An old issue comes to the forefront

By AMY JORDAN and JOSEPH TUROWWith the selection of Joe Lieberman as the

democratic nominee for Vice President, an issue that has been off the political

radar for a while has come back in to play. What can we do about the level of

violence and sex in the media? It would be easy, as some have done, to solely

blame the industries that produce these media for the problem. They should take

responsibility for the product they produce. But research at the Annenberg

Public Policy Center suggests that asking the industry to be more accountable

may be only part of the solution to what has become a major cause of concern

for parents.

While the movie, television, video game and Internet

industries have not toned down the violence and sex in the products they

create, they have agreed to provide parents with tools to help them know what

is in these products and steer children away from them. But the question

remains, are these tools adequate and do parents know they are

available?

Our research reveals that even in the face of these new tools,

many U.S. parents feel powerless to stem the tide of violence and sex that

flows into their homes through the media. It may be that they are overwhelmed

by all that they have to supervise. Consider this: Vvirtually all homes have

television sets and the majority have VCRs, video game systems and Web

connections. What’s more, much of the 4 1/2 hours a day that children spend in

front of a screen can be accomplished in the privacy of the child’s own

well-stocked bedroom – 57 percent have a television, 30 percent have a VCR, 36

percent have a cable hook-up, 20 percent have a computer, and 39 percent have

video game equipment.

With so many choices, so many channels and so many

technological complexities, many parents have simply thrown up their hands and

left decisions surrounding media up to the children themselves. This is despite

the existence of tools that allow parents to be better consumers of media for

their children. There are devices that can filter content parents deem

inappropriate on the Internet, TV blocking technology, age and content ratings

for television shows and new policies to bring more enriching TV shows to

children.

Why aren’t parents using these tools to make the home a more

media-friendly environment for children? Parents lack basic knowledge about

both the policies and the technologies designed to empower them. Very few

parents understand the TV ratings system or the V-chip built into new TV sets;

almost no one knows that commercial broadcasters are supposed to provide three

hours a week of educational television for children, and a significant number

feel less competent than their children when it comes to the Internet.

The

problem is that parents haven’t gotten that message. For parents to use

computer tools to enforce their on-line rules, they must understand how the

filters work and whether they are suitable for blockiing the content they’re

concerned about. For parents to guide their children to educational

programming, they need to know that it exists and when it is on. There have

been some efforts by the industry and advocacy groups to inform parents about

the information and programming, but they have been half-hearted or

underhanded. They are particularly ineffective when one considers the efforts

and dollars that are used to advertise the very video games, television shows

and Internet sites parents worry about.

Many parents we’ve spoken to feel

they’re fighting an uphill battle. They complain that the industry is putting

out bad product and they need to act more responsibly. The retort from the

industry: They’re doing their part by producing tools to help parents do a

better job and that content that is more adult oriented still needs to be

produced.

Of course there is no one sector to blame and there are no simple

answers. Parents and the industry can do their part, but there must be a way to

bridge the two worlds that most often have very different notions of what’s

best for the child. This is where organized, community-based efforts can

help.

At a recent Rutgers University meeting, advocates and scholars

concerned about “media literacy” bemoaned the lack of programs to help parents

and children cope with what is an increasingly complicated and potentially

dangerous media environment for kids. They argued that while so much of the

school curriculum is devoted to teaching children how to read, write and

understand the print media (like books and newspapers), virtually no attention

is paid to the media they spend the most time with (television, radio, the

Internet). Their point is well-taken. Children need to learn- in a deliberate

and organized way — to be wise in how they allocate their time with media and

critical of the kinds of things they see, hear and read. This can happen in the

schools (and does it other industrialized countries like England, Australia and

Canada). This can happen around the schools — with parent/teacher

associations, after-school centers, and youth centers. And this can happen in

other places where families congregate YMCAs, places of worship, or libraries.

What is important is that parents and children have the space and guidance to

explore how to use the media (and the tools provided by the industry to use it

wisely). With this kind of support, families will not have to navigate the

Information Age alone.

Amy Jordan directs research on Children and

Media for the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

Joseph Turow is the Robert Lewis Shayon Professor at the University of

Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication.