"Local TV news, at least in the U.S., is probably the biggest fear mongering vehicle there is 'cause if you turn on local news in pretty much any U.S. city, you're going to have the sense of chaos that there's crime everywhere and murder and mayhem going on at the very time crime rates are at historic lows.
"This generation of young people is, in general, less violent than many previous generations and, in general, better adjusted than previous generations. But you'd never know that by all the fear mongering about them. We've managed to convince ourselves that just about every young male is a potential mass murderer."
-- Barry Glassner, Sociologist/Author, The Culture of Fear
If It Bleeds, It Leads. This is how television news programs are designed. The whole idea is to capture the audience with shocking and provocative news stories and keep them watching. Keep them watching right through the commercials. Keep them watching onto more news. Television news shows are programs with a specific goal in mind: Make money for the TV network.
News programs do serve the purpose of bringing valuable information to the viewer. However, the amount of violence that appears on television in an average nightly newscast is far beyond the actual amount of violence that occurs in normal life. The result -- is fear.
In America,
we live in a culture of fear. Fear of violence. Fear of disease. Fear of war.
Fear of the weather. Fear of our neighbors. Fear of the unknown. Television
news drives a lot of this fear. Most people believe what they see on TV. Television
has an impact on fashion and lifestyle. It also has an impact on attitude and
knowledge. If it's on TV, it's got to be true!
The movie Bowling For Columbine is not a movie about guns or violence or television, but about culture. Michael Moore, the video journalist who starred in and produced the movie, states that in America, we are driven by ignorance and fear. The movie does a nice job asking questions and bringing up important issues.
The movie notes that in 1998, there were 4 firearm homicides in New Zealand, 19 in Japan, 54 in England and Wales, 57 in Australia, 66 in Switzerland, 151 in Canada, 373 in Germany and 11,798 in the United States. Trying to find out the answer to "Why?" is not easy. Bowling For Columbine looks at attitudes and tries to discover why the U.S. produces such a disproportionate amount of violence. Many issues are brought up in the movie and the TV media is not above scrutiny.
"Television news programs survive on scares. On local newscasts, where
producers live by the dictum “if it bleeds, it leads,” drug, crime,
and disaster stories make up most of the news portion of the broadcasts. Evening
newscasts on the major networks are somewhat less bloody, but between 1990 and
1998, when the nation’s murder rate declined by 20 percent, the number
of murder stories on network newscasts increased 600 percent." said Barry
Glassner in the book "The Culture Of Fear," which 
had
a great impact on the viewpoint of Bowling For Columbine.
The American public watches thousands of acts of violence on television over and over and over. Paul Klite, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Media Watch, said in a statement that "the seventy- five percent of Americans who watch TV news regularly are subjected to a substantial nightly dose of catastrophe. And, in the news, the blood is real. Journalists by now know that their broadcast images have enormous power and must be handled with sensitivity. Yet, the news industry has no ethical guidelines for airing violent images."
Klite's organization found that from 40 to 50 percent of all on-air news was comprised of reporting some type of violent act. "Murder, one of the least common crimes committed, is the number one topic on newscasts," said Klite.
Bowling
For Columbine also takes aim at the National
Rifle Association's (NRA) views on firearms. The NRA does not believe in
any forms of gun control. The NRA supports the rights of gun owners to purchase
and sell any forms of firearms and ammunition including semi-automatic weapons
and armour-piercing bullets. In the movie, Moore interviews Charleton Heston,
the actor who regularly supports and champions the NRA. Heston, for all his
bravado, had nothing to say regarding the statistics of firearm violence. Heston
walked away from Moore in the middle of a question.
Heston, and probably many other gun owners and advocates, don't want to admit that they keep guns out of fear. "People who watch a lot of TV are more likely than others to believe their neighborhoods are unsafe, to assume that crime rates are rising, and to overestimate their own odds of becoming a victim. They also buy more locks, alarms, and—you guessed it—guns, in hopes of protecting themselves," said Glassner.
Is there a causal link between TV violence and real-life violence? Maybe and maybe not. The answer to this question depends on who you ask. Bowling For Columbine looked at TV programs in Canada and found just as much violence, but a lot less gun crime. Their news programs had less violent acts, but the other programs were the same.
Why is American news so violent?
