Dr. Val FarmerDr.Val
Search:  
Rural Mental Health & Family Relationships

With TV, Best Viewing Is Limited Viewing

April 22, 2002

One of the complicated but important questions of the day is how and to what extent television contributes to the upsurge of violence in our society.

Television is such a pervasive medium, constituting one-sixth of the environment lived in by most Americans. It is the most single experience we have in common. How much does it help or harm our way of life?

How the public shapes TV. Most of the time the question is raised, "How does television influence viewers?" This question was turned on its head in a book, "Society's Impact on Television: How the Viewing Public Shapes Television Programming," by social psychologist Gary Selnow and television insider Richard Gilbert.

Selnow research involved determining what values are communicated during prime time TV shows. He and Gilbert then followed up their research with interviews with the leading writers, programmers, network executives, standards editors, advertisers, government officials, and representatives from public interest groups.

Selnow and Gilbert asked television insiders how the public shaped or influenced the content of television programs. Their results are quite persuasive and give an appreciation of how the industry actually works. They describe how the writers and producers pay attention to popular culture and trends with the viewing public in selecting what has entertainment value. Their product has to past muster in the marketplace.

From the authors' interviews, we learn that writers and producers are people, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, voters and citizens. They talk to people, watch the news and participate in community life like the rest of us.

Most TV censorship is self-censorship by writers who are influenced by public forces exterior to the industry. The writers decide the values portrayed in the programs on TV, and these values mirror the awareness, lifestyles and beliefs of the scriptwriters.

Apparently influence goes in both directions. We learn that prime time network programming contains values synonymous with American culture. This is not exactly a comforting notion given the trend of the degenerating community and family values in our country.

Positive moral messages in entertainment. Good entertainment consists of story telling full of pro-social values such as tolerance, honesty, loving concern for others, justice and freedom. Plots, characters and situations have heroes winning, villains losing, honesty celebrated and dishonesty condemned. Personal relationships are depicted as full of trust, caring and sharing.

Positive messages come across: goodness is better than badness; courage is better than cowardice; the strong should help the weak; laws should be obeyed; the powerful meet their match; and success is possible against long odds.

How good can turn into bad. If all these values are so high-minded and value-oriented, where does the negative influence come in?

The answer lies in this inescapable fact: Television is entertainment. TV is escapist. It has the power to transport, delight and divert.

Plots need a point and counterpoint. Popular story telling takes the side of the white hats against the dark hats, human goodness pitted against demonic evil. Writers inject salty language, sexual tension, graphic violence and voyeurism to create excitement and drama.

The antisocial elements - the glut of violence, sex and bad language - have great entertainment power. The antisocial incidents rival and overpower the underlying moral content of the shows in their ability to impact the viewers. Moral messages get lost amid the graphic and compelling depictions of evil.

The authors conclude that TV needs a program review and rating service that alerts viewers to the value content of shows and possible objectionable material within the show. The rating should have symbols that are specific to the type of objectionable content. This would give parents guidance on suitable viewing for their children and satisfy the concerns of moral critics.

Too much is too much. If television is constantly bombarding us with high-minded moral messages, why isn't society getting better and better? The act of being entertained so extensively is a moral issue that negates the positive and uplifting messages in the program content.

In the midst of frequent viewing, the moral content of programs becomes trivial and mundane. It seems like movie and TV critics describe much of what is being offered as "mindless fun." How much mindless fun do we need? We already have an overabundant supply of mindless fun in our society.

Mindless fun is mindless. The problem with mindless fun is that it is mindless. TV grinds on - causing short attention spans, spiritual hollowness, consumerism and exaggerated concerns for self.

When family and religious values are strong and solid, children are relatively immune to the corrosive aspects of our popular entertainment.

The lazy public wanting easy entertainment and the culture-watching entertainment producers make an unholy alliance. Despite television's underlying moral messages with its antisocial trappings, the best viewing is limited viewing. TV is an overworked but influential amusement appliance. It is a poor substitute parent, teacher or preacher.

The problem with TV is that it displaces the real moral teaching that should take place in families and weakens society as a whole. Instead of letting TV and movies do their story telling for them, wise parents and strong cultures tell their own personal, family, religious and communal stories.