Violence and the Media

Violence and the Media
Joshua Verana
COMM3 MWF 1pm
California State University Fresno
Spring 2013

TOPIC: Violence and the media.
GENERAL PURPOSE: This speech will persuade.
SPECIFIC PURPOSE: The purpose of this speech is to persuade others to be more cautious about the acts of violence that can effect children displayed in the media.
THESIS: This speech is not to condemn violence in the media, but rather inform people that violence in the media can influence children and that grownups should supervise what younger children see on the media, and show more suitable things for youth to see.
INTRODUCTION: In today 's society we are surrounded by the media due to the technological age we are in. It is hard to escape the media since it surrounds us everywhere and at anytime.
CENTRAL IDEA: Aggressive children and violence in the media have a positive correlation. It is well known that children tend to watch lots of TV. We also know that violence in the media sells. In fact, according to The National Center For Children Exposed to Violence “Violence sells so well that several TV programs that contain violence average six violent acts per hour” (NCCEV - Media Violence., 2005).
PREVIEW: Today I will be discussing the issue of violence in the media that is easily accessible to children. I will first be talking about violence and the media as deadly combination. Next I will be talking about how children were affected by being exposed to such violence. Finally, I will discuss some of the possible actions we can talk to minimize the exposure of violence towards the youths.
[Transition: Now that we got an idea of violence and the media, we will now begin to go in more depth.]
Body:
Today 's media has transitioned into the age of violence. Kids typically watch television because they need to be kept entertained since kids are restless and need something to do to occupy their time. Now during this day and age devices are inexpensive and widely available to the consumers which leads to kids wanting to buy consoles that can play games, such as, the Xbox or the Play Station. Due to this combination of events children end up playing a vast amount of violence which then becomes popular among kids in general. Game companies have found out that kids tend to be more interested in acts of violence because its something they know they can 't do in real life but are given the opportunity to in the virtual world. This leads to the theme of violence in most games because as said before, violence sells. Well according to the The Psychological Effects of Violent Media on Children, “by age 18, the average American child will have viewed about 200,000 acts of violence on television alone” (Tompkins, 2003).
[Transition: Now that we talked about how violence sells and is why we see it through out the media, we will not move on to how violence affects the youth.] Affects of violence in children. With the amount of violence surrounding a child because of playing to much video games or watching to much television, naturally they would grow up being more aggressive and violent. For example, if all you saw were conflicts being solved by beating up the other person then when ever you come across some conflict your immediate reaction is to solve it by beating up the other person. According to a text book on aggressive behaviors by Huesmann “Children that watch violence on TV will generally be more aggressive” (Huesmann, 14). It is not only television that sparks violence in children but also video games as well. The Grand Theft Auto franchise undeniably promotes violence and theft. Eventually as children grow up they pick up the habits they have from playing a video games An article from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, or AACAP for short, states, “Some researchers have demonstrated that very young children will imitate aggressive acts on TV in their play with peers. Before age 4, children are unable to distinguish between fact and fantasy and may view violence as an ordinary occurrence” (Beresin, 2012). A story by ABC news revealed, “A northeast Ohio teen was convicted of shooting his parents in October 2007 after they took the Microsoft game Halo 3 away from him. The judge said the teen was so obsessed over a video game that he may have believed that, like the characters in the game, death wasn 't real.” (Martinez, 2009). [Transition: Now that we talked about the effects of violence on kids, I will now begin to talk about some actions we can do to reduce the amount of violence kids will be exposed to.] Changing children idea of what is popular. With the amount of violence intergrated in the media today its impossible to shield them from being exposed to all the violence on TV. However, we can shield them from violence from games. One simple solution is for parents not to buy kids such violent games such as,Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Call of Duty. Instead of exposing them to violence, we can instead show them other types of games out there such as puzzle games which has a lot of educational benefits. All we have to do is to change what they think is fun and exciting by showing them that violence isn 't the only way to have fun.
[Transition: After hearing about how violence is integrated in all the media around us, I hope that I gave you a clear understanding of the issue of violence that surround us.
CONCLUSION: Today I have talked about the current issue of the media and how there is violence everywhere especially in video games. From there we moved on to how violence in games can cause major problems in youths. Lastly, we talk about some actions we can take to reduce the problem of violence that surround the children.

References
Beresin, E. (n.d.). The Impact of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents: Opportunities for Clinical Interventions | American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/developmen
Huesmann, L. R. (1994). Aggressive behavior: current perspectives. New York: Plenum Press.
Martinez, E. (2009, May 17). Game Over For Teen Who Killed Mother Over Video Game - Crimesider - CBS News.Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-5092115-504083.html
NCCEV - Media Violence. (2005, December 16). The National Center For Children Exposed to Violence - Home Page. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.nccev.org/violence/media.html
Tompkins, A. (2003, December 14). The Psychological Effects of Violent Media on Children. Psychology Classroom at AllPsych Online. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://allpsych.com/journal/violentmedia.ht

References: Beresin, E. (n.d.). The Impact of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents: Opportunities for Clinical Interventions | American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/developmen Huesmann, L. R. (1994). Aggressive behavior: current perspectives. New York: Plenum Press. Martinez, E. (2009, May 17). Game Over For Teen Who Killed Mother Over Video Game - Crimesider - CBS News.Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-5092115-504083.html NCCEV - Media Violence. (2005, December 16). The National Center For Children Exposed to Violence - Home Page. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.nccev.org/violence/media.html Tompkins, A. (2003, December 14). The Psychological Effects of Violent Media on Children. Psychology Classroom at AllPsych Online. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://allpsych.com/journal/violentmedia.ht