Hollywood is not walking the walk when it comes to cutting violence, especially with guns, out of prime time TV shows.
According to a new analysis of the the recent sweeps week, 61 percent included violence. And 39 percent of 287 episodes included gun violence, said new research from the Parents Television Council.
Worse, said the council: “Every program during the November 2017 ‘sweeps’ period was rated either TV-PG or TV-14, meaning that the television networks determined every single program to be appropriate for a child aged 14 or, in many instances, even younger. The ‘V’ content descriptor connoting violence was absent on nearly a quarter (24 percent) of the shows that contained violence.”
The televised violence is in stark contrast to criticism by Hollywood about gun violence following recent mass shootings, including the case in early October in Las Vegas and this month in a Florida school.
“Our latest research shows that children are being fed a steady diet of graphic TV violence – and, in particular, bloody gun violence – that is being marketed to them by the entertainment industry,” said PTC President Tim Winter.
“Vital reforms to protect kids from the toxic culture of media violence are urgently needed. In the meantime, we urge the entertainment industry to reduce – even eliminate – portrayals of graphic violence, and specifically, gun violence,” Winter added.
President Trump drew attention to movie and video game violence last week as he and policy makers grasped to explain the Florida school shooting that left 17 dead.
“We wholeheartedly agree that kids can be impacted and harmed by exposure to violent media – and decades of academic research backs it up. Our kids are inundated with a culture of violence, in part because of Hollywood’s penchant for marketing violent films, TV shows, and violent video games to kids,” said Winter.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
