Media Violence and its Impact on Children A Five-City Study by CFAR January to

IN Media Practice | 06/04/2002

Media Violence and its Impact on Children

A Five-City Study by CFAR January to August 2001

What do you think about horror shows?
"Ghosts are there, dead people get alive again, the ghost`s spirit enters into the body of good people". "They appear in our dreams". "It can happen in reality, if it does, what will I do? I am really scared".
Response to violence:
"Horror and violence does not frighten me. I know this is only TV".
Knowledge of Real Crimes "Dawood extorts money from everyone, no one is able to catch him. He and Chota Rajan roam around freely, they are able to bribe their way out of jail"

Background
Violence dominates real and reel life.
For example:
Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, there is an overwhelming emphasis on violent upheavals in news and current affairs. In fiction, conflict is the centrifugal force in almost every kind of TV show, computer or video game. Often the most popular films are the most violent.

In the public debate on aggression and violence, media influences are often cited as the most powerful environmental factors responsible for increased levels of aggression and violence _ especially among children and adolescents.

During 2001, Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) undertook a research project, Media Violence and Its Impact on Children with support from UNICEF, UNESCO and Ford Foundation. It was a five-city field study conducted in Delhi, Lucknow, Calcutta, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad with children between the ages of 6-12 belonging to different socio-economic groups.

The project, the first of its kind in India, is primarily qualitative in nature. It has sought to understand the relationship between the child-viewer and violence on television and other electronic media such as the computer or video games.

TAGS

Violence

Subscribe To The Newsletter

Media Watch Briefs

Amazon resisting voluntary censorship

The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.

Let the games begin

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.