it off.

* It’s solely a free-speech issue--not pleasant but better than censorship.

So what to do? Developed by a team of writers, editors, teachers and researchers, “Beyond Blame” lists its own agenda:

* Help families and children reduce exposure to violent images.

* Mitigate the impact of violent images that are seen.

* Identify and explore alternatives to violent entertainment.

* Explore links between media violence and real-life violence.

* Educate members of the public on becoming agents for change.

In the latter regard, the kit includes detailed instructions on how to make “Beyond Blame” a centerpiece for town hall meetings, with even a sample press release for such events. The gathering would feature a showing of the kit’s introduction/overview tape, which presents large chunks of other persuasive videos on media violence.

One of these, an “Investigative Reports” documentary from cable’s A&E; network, sets out arguments for and against TV curtailing or altering depictions of violence, and in doing so demonstrates the mixed messages that the entertainment industry sometimes receives from its most severe critics.

For example, there is TV violence reformer Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) decrying the medium’s “glamorized” violence. Moments later, there is the Rev. Billy Melvin, chairman of CLEAR-TV, criticizing some programs for depicting the consequences of violence in graphic blood and gore.

There too is famed TV researcher George Gerbner, in his video “The Killing Screens: Media and the Culture of Violence,” speaking of TV violence as part of male-driven marketing strategy. Whereas humor is “culture bound,” Gerbner says, violence is a “good commodity for the global market” on which the U.S. entertainment industry is so reliant. “As they say in the trade,” he adds, “violence travels well.”

How well “Beyond Blame” will travel remains to be seen. It does seem to be just the ticket for this nation’s ongoing debate about TV violence. Its decoding of media messages deserves the widest exposure at a time when we face the consequences of real-life violence in Oklahoma City and abroad. And the public deserves to be exposed to it.