Thursday, April 3, 2008
Over easter
I plan to start writing my essay, because as well as saving time later, it will help me to work out whether there is anything else I still need to do, and if there is, I will have time to do it.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The Jamie Bulger case: More media links
This information came from the site http://www.angelfire.com/ks/KillerDollFactory/media.txt
Although this is a personal blog, which suggests it is merely one persons opinion and therefore not that trustworthy, it uses newspaper articles to back up the point about the media sensationalising crimes.
POSITION
Despite the fact that the boys had a long history of violent, anti-social behaviour, Chucky, with his violence, and remorselessness provided a suitable scapegoat. Those kids were time bombs. If they hadn't killed Jamie Bulger, they would've killed someone else, a little way down the track.
ARTICLES
In the closing scenes, however, are six deadly similairties.
1. Part of the story takes place in the woodland where young army cadets are playing war games. Instead of real bullets, they use paint pellets colored red and blue. If you are hit with a pellet, you are "dead". Chucky is hit in the face with a pellet and marked with blue paint.
2. Chucky is lured by a boy who calls out to him and runs away to entice him to follow.
3. Chucky's face is terrible mutilated during an attempt to kill him. Some is sliced off with a scythe.
4. Chucky doesn't lie down despite his terrible injuries, so his attackers have to finish him off.
5. The final scenes of violence in Child's Play 3 take part in a fun fair which featues a railway track. Others are filmed in a cemetery.
6. The doll is destroyed by the spinning blades of a gigantic rotor which dismembers it.
1. Shortly before they killed Jamie, Thompson and Venables squirted him in the face with blue paint thye had stolen.
2. The boys lured Jamie to join them in the same way.
3. Jamie's face was mutilated by the boys who attacked him with a 10cm wide metal bar.
4. Jamie also refused to give up when confronted by the two older boys
5. The final stages of Jamie's life were played out on a railway track beside a cemetary.
6. Jamie's body was crushed and dismembered by a train running over it.
Police were also told that a Roald Dahl story, The Swan, available in Liverpool schools and libraries, foretold the death. In the story, two bullies abduct a younger child and drag him to a railway embankment where a train almost kills him and he is threatened with drowning. He eventually flies to safety.
Justice Morland, passing sentence on Wednesday ,said: "It is not for me to pass judgement on their upbringing, but I suspect exposure to violent video films may, in part, be an explanation"
BRITAIN PUTS VIDEO NASTIES IN THE DOCK
British Sky Broadcasting cancelled a screeing of the film tonight. It has shown the film twice recently.Meanwhile, the Irish Republic's biggest video renting chain withdrew Child's Play 1, 2 and 3 from its shelves.
This shows the influence that newspapers can have on other media platforms, with Sky Broadcasting removing the film from its scheduling in order not to cause a controversy.
Although this is a personal blog, which suggests it is merely one persons opinion and therefore not that trustworthy, it uses newspaper articles to back up the point about the media sensationalising crimes.
POSITION
Despite the fact that the boys had a long history of violent, anti-social behaviour, Chucky, with his violence, and remorselessness provided a suitable scapegoat. Those kids were time bombs. If they hadn't killed Jamie Bulger, they would've killed someone else, a little way down the track.
ARTICLES
In the closing scenes, however, are six deadly similairties.
1. Part of the story takes place in the woodland where young army cadets are playing war games. Instead of real bullets, they use paint pellets colored red and blue. If you are hit with a pellet, you are "dead". Chucky is hit in the face with a pellet and marked with blue paint.
2. Chucky is lured by a boy who calls out to him and runs away to entice him to follow.
3. Chucky's face is terrible mutilated during an attempt to kill him. Some is sliced off with a scythe.
4. Chucky doesn't lie down despite his terrible injuries, so his attackers have to finish him off.
5. The final scenes of violence in Child's Play 3 take part in a fun fair which featues a railway track. Others are filmed in a cemetery.
