The Industry: Fighting Violence

THE INDUSTRY

Does TV cause riots? Are children growing insensitive to brutality because of crime programs? So went the questions put last week by the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, headed by Milton S. Eisenhower. The commission, in effect, wondered whether TV is the mirror or the molder of society. After three days of hearings, it wound up with a full range of conflicting answers.

The network presidents—Dr. Frank Stanton of CBS, Julian Goodman of NBC and Leonard Goldenson of ABC all defended TV, particularly TV newsmen, against charges that they dwell excessively on violence in accounts of civil disorders and the Viet Nam war.

Said Goldenson: "We are presently reaping the harvest of having laid it on the line at a time when many Americans are reluctant to accept the images reflected by the mirror we have held up to our society." Goodman seconded the notion. "The medium," he said, "is blamed for the message." In defense of crime programs, Stanton maintained that "throughout history, violence has had a prominent place in art, drama and literature."

Though witnesses were sympathetic with newscasters, they were scornful of other programming's effect on children. Robert MacNeil, a former NBC newsman now with the BBC, called TV the fabricator of a "decivilizing" mythological America, where violence is "sanctified" as a respected solution to human problems. "The adventure serials, the police shows, and the westerns all say that violence is fun, violence is manly, violence gets you girls," he said. "The networks may be cutting down on the number of blanks fired, but the cherishing of guns goes on."

Other witnesses were equally harsh. Freelance Reporter Ben H. Bagdikian agreed that children are learning that "the only difference in tactics and ethics between a cop and a crook is who has the badge." He concluded that "it is as though we delivered our children to someone who took them away for four or five hours every day in their formative years to watch police interrogations, gangsters beating enemies, spies performing fatal brain surgery, and demonstrations in how to kill and maim.

Does anyone seriously contend that after five or ten years, the child's view of life is not influenced?"