TV’s Creativity Versus Its Gore : Can’t the medium come up with entertaining alternatives to violent fare?

The first of a projected three annual reports on violence on prime-time network television by UCLA’s Center for Communication Policy has found that while levels of brutality, mayhem and bloodletting are not as bad as some fear, there is ample room for reducing the gore and destruction. Even casual channel surfers should have no trouble agreeing with the second part of that conclusion.

Though TV’s emphasis on pain, death and devastation may have declined relative to previous years, it remains needlessly and disturbingly high. The UCLA study, based on an analysis of nearly 3,000 hours of programming over the 1994-95 season, finds excessive violence a particular problem in theatrical movies shown on television, in children’s programming and in the teasers broadcast to lure viewers to particular programs. However, when it comes to their own prime-time series the networks are showing “positive signs” of cutting back on violence, the study says.

The real test, suggests Jeffrey Cole, director of the UCLA center, will come next year--the second in the study commissioned by the ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox networks--because then a base line will exist for comparing levels of violence and determining whether things are better or worse. But what exactly will such a comparison demonstrate? The overall level of violence on TV might indeed drop on an annual basis. In fact, it’s an all but certain bet it will, given the industry’s newfound sensitivity to congressional pressures on the issue. Relative to norms in the short history of TV, however, the violence quotient is likely to remain too high.

Study after study has confirmed that prolonged exposure to violence in popular entertainment can affect the behavior of children and even of adults. Surely the television industry, which has shown so many times it can do great and creative things, can find the wit and imagination to offer appealing alternatives.