6. The doll is destroyed by the spinning blades of a gigantic rotor which dismembers it.
1. Shortly before they killed Jamie, Thompson and Venables squirted him in the face with blue paint thye had stolen.
2. The boys lured Jamie to join them in the same way.
3. Jamie's face was mutilated by the boys who attacked him with a 10cm wide metal bar.
4. Jamie also refused to give up when confronted by the two older boys
5. The final stages of Jamie's life were played out on a railway track beside a cemetary.
6. Jamie's body was crushed and dismembered by a train running over it.
Police were also told that a Roald Dahl story, The Swan, available in Liverpool schools and libraries, foretold the death. In the story, two bullies abduct a younger child and drag him to a railway embankment where a train almost kills him and he is threatened with drowning. He eventually flies to safety.
Justice Morland, passing sentence on Wednesday ,said: "It is not for me to pass judgement on their upbringing, but I suspect exposure to violent video films may, in part, be an explanation"
BRITAIN PUTS VIDEO NASTIES IN THE DOCK
British Sky Broadcasting cancelled a screeing of the film tonight. It has shown the film twice recently.Meanwhile, the Irish Republic's biggest video renting chain withdrew Child's Play 1, 2 and 3 from its shelves.
This shows the influence that newspapers can have on other media platforms, with Sky Broadcasting removing the film from its scheduling in order not to cause a controversy.
The BBFC
THE BBFC
compiled from http://www.bbfc.co.uk/news/press/19970101.html
1. The BBFC, or British Board of Film Classification, is the UK censorship organisation, responsible for classifying all films and videos.
2. It was established in 1912. The 1909 Cinematograph Act, which offered guidelines about the running of cinemas, was said to be what led to the film industry founding the BBFC.
3. Local council legally have the final say in the classification or showing of a film in their area, although the majority of the time they leave this up to the BBFC. Occasionally, local councils will go against BBFC decision
4. The BBFC is the strictest film regulator in the Western World, providing stricter censorship than anywhere else in Europe. It is also stricter than the regulation of other media forms; for example books, artwork and theatre, which are all censored far less heavily, or not at all.
LEGISLATION
1. The Video Recordings Act of 1984 stated that all video releases must be classified by an authority, with the responsibility given to the BBFC. This was to combat the increasing lack of control that came with the invention of the VCR. The criteria used to classify videos were stricter than that of cinema releases due to the ability to rewind and pause. The supply of unclassified) videos was made a criminal offence, as was supplying 15 and 18-certificate videos to people under age. R18 videos could only be sold in licensed sex shops.
2. In 1994, the Criminal Justice Act was passed. Althouygh not aimed at film classification, it had an effect on it nevertheless. It extended the power of the 1978 Protection of Children Act to the Video Recordings Act. It also included a clause that restricted videos that showed ways for crimes to be committed. There was also a clause covering potential harm "caused to potential viewers or, by their behaviour, to society," to cover the new idea that film has the power to cause harm to viewers.
3. Other acts that the BBFC has to take into account are:
• 1936 Cinematograph Films (animals) Act – This piece of legislation banned deliberate animal cruelty from cinema films
• 1959 Obscene Publications Act – The Act that defines obscenity, which can then be applied to film
• 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act – The British copyright legislation paperwork, which covers works across all media
CATEGORISATION
• Classifications currently in use are Uc (particularly suitable for pre-school children), U (suitable for everyone), PG (suitable for anyone, but might contain some material unsuitable for children) , 12 (suitable for people aged 12 and over), 12A (suitable for people over 12, and those under 12 provided they are with a parent), 15 (suitable for people over 15), 18 (suitable for people over 18) and R18 (works that can only be sold in licensed sex shops).
• Classsifications that have been dropped along the way are A (Adult, suggesting it might contain material unsuitable for children. Replaced by PG), H (Horror, which was advisory, although used by local authorities to ban children under 16. Replaced by X), X (which excluded people under 16 until 1970, then people under 18. Replaced by 18), AA (which excluded people under 14. Replaced by 15)
Imitable Techniques
The BBFC is concerned about detailed portrayal of criminal and violent techniques and the glamorisation of easily accessible weapons. Action which may promote illegal or anti-social behaviour, and portrayals of potentially dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to copy, are of particular concern. Examples of the Board’s concerns in this area include combat techniques, hanging, suicide and self-harm.
