Violent+Death+in+the+Media

On Friday, June 10, 2016, the Dallas-Love Field Airport temporarily closed due to a security threat. The events surrounding the shooting were reported through various online news sources. Moments after the event unfolded, an Instagram user posted a video of the actual event to their social media account. The video showed a man in an airport security uniform, with is gun drawn and pointed ahead of him, yelling at a man slightly out-of-frame. His voice can be heard saying "Get down!" followed by nine gunshots fired by him only. Shortly after the gun was drawn and the security officer began yelling, airport passengers heard the noise and can be seen on video walking towards the scene of the violence. Instead of passengers expressing fear or worry for the man being shot, and instead of running the opposite direction of the gunfire, they can be seen walking towards the shooting while pulling out their phones and filming. The scene was a domestic dispute where a man, who is a son and a father himself, armed only with a rock he had picked up from airport landscaping, was being shot nine times by an airport security officer, perhaps fatally. It appeared that those witnessing the events were watching this tragedy in real time as though they were viewing a film. They acted to preserve this on their own film devices, perhaps for entertainment purposes. The video of this shooting brings me to consider how the media's depictions of violent death have dulled Americans reactions to real life tragedy. ||  ||
 * ** Introduction **

In the past, violent death was a taboo subject for adults to explain to children. Now death is a regular discussion across the media that children consume. If now adults grew up in a time where their perception of death is molded from media and the gratuitous violent death it contains, it could lead to a dulled reaction when witnessing real life death and tragedy. A study by the Department of Sociology at the University of Ethics talks to kids aged 10-17 about how they process and reflect on death. The study states that while media provides children with an "omnipresent" source on anything death-related, without educated discussions from adults, children are left to form their own uneducated opinions on the topic (1). If the Coombs study is correctly representative, then children are developing their perspective on death based on what they see in the media. The media often portrays violence and murder as a way of dealing with conflict. Often, innocent lives are lost in a cinematic war; a news reported terrorism attack, a video game that forces players to kill innocent bystanders or even in real footage of school shootings. These killers are lifted to fame through the media. If these are the media's depictions of conflict resolution, then it might be hard for children to separate these actions as horrific. Children who regularly view harsh and tragic imagery may no longer consider it horrifying. If a child seeing gratuitous violence can say it's something they would never participate in or do, their exposure alone could cause a desensitized reaction when witnessing similar actions in real life.
 * Developing Perceptions of Death **

There has been a long going discussion on whether or not the media is a reflection or a predictor of real world behaviors. A study conducted in 2013 by the Entertainment Software Administration (2) compared the violence in video games available to children ages 12-17 versus government reported violence in the youth of the same age range. The results showed a substantial rise in video game violence but an equally opposing drop in real life violence. Similar studies I read that focus on media as causation for real world violence seem to show similar results and remain unable to draw a connection between a rise in media violence and an increase in real-world, or societal violence.
 * Violence in Video Games **

Being surrounded by violent death in the media from a young age would influence a person's perspective on violent content in the games, movies and television shows they choose as a viewer. A study in the Journal of Communication shows that after subjects viewed movie trailers including violent death, this factor made them no less likely to see the film (3). In the studies mentioned, it is said that when viewing this violence as a meaningful part of a storyline, it is perceived as a human cost and holds high value to the overall product. If not a deterrent, it can be decided that violent death is simply something we accept as a part of media consumption. If such an accepted behavior in media, this could blur the barrier of whether violent death is acceptable to view in real life situations. What we choose to see as consumers of media is causal to what the media will produce for us to view. An article published in the Journal of Advertising goes deep into detail about why companies promote violent content and how that comes into the evaluations of when and where their ads appear during death-related content (4). Their data supports the claim that viewers will react differently to advertising during content like "graphic killings, mutilations and suicide". If an audience's emotions are affected and they react differently to advertisements while viewing programming that depicts death-related content, then it could be said that the reactions likely don't just stop there. This study examines how our awareness and hesitance to accept the inevitability of death creates existential anxiety that could translate into the viewer's perception of the advertisements aired. It would be logical that this fear could transition from not only the movie or television show into the ads but also into an individual's real life experiences.
 * Violence in Movies and Television **

President Obama reacted to the Dallas shooting by saying "There are no possible justifications for these attacks or any violence against law enforcement” (5). Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that the reaction to these tragic events in Dallas “must not be violence”(5). The message is clear that violence is not the solution. However, the media does not often present the public with television shows, movies or video games that portray healthy non-violent alternatives to conflict.
 * Political Response to Media Violence **

(1) Coombs, Sara. “Death Wears a T-Shirt: listening to young people talk about death.” Mortality 19.3 (2014): p284-302. Article.
 * References **

(2) Ferguson, Christopher J. “Does Media Violence Predict Societal Violence?”: It depends on what you look at and when” // Journal of Communication // 65.1 (Feb2015): pE1-E22. Article.

(3) Bartsch, Anne, and Mares, Marie-Louise. “Making Sense of Violence: perceived meaningfulness as a predictor of audience interest in violent media content.” //Journal of Communication// 64.5 (Oct2014): p956-976. Article. (4) Rangan, Priyamvadha, Surendra Singh, Mark Landau and Jungsil Choi. “Impact of Death-Related Television Programming on (5) Fernandez, Manny, Perez-Pena, Richard, and Engel, Jonah. “Five Dallas Officers Were Killed as Payback, Police Chief Says.” //The New York Times//. The New York Times Company, 8 July 2016. Web. 12 July 2016. (6) “Dallas sniper profile: Micah Johnson was sent home from Afghanistan.” //The Guardian.// Associated Press, 09 July 2016. Web. 12 July 2016. (7) “Afghan tour made Dallas gunman a ‘hermit’: family says.” //CBS//. CBS Interactive Incorporated, 11 July 2016. Web. 11 July 2016. Advertising Evaluation.” //Journal of Advertising// 44.4 (2015) p326-337. Article. (8) “After Newtown.” //What’s Next: Violence in the Media.// PBS//.// GPB. (Dec 2012) Web Stream. 12 July 2012

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