Violence is defined by Webster’s dictionary as an exertion of physical force so as to injure or abuse; an instance of violent treatment or procedure; intense, turbulent, or furious and often destructive action or force; vehement feeling or expression.

Violence can be seen in actions which are intended to result in injury or abuse to another person. There are some actions which are more aggressive than others. Actions such as slapping, shoving, and yelling at someone in an aggressive manner have become more commonplace in prime time television shows. Actions such as hitting, shooting, throwing objects at people, stabbing, punching, kicking, and pulling someone’s hair are more common to shows which air at later times.

These are the actions which I was looking for while I viewed the following shows:
Program - Rating Day Time Number & Type of Violent acts
Trading Spouses - TVPG 1/31/05 8pm – 9pm No violence
American Idol - TVPG 2/1/05 8pm – 9pm No violence
According To Jim - TVPG 2/1/05 9pm – 9:30 pm No violence
Committed – TV14 2/1/05 9:30pm – 10 pm 4 instances of slapping, 1 instance of pushing and shoving, 1 person knocked to the ground
American Idol - TVPG 2/2/05 8pm – 9pm 1 instance of slapping
CSI – TV14 2/3/05 9pm – 10pm 1 instance of hitting, 1 instance of abuse, 1 instance of beating to death
ER – TV14 2/3/05 10pm – 11pm 1 instance of shooting, 1 instance of hitting, 1 instance of abuse
First Coast News Events Coverage – Not Rated 2/4/05 8pm – 9pm No violence
First Coast News Events Coverage – Not Rated 2/5/05 10pm – 10:30 pm No violence
Muzik Mafia – Not Rated 2/5/05 10:30pm – 11pm No violence
Charmed - TVPG 2/6/05 2pm – 3pm 2 instances of pushing & shoving, 1 instance of hitting, 3 instances of kicking, 1 instance of stabbing

I viewed a total of 9 hours of television programming which was available on public television stations. Based on the results of my television viewing for the past week, 4.5 of the hours have not had violent action. This constitutes half of the viewing I did for the study. Out of the violent actions which I observed, I found a total of 20 incidents of violent action. The violent actions ranged from actions which are more common, such as slapping, to those which are more violent.

When breaking these actions down by type, I found that 25% of these were incidents of someone slapping someone else. The next largest groups came in at 15% and were incidents of hitting, kicking, or pushing & shoving. This totals 70%, indicating that most of the actions observed would be considered less violent. This appears to indicate that violent actions which are mildly violent are considered more acceptable on television.

In a press release dated March 9, 2003 from the American Psychological Association (http://www.apa.org/releases/media_violence.html ), a study revealed that childhood exposure to violent media was likely to indicate aggressive behavior as a young adult. This was indicated to be more likely if the child perceives that the person committing the violent action is rewarded for the action and that the action was a realistic representation of a life experience. This study based these results on an analysis of children over a 15 year period. The results of this study also indicated that the V-chip solution provided by many TVs for parental control is a step in the right direction, but would be more effective if it would work with a violent content system instead of an age appropriate guideline system.

The TV ratings system indicates that TVPG may contain moderate violence and that TV14 may contain intense violence. I found that out of the shows I watched, more of the violent incidents were in the TV14 rated programs, at 60%. There was a single instance of what would be considered intense violence in Charmed, which is a TVPG rated show. It involved a stabbing, but it was of a fantasy nature (the victim of the stabbing was a “demon”). I think that based on the results of the study referenced above, that action could be considered as “moderate violence” due to the context of the incident.

Combined with my experience and the results of the study, I believe that the amount of violence on television is on the rise and that moderate forms of violence are more acceptable in television shows. Even more intense forms of violence are acceptable in the context of a non-realistic situation and can be shown on a program that is not rated for more intense forms of violence. This is supported in the amount of violent actions in TVPG rated shows when compared to the amount of violent actions in TV14 rated shows. Considering the results of the APA study, I am slightly concerned that this increase in violence on TV will result in an increase in violent activity with the next generation of American children.