Research conducted by the Policy Studies Institute in 1993, was the first major survey of the tastes and viewing habits of violent young offenders and a comparable group of non-offenders of the same age range (12 to 17). The research findings were announced at a BBFC Press Conference on 11 April 1994. These were that:
(1) all teenage boys were watching much the same films, with a strong preference for macho heroics, in particular films and videos featuring the lethal escapades of the action stars of the nineties, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Lee, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and the ever popular Bruce Lee; but
(2) the offenders' backgrounds were so different from those of the non-offenders, and the conditions of their lives so chaotic that it was possible that they might be bringing different attitudes to the viewing and drawing different things from it.
Thus the report stressed the need for a follow-up study which would look into not just what young offenders watch, but how they watch and how they interpret what they see.
In June 1994, the Home Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons supported the Board's plans for just such a follow-up study into the viewing of violence by serious young offenders in custody, and later that year the BBFC approached the Home Office together with a long-time member of the Board's Video Consultative Council, Dr Kevin Browne of the University of Birmingham. In 1995, the Home Office approved Dr Browne's research proposal and agreed to fund it over the next two years.
The BBFC is a research-based organisation. For many years, it has been concerned at the capacity of videos to teach copycat crime, and it is currently the only classification board in the world that regularly cuts the use of imitable weaponry, dangerous techniques of unarmed combat, and imitable techniques of criminal activity, like the stealing of cars, or breaking and entering premises. We needed to research the validity of the Board's approach, particularly the extent to which youngsters with a criminal record were likely to bring to the viewing of such scenes a knowledge of crime which enables them to use videos as a source book of criminal techniques. The second phase of the Board's research programme, conducted by Dr Browne, was designed to provide such information. It is due to be published at the end of October.
Phase Three of this research is currently in the planning stage. It will involve weekly in-depth interviews with violent young offenders over a period of months, exploring their fantasies and noting the extent to which mediaviolence contributes to those fantasies or triggers their acting out. This research will bring together some of the country's leading experts in the field. Details will be announced later this autumn.
All three phases of the Board's research into the effects of screen violence were discussed at the world conference on screen violence held by the BBFC in London in September 1996. The conference also discussed the possibility of international joint funding for such research in the future. The progress of these research initiatives will be discussed again at an international conference of European classifiers and media regulators to be held in London at the end of September 1997.
compiled from http://www.bbfc.co.uk/news/press/19970101.html
1. The BBFC, or British Board of Film Classification, is the UK censorship organisation, responsible for classifying all films and videos.
2. It was established in 1912. The 1909 Cinematograph Act, which offered guidelines about the running of cinemas, was said to be what led to the film industry founding the BBFC.
3. Local council legally have the final say in the classification or showing of a film in their area, although the majority of the time they leave this up to the BBFC. Occasionally, local councils will go against BBFC decision
4. The BBFC is the strictest film regulator in the Western World, providing stricter censorship than anywhere else in Europe. It is also stricter than the regulation of other media forms; for example books, artwork and theatre, which are all censored far less heavily, or not at all.
LEGISLATION
1. The Video Recordings Act of 1984 stated that all video releases must be classified by an authority, with the responsibility given to the BBFC. This was to combat the increasing lack of control that came with the invention of the VCR. The criteria used to classify videos were stricter than that of cinema releases due to the ability to rewind and pause. The supply of unclassified) videos was made a criminal offence, as was supplying 15 and 18-certificate videos to people under age. R18 videos could only be sold in licensed sex shops.
2. In 1994, the Criminal Justice Act was passed. Althouygh not aimed at film classification, it had an effect on it nevertheless. It extended the power of the 1978 Protection of Children Act to the Video Recordings Act. It also included a clause that restricted videos that showed ways for crimes to be committed. There was also a clause covering potential harm "caused to potential viewers or, by their behaviour, to society," to cover the new idea that film has the power to cause harm to viewers.
3. Other acts that the BBFC has to take into account are:
• 1936 Cinematograph Films (animals) Act – This piece of legislation banned deliberate animal cruelty from cinema films
• 1959 Obscene Publications Act – The Act that defines obscenity, which can then be applied to film
• 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act – The British copyright legislation paperwork, which covers works across all media
CATEGORISATION
• Classifications currently in use are Uc (particularly suitable for pre-school children), U (suitable for everyone), PG (suitable for anyone, but might contain some material unsuitable for children) , 12 (suitable for people aged 12 and over), 12A (suitable for people over 12, and those under 12 provided they are with a parent), 15 (suitable for people over 15), 18 (suitable for people over 18) and R18 (works that can only be sold in licensed sex shops).
