This article discusses children and

violence in the media. It examines whether behaviours

associated with bullying result from media viewing and analyses the limitations of some

strategies to protect children from exposure to violence in the media.

According to research cited in the document,

violence in entertainment seems to have three

kinds of influence on children:

• Children mimic television violence and perceive it as approval for hitting, bullying and humiliating their peers.
• A percentage of

  victims accept the treatment they suffer

  without seeking help

• TV violence reduces

  empathy in the witnesses, increasing the inclination to

  commit, accept, or enjoy watching real-life

  violence.

In discussing the topic of manipulation,

advertising techniques aimed at manipulating the

needs of youth during the stages of their growth

into adulthood are discussed in the context of

needs for peer acceptance, love, safety, desire

to feel powerful or independent, aspirations to

be and to act older than they actually are, and

the need to have an identity. The marketing

industry term used for success in the youth

market is "mind share," signifying a high level of manipulated engagement.

Research on brain function and video gaming is

discussed not only for its work on links to youth

aggression, but also in relation to the lack of

stimulation and possible resulting impairment or

under development in frontal lobe brain activity

where repression of anti-social impulses arises. By implication, the author suggests that violent behaviour may result from this under development.

The examination of strategies for

addressing media violence in this document

includes:

• an analysis of broadcast industry

  self-regulation showing an increase in media

  violence;

• results of industry funding for media literacy

  education; and

• the inter-relationship of the television

  rating system and parent V-chip use to

  regulate youth viewing.

The author concludes with a call to re-examine

the government's role in media regulation in

light of the sophistication of industry

manipulation through marketing strategies.