Media violence contents and its effect on the audience / Mokhtar Muhammad

This paper discusses the relationship between media violence and real-world violence and aggression. Media violence poses a threat to public health inasmuch as it leads to an increase in real-world violence and aggression. Fictional television and film violence contribute to increase in aggression and violence in young viewers. Television news violence also contributes to increased violence, principally in the form of imitative suicides and acts of aggression. Video games are clearly capable of producing an increase in aggression and violence in the short term, although no long-term longitudinal studies is capable of demonstrating long-term effects have been conducted. Still, the average overall size of the effect is large enough to place it in the category of known threats to public health. One of obvious changes in current social environment during this modern day is the emergence and concentration of mass media where radio, television, movies, videos, video games, and computer networks have feigned main roles in people’s everyday lives. With the rising exposure to mass media, violence content has become one of public concerns over the years. It is very ubiquitous and pervasive while people may encounter violence in various forms in mass media indirectly and unknowingly. Furthermore, violence is a well-known form of entertainment. For example, people like to watch or read news about violent crime and also watch movies with violent scenes. Considering the media effect and power to influence people, there are ample research which found that exposure to violence content would increases the likeliness of violent behavior on the audience’s part just like living in real violent environment.