• Classsifications that have been dropped along the way are A (Adult, suggesting it might contain material unsuitable for children. Replaced by PG), H (Horror, which was advisory, although used by local authorities to ban children under 16. Replaced by X), X (which excluded people under 16 until 1970, then people under 18. Replaced by 18), AA (which excluded people under 14. Replaced by 15)
Imitable Techniques
The BBFC is concerned about detailed portrayal of criminal and violent techniques and the glamorisation of easily accessible weapons. Action which may promote illegal or anti-social behaviour, and portrayals of potentially dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to copy, are of particular concern. Examples of the Board’s concerns in this area include combat techniques, hanging, suicide and self-harm.
Research conducted by the Policy Studies Institute in 1993, was the first major survey of the tastes and viewing habits of violent young offenders and a comparable group of non-offenders of the same age range (12 to 17). The research findings were announced at a BBFC Press Conference on 11 April 1994. These were that:
(1) all teenage boys were watching much the same films, with a strong preference for macho heroics, in particular films and videos featuring the lethal escapades of the action stars of the nineties, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Lee, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and the ever popular Bruce Lee; but
(2) the offenders' backgrounds were so different from those of the non-offenders, and the conditions of their lives so chaotic that it was possible that they might be bringing different attitudes to the viewing and drawing different things from it.
Thus the report stressed the need for a follow-up study which would look into not just what young offenders watch, but how they watch and how they interpret what they see.
In June 1994, the Home Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons supported the Board's plans for just such a follow-up study into the viewing of violence by serious young offenders in custody, and later that year the BBFC approached the Home Office together with a long-time member of the Board's Video Consultative Council, Dr Kevin Browne of the University of Birmingham. In 1995, the Home Office approved Dr Browne's research proposal and agreed to fund it over the next two years.
The BBFC is a research-based organisation. For many years, it has been concerned at the capacity of videos to teach copycat crime, and it is currently the only classification board in the world that regularly cuts the use of imitable weaponry, dangerous techniques of unarmed combat, and imitable techniques of criminal activity, like the stealing of cars, or breaking and entering premises. We needed to research the validity of the Board's approach, particularly the extent to which youngsters with a criminal record were likely to bring to the viewing of such scenes a knowledge of crime which enables them to use videos as a source book of criminal techniques. The second phase of the Board's research programme, conducted by Dr Browne, was designed to provide such information. It is due to be published at the end of October.
Phase Three of this research is currently in the planning stage. It will involve weekly in-depth interviews with violent young offenders over a period of months, exploring their fantasies and noting the extent to which mediaviolence contributes to those fantasies or triggers their acting out. This research will bring together some of the country's leading experts in the field. Details will be announced later this autumn.
All three phases of the Board's research into the effects of screen violence were discussed at the world conference on screen violence held by the BBFC in London in September 1996. The conference also discussed the possibility of international joint funding for such research in the future. The progress of these research initiatives will be discussed again at an international conference of European classifiers and media regulators to be held in London at the end of September 1997.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Bobo Doll Experiment
In the US, threats of legislative action led to a 1994 agreement that the television industry would fund a project for monitoring the ‘status of television violence.
’
The US reports represent the most recent and extensive application of counting techniques to media violence. Projects concentrated on examining the amount and types of violence shown on television. The 1997 NTVS Report argues that there is clear evidence, based on ‘careful and critical readings’ of research collected over the last 40 years, that media violence contributes significantly to violence in society referring particularly to the Surgeon General's Report Television and Social Behaviour (1972) and the Bandura, Ross and Ross study of the Bobo doll
The Bobo Doll Studies
The ‘Bobo’ is an inflatable plastic doll, about one metre tall, with a weighted base, designed so that when knocked over it will rebound. The research team showed experimental groups of young people film of another person beating such a doll with a baseball bat then, having frustrated them by taking favoured toys away, put them in a room with a similar doll and bat.
