Notes from visit to BFI library

About Specific Case Studies

Jamie Bulger
Headlines and extracts:
"DEMON DOLL FILM" - The Guardian 26/11/93
"NO CHILD SHOULD WATCH THESE VIOLENT VIDEOS" - The Guardian 26/11/93
"WE MUST PROTECT YOUNG MINDS" - Independent 26/11/93
- David Buckingham said in the Guardian on 26/11/93 "Videos provide a nice easy explanation" and "Banning videos won't prevent this sort of this happening again"
- Friend Patrick Claeys said "Jon was always acting out the roles of his favourite video villains, once boasting he was the bad guy in Terminator" - The Evening Standard 25/11/93
- The Daily Mail reported on 18/12/93 "demand for the video Childs Play 3 has increased since it was linked to the murder of James Bulger"
- The Guardian reported that 181,000 children saw the film on the 15th December 1993
- On 26/11/93 The Independent linked the James Bulger case to the Roald Dahl book 'The Swan,' which was about 2 bullies who abduct a child and drag him to the railway where a train almost kills him. He is also threatened with drowning. It could be argued that this is a lot more similar that Childs Play 3 to what actually happened, and this book was available in Liverpool libraries.



Survey
Dr Ann Hagell and Dr Tim Newburn compared viewing habits of 78 young offenders aged between 12 and 18, and over 500 schoolchildren of similar ages.
Soap operas and similar dramas dominated the choices of both groups. The Bill was the favourite programme of the Young Offenders, while the schoolchildren preferred Home And Away and Neighbours. The study also concluded that the Young Offenders did not watch more telelvision or more violent programmes. The Offenders actually had less access to television, and sattelite channels, and as a result were less likely to watch on their own.
This information came from an article in Television Today, from April 14th 1994

Notes from Books
"Media And Violence" - Karen Boyle
Rather than a media link between the killers in cases such as Jamie Bulger and Columbine, she suggests that there is a male link instead, which nobody has looked at.
She also believes that in observational studies, children do what they believe will please the examiner. For example, in a Bobo-doll style experiment, one child said "Look mummy, there's the doll we have to hit" - Gauntlett 1995
"The Myth Of Media Violence" - David Trend - "Watching doesn't make us violent"
"On Media Violence" - W. James Potter
"Violence And The Media" - Kay Weaver and Cynthia Carter - Links to censorship debate