Media Violence

Well…? Does violence in the media have an effect on wider society? If so, how far-reaching could this effect be? If not, why does it not have an effect? Part of the Media Influence unit is to look at arguments & evidence that suggest that the media can have positive and/or negative effects on the audience, and we will be using case studies to help examine this.

Heinemann Media activities Read pg 250 and answer q’s 1-6

Media Violence & Influence Over the last 70 years, there have been many studies attempting to determine whether there is a link between violence in the media and aggressive behaviour.

At one end of the spectrum there are researchers like Craig Anderson who argue that violent video games make children more violent and aggressive. At the other end, academics like Henry Jenkins maintain that we should be examining what children do with the media, rather than what it is purported to do to them. "The key issue isn't what the media are doing to our children but rather what our children are doing with the media," he wrote in his article 'Professor Jenkins goes to Washington'.

In this article, Jenkins says: “The vocabulary of 'media effects’…has been challenged by numerous American and international scholars as an inadequate and simplistic representation of media consumption and popular culture."

Comparison & Evaluation of Arguments We are going to read and pick through a series of articles about media violence and the various arguments about the influence of media violence on audiences. We will read, evaluate and complete note-taking on the 1st article together, using the “Supporting Main Ideas” graphic organiser to record the information. You will then follow this example to complete further research and work.

You will be split into 4 groups Each group will be allocated 1-2 of the resource articles to read through & pull arguments from You need to identify whether this article says that violence in the media has an effect on the audience or not You then need to write notes on what the arguments are to support this view You will use the “Supporting Main Ideas” graphic organiser to record your information Each group will fill in 1 graphic organiser, so pick someone to be scribe

Reference materials: hobby-or-mass-murder-training-tool j5ya.html hobby-or-mass-murder-training-tool j5ya.html BE006E2A8}ti55.pdf 986BE006E2A8}ti55.pdf