In some experiments, the model had been rewarded or punished for beating the doll, forms of punishment including one described by the researchers as ‘slapping.’ The researchers found that those who had been shown film of the model beating the doll were more likely to do so than the control group, while those who saw the model being rewarded were more likely to do so than those who saw the model being punished. Control group members acted aggressively in a variety of ways but they did not beat the doll with the baseball bat. The failure to take account of the difference between beating a doll with a baseball bat on the one hand is a striking aspect of the research.
There is also the issue that applies to all research studies, whether or not what is seen in the experiment room is anything like what actually occurs in real life.
’The US reports represent the most recent and extensive application of counting techniques to media violence. Projects concentrated on examining the amount and types of violence shown on television. The 1997 NTVS Report argues that there is clear evidence, based on ‘careful and critical readings’ of research collected over the last 40 years, that media violence contributes significantly to violence in society referring particularly to the Surgeon General's Report Television and Social Behaviour (1972) and the Bandura, Ross and Ross study of the Bobo doll
The Bobo Doll Studies
The ‘Bobo’ is an inflatable plastic doll, about one metre tall, with a weighted base, designed so that when knocked over it will rebound. The research team showed experimental groups of young people film of another person beating such a doll with a baseball bat then, having frustrated them by taking favoured toys away, put them in a room with a similar doll and bat.
In some experiments, the model had been rewarded or punished for beating the doll, forms of punishment including one described by the researchers as ‘slapping.’ The researchers found that those who had been shown film of the model beating the doll were more likely to do so than the control group, while those who saw the model being rewarded were more likely to do so than those who saw the model being punished. Control group members acted aggressively in a variety of ways but they did not beat the doll with the baseball bat. The failure to take account of the difference between beating a doll with a baseball bat on the one hand is a striking aspect of the research.
There is also the issue that applies to all research studies, whether or not what is seen in the experiment room is anything like what actually occurs in real life.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Possible questions for one-to-one interviews
Type of source: Primary
Benefits of source:
- In depth responses, more personal
- More controlled
- People open up more than in a focus group
Limitations of source:
- Only one viewpoint
- Time-consuming to organise and carry out
- Can't guarantee you will get any useful information
Benefits of source:
- In depth responses, more personal
- More controlled
- People open up more than in a focus group
Limitations of source:
- Only one viewpoint
- Time-consuming to organise and carry out
- Can't guarantee you will get any useful information
Monday, March 17, 2008
Progress check
What have I compiled so far?
- Many notes from my case studies, some for every case study and particularly detailed notes for Jamie Bulger and Dawson college
- Notes from inportant books, for example those by W. James Potter. Consists of research done into television effects, with some statistics that I could easily use
- Extracts from newspaper articles relevant to my specific case studies, particularly Jamie Bulger
- Online questionnaire asking for some basic views about copycat crime. 15 questionnaires returned.
- Initial proposal and detailed proposal
- Notes from theorists, particularly on the opposing side of the debate as to whether there is such thing as copycat crime
- Some notes on research studies done, including the Bobo doll experiment and other similar studies
- Definitions/looked at relevant theories, such as hypodermic needle model
What do I still need to do
- More depth of research into existing research studies, particularly ones that show no link between media and crime
- Brainstorm questions for the one-to-one interviews
- Conduct my one-to-one interviews
- Analysis of methods of research
-
- Many notes from my case studies, some for every case study and particularly detailed notes for Jamie Bulger and Dawson college
- Notes from inportant books, for example those by W. James Potter. Consists of research done into television effects, with some statistics that I could easily use
- Extracts from newspaper articles relevant to my specific case studies, particularly Jamie Bulger
- Online questionnaire asking for some basic views about copycat crime. 15 questionnaires returned.
