Have authorities discovered any evidence indicating that the two teenagers responsible for the Columbine H.S. masacre were influenced by violence in movies, TV, and/or video games? In the aftermath of the shootings, these industries have recieved a lot of criticism but I have not heard of any proven link between their products and the shooters.
Researchers have been trying to prove a link between violence in the media and that violence inspiring youths to commit crimes in the real world for ever. So far, no proof.
Obviously, there’s been a lot of speculation, and many self-righteous people have claimed that: “Well, a kid growing up will have seen umpteen murders on TV, it must have an impact.”
Circle - reasoning does not make for proof.
Research during the last ten years show, however, that it’s not watching too much violence on TV, that makes a kid violent, it’s watching too much TV, period.
Kids growing up in front of the idiot box will have a shorter attention span, will always be searching for new kicks, it induces shallowness and kids will get a false idea about the real world.
Or in other words: Watching too much TV is bad for you. It’s not the TV that is to blame, it’s the parents.
The guy doing most research on this - Brandon Centerwall of U of Washington - claims that without TV, there would be 10.000 fewer murder-victims in the US annually.
It might be that Wheel of Fortune is more to blame, than Profiler.
CT
When in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout