TV or no TV? Or restricted, V-chipped,=20 sanitised TV? Our reporters channel-hop=20 through the good-vs-evil debate
Janet Smith
Ready D of Prophets of Da City has a five- year-old son whose favourite TV show is=20 Rescue 911. He’s one of nearly 800 000=20 South African children who find America’s=20 international hit about near-death=20 experiences rather satisfying, but he is=20 probably an exception to the ratings in his=20 Cape Flats neighbourhood.
His father, a top hip hop musician and a=20 defiant example of the triumph of coolth=20 over poverty, says it’s a battle for=20 parents living in the gang-infested area to=20 guide their children’s aspirations.
“There are three-year-olds who speak openly=20 about how much they want to have a gun and=20 be a gangster,” Ready D says – and he’s=20 adamant some programming on TV intensifies=20 their juvenile understanding that to be=20 tough is to be violent, even to kill.
“I supervise everything Deen watches, but=20 he’s already got his favourite programmes=20 like Kideo and Rescue 911 and cartoons -=20 anything to do with kids. Over and above=20 that, I sit with him and explain what’s=20 happening on the screen. Some people think=20 it’s important for children to see violence=20 on TV because it prepares them for what=20 it’s going to be like when they grow up. I=20 don’t feel quite the same way.”
Ready D says children in his neighbourhood=20 spend hours watching soap operas every=20 week, mostly because their parents are fans=20 and they join in out of a need for=20 togetherness.
A new study by Britain’s Home Office=20 supports Ready D’s assertions about the=20 power of television to reinforce children’s=20 ideas around violence.
The results of this two-year research=20 project, commissioned after it was alleged=20 the boy killers of Jamie Bulger had been=20 influenced by a savage horror video, are=20 said to establish the first official link=20 between crime and screen violence, making a=20 scientific case for stricter censorship in=20 Britain. Provisional findings which are due=20 to be published in October, show that=20 violent offenders are “more readily=20 influenced by violent videos than other=20 young people”.
Dr Kevin Browne, joint author of The Effect=20 of Video Violence on Young Offenders, said=20 “between 3% and 10%of young people grow up=20 in violent homes, either as victims or=20 witnesses. Videos cannot create aggressive=20 people, but they will make aggressive=20 people commit violent acts more=20 frequently.”
British Home Secretary Jack Straw is=20 expected to re-examine current regulations=20 governing the sale, distribution and=20 screening of films on TV to make it more=20 difficult for children to have access to=20 violence.
Film-maker Kevin Harris has a daughter aged=20 11 and a son of 14. His experience of=20 bringing up children in a traditionally=20 white suburb is clearly very different to=20 that of Ready D, and he’s convinced that=20 the impression violence on TV makes on=20 children depends on their emotional and=20 intellectual maturity.
Although his daughter’s taste frolics=20 around cartoons and KTV, he says his son=20 has always been allowed “to go at his own=20 pace”.
“He watches almost anything he wants to=20 watch including movies like Natural Born=20 Killers and Pulp Fiction, but that’s=20 because he’s never displayed negative=20 behaviour later. There’s an incredible=20 level of violence in movies on TV where=20 characters pull out spinal columns and rip=20 heads off, but I feel if parents say no to=20 an intelligent child, they’re driving their=20 taste underground.”
Harris also subscribes to the supervisory=20 role of a parent in shaping their=20 children’s viewing habits: “We try not to=20 pretend what they’re seeing isn’t=20 happening. As controversies arise, we=20 prefer to be there to explain.”
That’s not necessarily the case in Western=20 countries. Research shows many parents in=20 the United States spend no more than four=20 minutes per day with their children who=20 watch TV for up to four hours daily. It’s=20 self- evident that socialisation can happen=20 in front of the box. Taking this reality=20 into consideration, regulations implemented=20 by the Canadian Radio and Television=20 Commission are made with a strong bias in=20 favour of freedom of expression.
Rhodes media professor Guy Berger asserts=20 that this is an important issue, and argues=20 that although much of the time television=20 is ambient in his household, his young=20 daughters are allowed to sample a range of=20 expression, from the pop culture of The=20 Bold and the Beautiful and Baywatch to the=20 opinions put forward in nightly news=20 bulletins.
“I think restrictions are important as a=20 guide, and while I don’t believe there is a=20 correlation between violence and the media,=20 I do think a code of conduct is useful.”
Berger says he trusts his children enough=20 to distinguish between actual violence and=20 simulated violence on television.
Like most Western countries, Australia’s=20 Broadcasting Corporation requires that the=20 portrayal of violence always “be=20 justifiable”. News and current affairs=20 programmes may not sensationalise violence,=20 and “dramas should aim for as little=20 violence as necessary to achieve honest=20 ends without undue dramatic compromise”.
American researchers have found that 10=20 years after TV was introduced into South=20 Africa, the generation that grew up with it=20 was significantly more violent than the=20 previous generation. Crime rates, including=20 murder, had doubled. Naturally this index=20 is also a reflection of South African=20 society at the time: the mid-1980s were a=20 time of savage repression in this country.
In contrast, British psychologist Tony=20 Charlton says his studies on the island of=20 St Helena – which has had television for=20 only two years and now broadcasts three=20 foreign networks – prove the contrary about=20 children there.
In a fascinating insert from producer=20 Victoria Cullinan, screened on M-Net’s=20 Carte Blanche a couple of weeks ago,=20 Charlton said television has even improved=20 children’s behaviour and certainly shows=20 “no different rates of behaviour”. It’s=20 important to note that St Helena’s children=20 are “part of a caring community”, which=20 allows them to be influenced by the=20 positive, pro-social behaviour on TV.
Charlton maintains that if a child grows up=20 in a “watchful” society, television will=20 teach the art of wallpapering and growing a=20 compost heap – but not the easiest way to=20 machete another human being. The=20 fragmentation of South African communities=20 fails to provide that degree of=20 watchfulness.
Statistics show children aged 11 who have=20 always watched TV have seen at least 8 000=20 television murders and 100 000 other=20 violent acts. South African parents are=20 having a tough time explaining away=20 television violence to their children while=20 crime on the streets is often more brutal=20 than the average action flick.
The SABC’s programming is still the only=20 financially viable option for most=20 households, and while there may be little=20 Pulp Fiction-style material on air, there=20 are also no curbs on vernacular dramas,=20 which regularly depict verbal and physical=20 attacks and portray women as the victims of=20 domestic violence, in particular.=20
Hundreds of thousands of children watch=20 prime-time dramas, situated in familiar=20 surroundings and broadcast in their mother- tongue, which reinforce the negative issues=20 in our society.