An essay exploring the truth to the phrase “media violence is a significant cause of social violence”.
There has been extensive research into the correlation between media violence and social violence. Social violence takes a range of forms from legal union strikes to vigilantly groups. Violence in the media has been a hot topic since the evolution of mass media. Acts of violence are almost newsworthy. The media also has an obligation to inform society of any events that impact their safety. The statement we are examining is similar to the expression “Who came first? The chicken or the egg”. Though the violence reported by the media has already occurred the expression of the violence will provoke a ripple of social violence, but social violence sets out to justify past violence with further violence. The statement is best described as an uncomplete truth as it relates to the cycle of violence. Lately there has been a spotlight aimed towards child abuse. The media has found the topic of violence against children as a topic of social interest. Vigilantly groups, television shows and social media groups have grown the topic into an interactive media story as paedophile hunters find immediate fame and popularity. Only in rare occurrences does the media’s spotlight on violence against children directly contribute to social violence. The media’s attention on child sexual abuse has led to the formation of numerous social justice groups whose tactics verge on vigilantly violence. The situation has moved to the extreme as police departments counteract by using the media to communicate warnings against the anti-paedophile social activist movement. In order to best illustrate the phrase “media violence is a significant cause of social violence” this paper will use make use of the media’s trend of child abuse for further illustration of the topic.
The topic of child abuse and paedophiles is covered almost daily by various news agencies. Between 1998 and 2003 the media increased its coverage of child abuse related stories by 98% (Tonmyr, & Jack, 2010). The media has an obligation to inform the public about criminal occurrences that threaten their safety. A recent media analysis done by the Berkley Media Studies Group found that most of the news coverage was in response to legal milestones in the prosecution of the offenders. Even with the spotlight shining on the prosecution of child sexual offenders over 63% of sexual assaults go unreported to police (Mejia et al., 2015). There is no way of ever knowing the ratio of media coverage child predators receive. Every day the topic of child abuse is published in the media but the media has a bias in favour of the more sensational newsworthy headlines. The ratio of media coverage of child abuse is opposite to the rates of occurrence.
The media’s bias is heavily sided towards violence. The media often reports on the stories that get attention sexual abuse perpetrated by strangers, meanwhile the abuse is more likely to be perpetrated by an acquaintance. The most common form of abuse is neglect but child neglect lacks news appeal (Tonmyr, & Jack, 2010). The media’s attraction to violence does little to raise awareness to the reality that society needs to be aware of.
Most recently there has been a rise of child predator hunters. The media and social media audiences have jumped to support the vigilantly hunters. The anti-paedophile documentary ‘The Paedophile Hunter’ brought instant fame for its subject. Within 24 hours the documentary generated over ten thousand tweets and shortly after the show’s Facebook page attracted a quarter million supporters (Kinder, 2014). However police officials continue to ask the public to discontinue their hunt for child predators.
Just recently (February 2016) an amateur vigilantly paedophile hunter posted a video on YouTube. The video reached an audience of almost 300,000 viewers within a week. The young man who arranged the paedophile sting and posted the video to YouTube was Chase Karnes, 21, of Saskatoon. No charges were pressed but the video quickly caught the attention of the Saskatoon police. Chase created a profile on a dating site pretending to be a teenage girl. Within an hour over 150 messaged the profile wanting to meet with the fake teenage girl. The police urge society against the vigilantly investigations. Police investigators are trained to conduct paedophile investigations safely and using techniques that comply with privacy laws (Modjeski, 2016).
There have been other instances where a vigilante paedophile hunter totally crosses the line of the law. Christopher Hunnisett will be serving a life sentence for his violent act of vigilante justice. Hunnisett was only seventeen years old himself when he dismembered man he accused of molesting him as a child. The young man was released nine years later only to murder another man he accused of being a paedophile (Paul, 2012).
Though most acts of anti-paedophile social violence don’t escalate to murder many of the social activists are infringing on the law. “Vigilante investigations create complications for the courts, since the Charter of Rights and Freedoms may apply differently to a law enforcement officer than to a member of the public” Brian Pfefferle, a Saskatoon defence lawyer (Modjeski, 2016).
In the examination of anti-paedophile media violence the cycle of violence becomes apparent. The social activists aim to reduce further violence by resorting to social violence. Meanwhile the tactics used to raise awareness for child victims of sexual abuse, only increase false perceptions that the perpetrators of these types of crimes are strangers. More often the perpetrators of sexual assaults against children are acquaintances not strangers met online. The false perceptions reduce the knowledge that society needs to protect themselves and monitor the acquaintances of youth to better protect them from harm. The media does increase social violence in this scenario because the information society needs to protect themselves is hidden behind a façade of sensational violence.
Is “media violence is a significant cause of social violence”? That statement creates a truth that revolves with the cycle of violence. The media sensationalizes violence and by doing so society responds to the violence in the media. In rare instances like that of Christopher Hunnisett the media added to the history of trauma and mental health issues that produced a murder obsessed with murdering paedophiles. The media has raised a great deal of awareness into the topic of child sexual abuse. The popular media topic has now escalated into a social movement as paedophile hunters seek instant fame on the internet. The question then shifts to has the media violence created social violence or social justice as the vigilantly paedophile hunters gain their momentum over media hype.
Bibliography
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Modjeski, M. (2016). Saskatoon police warn against vigilante pedophile stings after video viewed nearly 300,000 times. The Star Pheonix. [online] Available at: http://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/saskatoon-police-warn-against-vigilante-pedophile-stings-after-video-viewed-nearly-300000-times [Accessed 17 Feb. 2016].
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