Ill Effects: The Media Violence Debate
The influence of the media remains a contentious issue. Every time a particularly high-profile crime of violence is committed, there are those who blame the effects of the media. The familiar culprits of cinema, television, video and rock music, have now been joined, particularly in the wake of the massacre at Columbine High School, by the Internet. Yet, any real evidence that the media do actually have such negative effects remains as elusive as ever and, consequently, the debate about...
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The influence of the media remains a contentious issue. Every time a particularly high-profile crime of violence is committed, there are those who blame the effects of the media. The familiar culprits of cinema, television, video and rock music, have now been joined, particularly in the wake of the massacre at Columbine High School, by the Internet. Yet, any real evidence that the media do actually have such negative effects remains as elusive as ever and, consequently, the debate about effects frequently ends up as being little more than strident and rhetorical appeals to "common sense." Ill Effects is a guide for the perplexed. It suggests new and productive ways in which we can understand the influences of the media and question why the effects paradigm still exerts a tenacious hold in some quarters. Refusing to adopt the absurd position that the media have no influence at all, Ill Effects rethinks the notion of media influence in ways which take into account how people actually use and interact with the media in their everyday lives.
NotesIntroduction: From bad research to good - a guide for the perplexed1The Newson Report: a case study in 'commonsense'2The worrying influence of 'media effects' studies3Electronic child abuse? Rethinking the media's effects on children4Living for a libido; or, Child's Play IV: the imagery of childhood and the call for censorship5Just what the doctors ordered? - Media regulation, education and the 'problem' of media violence6Once more with feeling: talking about the media violence debate in Australia7I was a teenage horror fan: or, 'How I learned to stop worrying and love Linda Blair'8'Looks Like it Hurts': Women's Responses to Shocking Entertainment9Reservoirs of dogma: an archaeology of popular anxieties10Us and them11Invasion of the Internet Abusers: Marketing Fears About the Information Superhighway12On the problems of being a 'trendy travesty'Index