- Initial proposal and detailed proposal
- Notes from theorists, particularly on the opposing side of the debate as to whether there is such thing as copycat crime
- Some notes on research studies done, including the Bobo doll experiment and other similar studies
- Definitions/looked at relevant theories, such as hypodermic needle model
What do I still need to do
- More depth of research into existing research studies, particularly ones that show no link between media and crime
- Brainstorm questions for the one-to-one interviews
- Conduct my one-to-one interviews
- Analysis of methods of research
-
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Extracts from books
"The 11 Myths Of Media Violence" - W. James Potter
Media Factors in the process of influence
Frequency of Violence
Risk increases when:
- There are higher rates of violence in the exposures
Television World Profile on Frequency
- Since the early 1950's, between 60 and 80% of all television programmes have contained at least one act of violence
- The average rate for violent acts in fictional television programming over the past 40 years has been between six and eight acts of physical violence per every hour of programming
- Violence is prevalent in the news: if it bleeds, it leads
Context of Violence
Risk increases when:
- The perpertrator is rewarded or at least not punished
- The perpetrator is attractive/a hero
- There are no serious consequences (such as pain or harm) to the victim
- The action is portrayed as being justified
- Violence is portayed in a realistic setting with realistic characters
- Violence appears in a humorous context
- Violent portrayals are arousing
Television World Profile on Context
- Less than 30% of the violence is portrayed as being punished
- About 40% of perpetrators are portrayed as being attractive
- Only 15% of the violent incidents portray serious consequences (such as pain or harm) to the victim
- More than one quarter of violent action is portrayed as being justified
- Over half of the violence is portrayed in a realistic setting
- More than 40% of violent action appears in a humorous context
"On Media Violence" - W. James Potter
Summary of Major Findings About Effects of Exposure to Media Violence
Immediate Effects
1. Exposure to violent portrayals in the media can lead to subsequent viewer aggression through disinhibition
2. The immediate disinhibition effect is influenced by viewer demographics, viewer traits, viewer states, characteristics in the portrayals, and situational cues
3. Exposure to violence in the media can lead to fear effects
4. An immediate fear effect is influenced by a set of key factors about viewers and the portrayals
5. Exposure to violence in the media can lead to desensitisation
6. An immediate desensitisation effect is influenced by a set of key factors about viewers and the portrayals
Long Term Effects
7. Long-term exposure to media violence is related to aggression in a persons life
8. Media violence is related to subsequent violence in society
9. People exposed to many violent portrayals over a long time will come to exaggerate their chances of being victimised
10. People exposed to many violent portrayals over a long time will come to be more accepting of violence
Media Factors in the process of influence
Frequency of Violence
Risk increases when:
- There are higher rates of violence in the exposures
Television World Profile on Frequency
- Since the early 1950's, between 60 and 80% of all television programmes have contained at least one act of violence
- The average rate for violent acts in fictional television programming over the past 40 years has been between six and eight acts of physical violence per every hour of programming
- Violence is prevalent in the news: if it bleeds, it leads
Context of Violence
Risk increases when:
- The perpertrator is rewarded or at least not punished
- The perpetrator is attractive/a hero
- There are no serious consequences (such as pain or harm) to the victim
- The action is portrayed as being justified
- Violence is portayed in a realistic setting with realistic characters
- Violence appears in a humorous context
- Violent portrayals are arousing
Television World Profile on Context
- Less than 30% of the violence is portrayed as being punished
- About 40% of perpetrators are portrayed as being attractive
- Only 15% of the violent incidents portray serious consequences (such as pain or harm) to the victim
- More than one quarter of violent action is portrayed as being justified
- Over half of the violence is portrayed in a realistic setting
- More than 40% of violent action appears in a humorous context
"On Media Violence" - W. James Potter
Summary of Major Findings About Effects of Exposure to Media Violence
Immediate Effects
1. Exposure to violent portrayals in the media can lead to subsequent viewer aggression through disinhibition
2. The immediate disinhibition effect is influenced by viewer demographics, viewer traits, viewer states, characteristics in the portrayals, and situational cues
3. Exposure to violence in the media can lead to fear effects
4. An immediate fear effect is influenced by a set of key factors about viewers and the portrayals
5. Exposure to violence in the media can lead to desensitisation
6. An immediate desensitisation effect is influenced by a set of key factors about viewers and the portrayals
Long Term Effects
7. Long-term exposure to media violence is related to aggression in a persons life
8. Media violence is related to subsequent violence in society
9. People exposed to many violent portrayals over a long time will come to exaggerate their chances of being victimised
10. People exposed to many violent portrayals over a long time will come to be more accepting of violence
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