What one parent considers “indecent” doesn’t faze another in the least. But we should all be able to agree that no kid needs a steady diet of blood and gore. (If they can’t figure out whether Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are real, what the heck are they going to make of a gory gun shoot-out, even if it is animated?)

We’re not exaggerating the problem here. The Parents Television Council recently released a study, Dying to Entertain, which found that violence on prime time broadcast television has increased 75 percent since 1998. In contrast, a Kaiser Family Foundation study found that fewer than five percent of television programs had an anti-violence theme or showed the consequences of committing violent acts. In a word: Scary.

Get smart. Take control of your family’s television. Check out our Solutions to learn what you can do to protect your kids. Get involved with the Big Picture and join the STA in showing TV programmers there’s an ongoing need for quality kids TV. 

Tune In To These Facts Over 1,000 studies have been conducted on children, television and violence. According to the majority of the findings, including a recent U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee report, kids who watch violent programs are more likely to exhibit violent behavior. Exposure to media violence may even alter brain function, according to a June 2005 study by the Indiana University School of Medicine. Childhood viewing of violent TV has been linked to later aggression in adults, as reported by the American Psychological Association.

More Info There are only one-third fewer scenes depicting violence in programs rated TV-G (suitable for all ages) than in those programs rated TV-14 (unsuitable for children under 14) according to a 1997 study by Professor George Gerbner of Temple University. 10% of youth violence can be attributed to children's television viewing, according to estimates from the University of Michigan. Two-thirds of TV programming contains some violence, with an average of 6 acts of violence per hour, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In a 2007 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report [in MS Word], the highlighted the many studies showing that children's extended exposure to TV violence may lead to more aggressive behavior.

	The Problem
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