"After the dinnertime newscasts the networks broadcast newsmagazines, whose guiding principle seems to be that no danger is too small to magnify into a national nightmare. Some of the risks reported by such programs would be merely laughable were they not hyped with so much fanfare: “Don’t miss Dateline tonight or YOU could be the next victim!” Competing for ratings with drama programs and movies during prime-time evening hours, newsmagazines feature story lines that would make a writer for “Homicide” or “ER” wince," said Glassner.
Television news is compelling. Neil Postman and Steve Powers, authors of the book "How To Watch TV News," note that TV news programs are designed to keep the viewer watching and build an audience. TV news are highly rated shows and bring in big money in advertising. "More viewers, higher ratings, more advertising dollars, more profit, more similar programs to try to attract more viewers . . . ad infinitum," they said in the book.
"Murders, rapes and fires are not the only way to assess the progress of a society. Why are there so few television stories about symphonies that have been composed, novels written, scientific problems solved, and a thousand other creative acts that occur during the course of a month?" question Postman and Powers. "Were television news to be filled with these events, we would not be frightened. We would, in fact, be inspired, optimistic, cheerful."
"In the
judgment of most editors, people watch television. And what they are
interested in watching are exciting, intriguing, even exotic pictures. . . It
is difficult to televise a theory." Most people would rather watch a hot
pursuit in the show "Cops" than see a scientist explain his theory
with complex mathematics. Also, TV news must be fast. Short sound bites and
quick cuts because on TV, time is a limiting factor.
Video: cut to fire, cut to police cars, cut to fire engines, cut to mother crying, cut to police tape around the scene, cut to ambulance, cut to commercial. This compelling fire scene was brought to you by Lexus Special Edition XLS 3000 -- see yourself in the car, feel the plush interior, feel it grip the road. You should buy one!
Video: cut to police cars, cut to broken window, cut to police tape around the crime scene, cut to flashing red and blue lights, cut to criminal in the back seat of the police car, cut to police talking about the crime, cut to evidence on the ground, cut to commercial.This act of violence was brought to you by Doritos Wild Fiesta Curled Chips -- see the model with a tight skirt throw the chips in the air and catch it in her mouth. You should buy some!
Video: cut to teenagers, cut to dumpster, cut to police,
cut to hospital, cut to mother crying, cut to outraged random person on the
street, cut to commercial. This act of degeneracy
was brought to you by Puffs Super Soft Tissues -- see the pretty housewife sneezing,
see her use Puffs and see her cold go away. You should buy a box!
Postman and Powers explain that TV news has got to be brief, because while news can be condensed and cut, commercials cannot. This is what TV news is all about. This is why America lives in a culture of fear.
"Daily examples of violence and moral degeneracy that are the staple of TV news shows . . . are not mitigated by the presence of recognizable and attractive actors and actresses," said Postman and Powers. "They are put forward as the stuff of everyday life. These are real murders, real rapes, real plundering. And the fact that they are the stuff of real life makes them all the more powerful."
What can you do? How can you stop this culture of fear from entering your own home? Not watching TV news is a good step. Yahoo! News and Google News are two great sources of news, pictures and video on the Internet that is uncut by commercials and news program directors. Radio and newspapers also bring news in a more complete fashion. The Internet and newspapers also allow the reader to progress through the story at his or her own pace. You can read the story again to pick out details or find other stories which will tell you more. Have a conversation around the table during dinner. Keep the tube off.
Watch TV news with a critical eye. TV news shows are designed to keep the viewer watching through the commercials. The video on TV news is edited and narrated and oftentimes the whole story is not presented. A story without good sound bites or video is not shown or is brushed over quickly.
Bowling For Columbine is a good movie, but it has an agenda and viewpoint. Forming an opinion for yourself about how to establish your own safety is the best way to have realistic expectations. Believe what you see and hear with your own eyes and ears. Don't believe what comes across on the TV screen. TV news exists to sell on-air advertising, not to enlighten the watcher.
© 2003 Ron Kaufman
Resource links:
Sources cited in this article:
"The Culture Of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid Of The Wrong Things" by Barry Glassner. 2000; Basic Books.
"How To Watch TV News" by Neil Postman and Steve Powers.1992; Penguin Books.
"TV News and the Culture Of Violence" by Paul Klite, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Media Watch, Denver, Co. Statement released on May 24, 1999.
Official movie website