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KOPEL: The media-violence link

New Dutch study suggests newspapers, TV wise to show discretion

By Dave Kopel, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 29, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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How are journalists like particle physicists? Because in the very act of doing their job, they change the world they are describing. The difference is that with particle physics, nobody gets hurt.

In particle physics, the typical way to measure an electron's position and direction is to hit it with a photon. But as a result of the observation, the electron's position or direction are changed. In journalism, the typical response to violence is to report it - and the result is to unintentionally cause more violence.

Scholars such as Loren Coleman and Clayton Cramer have already documented how sensational media coverage of mass murders, including attacks on schools, inspires more attacks by people seeking infamy. New research indicates that media coverage of violence helps cause violence even by perpetrators who are not seeking personal notoriety.

The November 2008 issue of International Sociology includes a study of soccer hooliganism in the Netherlands in 2001-'05. Authors Robert Braun and Rens Vliegenthart examined the effects of four variables on the frequency of violence at professional soccer matches. One variable, the level of police repression, had no effect. Increased violence did seem to result from higher unemployment rates among males under 24, and from more aggressive play (as measured by penalties) by the teams.

For the media effect, the researchers studied coverage in the five largest Dutch newspapers, and found: "Media attention for fan violence in the previous four weeks substantially increases hooliganism; every 100, or 50 when appearing on the front page, words a journalist writes on soccer vandalism result in 0.18 more acts of violence." Stated another way, you get one additional act of violence for every 555 words (or 278 words on the front page) of newspaper coverage of previous violence.

It's not necessarily true that the newspaper coverage was the immediate cause. As the authors note, the newspaper coverage of hooliganism was similar to television coverage of hooliganism; so it could be that the measured level of newspaper coverage was really a proxy for the levels of television coverage.

Also, the study did not differentiate among the five major newspapers. It's possible that potential hooligans were more influenced by the sensational, easy-to-read Telegraaf than by the high-quality Trouw.

Nobody has proven that Coloradans are as influenced by the media as the Dutch are. But it's hardly unreasonable for responsible journalists in Colorado to take some precautions so that the media, which often touts their role as responsible members of the community, do not inadvertently harm the community.

First of all, the Dutch study quantifies what journalists have always known intuitively: the extraordinary power of the front page. A story on the front page is about twice as powerful, in influencing behavior, as a story of the same length on an inside page. One reason may be that the front page is the only page which is seen even by people who don't buy the paper - since the page is on display at newspaper boxes, convenience stores and so on.

Some stories of violence (e.g., piracy in the Gulf of Aden) hardly seem likely to inspire Colorado copycats; other stories (e.g., the Columbine murders) are so important locally that they are necessarily front-page stories. However, there are plenty of incidents of local crimes where it's a judgment call whether the story should be front-page fodder. The Dutch study suggests that when there is a close call, the story should be placed inside the paper, not on the front.

Another issue is length. If some people vandalize a school in Douglas County, we wouldn't want coverage of that crime to inspire vandalism of a school in Arapahoe. The Dutch research suggests that a shorter story which tells the key facts in, say, 200 words, would be better than in-depth coverage with 1,000 words.

Wednesday's Denver Post carried a story (appropriately, not on the front page) about the Douglas County Schools' steps in response to several teenage suicides among district students. The Post article paraphrased a warning from the executive director of the American Association of Suicidology: "Those at risk of suicide because of depression or other problems sometimes attempt to kill themselves after hearing that someone else has done so."

Because none of the Denver newspapers or television stations feel obliged to report every premature death in the metro area, perhaps they should adopt a policy of almost never reporting suicides, absent special circumstances.

The Rocky Mountain News and the Post both acted responsibly in their recent coverage of Abraham Biggs, the young man in Florida who murdered himself during a real-time webcast. The papers ran Associated Press articles of the event, which was such a major national story that it could not be ignored. But neither paper printed a picture of Biggs, nor did their Web sites link to any of the video.

Dave Kopel is research director at the Independence Institute, an attorney and author of 11 books. He can be reached at kopeld@RockyMountainNews.com.

Comments

  • November 29, 2008

    5:53 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Brix57 writes:

    True that the media does influence behavior and the article merely touches upon only some of the reasons. Perhaps another reason that it does is the time frame where we are constantly barraged by a certain story and there has been no solution found. Then we get an almost minute by minute update from some of the most remote persons that lasts for days, months and even years.

    Unless the story has some type of gore, we will not see it. The under reporting of crime of all types also has its consequences. That tony part of town may have more crime per capita than that poorer section, but we never hear of it. Thus, we would think that those with money don't commit crimes and that tony part of town is a much better place.

    Stories in the media also usually only have the beginnings of a crime and unless the crime is sensational, we hear absolutely nothing of the twists and turns once the legal profession takes hold, and of the ultimate sentence, usually nothing. That white collar criminal that embezzled a couple of million or the street dealer of drugs; we hear only that they were arrested for their crimes, but nothing, absolutely nothing of what happened to them or their victims.

  • November 29, 2008

    12:14 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    hogarm writes:

    Headlines in this AM's RMN;
    Making a list, checking it twice, calling it quits.
    BACK IN BLACK?
    Shoppers seek discounts, plan to spend less this year.
    Shopping season off to deadly start.
    Luxury stores feel pinch.
    Shoppers head to the outlets to find deep discounts.

    Is the RMN's only motivation to fill space and sell ads?

  • November 29, 2008

    7:44 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    AngelontheSidelines writes:

    If it bleeds it leads.

  • December 2, 2008

    4:25 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    p_myers661 writes:

    All news organizations go for the big story. That means that we are the ones who flip the dial, turn the page or hit the remote to find something else.

    That big delay around an accident isn't because people are trying to ignore the wreck. We require our information providers to entertain us or we will find other sources. National Enquirer and the other tabloids don't put the wild stories on the cover so they'll get ignored.

    Papers DO exist to put advertising in the hands of consumers. They make the consumers want to read the ads by putting entertainment, used to be news, next to the ads.

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