Video games evidence

Soure: http://www.ithp.org/articles/violentvideogames.html

In 1972, the Surgeon General issued the following warning on violent TV programs: "It is clear to me that the causal relationship between televised violence and antisocial behavior is sufficient to warrant appropriate and immediate remedial action. … There comes a time when the data are sufficient to justify action. That time has come."" (Steinfeld, 1972).  

Are Violent Video Games More Harmful than Violent TV Programs and Films?
There are at least three reasons to believe that violent video games might be even more harmful than violent TV programs and films.
•    (LEARNING TRAITS) First, video game play is active whereas watching TV is passive. People learn better when they are actively involved. Suppose you wanted to learn how to fly an airplane. What would be the best method to use: read a book, watch a TV program, or use a video game flight simulator?

•    (POINT OF VIEW) Second, players of violent video games are more likely to identify with a violent character. If the game is a first person shooter, players have the same visual perspective as the killer. If the game is third person, the player controls the actions of the violent character from a more distant visual perspective. In a violent TV program, viewers might or might not identify with a violent character. People are more likely to behave aggressively themselves when they identify with a violent character (e.g., Konijn et al., 2007)

•    (REWARDS) Third, violent games directly reward violent behavior, such as by awarding points or by allowing players to advance to the next game level. In some games, players are rewarded through verbal praise, such as hearing the words "Nice shot!" after killing an enemy. It is well known that rewarding behavior increases its frequency. (Would you go to work tomorrow if your boss said you would no longer be paid?) In TV programs, reward is not directly tied to the viewer's behavior.

Are Violent Video Games Good For You?
(STRESS RELEASE/MEDICAL) Some people claim that violent video games are good for you. Some players believe that violent video games are cathartic (i.e., they allow players to release pent up anger into harmless channels). The scientific evidence directly contradicts this idea. Over 130 studies have been conducted on over 130,000 participants around the world (Anderson et al., 2010). These studies show that violent video games increase aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure), and aggressive behavior. Violent games also decrease helping behavior and feelings of empathy for others.

(HAND EYE CO-ORD AND CONTENT RELATIONS)
Other people claim that playing violent games increases eye-hand, violent content might not be required to obtain these beneficial effects. Perhaps similar video games without violence would also increase eye-hand coordination.

Why People Deny Video Games are harmful:
PERSONAL
•    First, people may think: "I play violent video games and I've never killed anyone." This fallacious reasoning is a good example of how the "availability heuristic" coupled with the "base rate problem" (Kahneman & Tversky, 1973) distort reasoning. People have great difficulty judging influences on events when the base rate probability of the event is very low. It is not surprising that people who play violent video games have not killed anyone because very few people kill anyone. For example, fewer than 6 people per 100,000 are murdered each year in the United States (U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2010). It is very difficult to predict rare events, such as murder, using exposure to violent video games or any other factor. However, murder is the most salient violent event to most people; so when they don't have "available" in memory cases of people playing violent games and then murdering, they ignore the base rate of murder and conclude that violent games have no effect on aggression.

•    Second, researchers have also found that people believe the media have a much stronger effect on others than on themselves. This effect is very robust and is called the third person effect (e.g., Davison, 1983). The consequence of this psychological effect is that people may often agree that media violence has a bad effect on some people, but not on themselves. This thinking then leads to a denial of the overall importance of the effects from a public health standpoint.

•    Third, the entertainment industry frequently claims that violent media do not increase aggression (Anderson & Bushman 2002b). Even though the public may recognize that making such claims is in the economic self-interest of the entertainment industry, the repetition of the claims of no effects still seems to have an effect. Since the 1972 Surgeon General warning, the scientific evidence has grown even stronger (see Figure 1). But an analysis of over 600 news reports shows that over time, news stories are more likely to deny the harmful effect of media violence (see Figure 1). Most Americans aren't even aware that the U.S. Surgeon General issued a warning about TV violence. Perhaps this is because most Americans get their information from the mass media. The entertainment industry is probably reluctant to admit that they are marketing a harmful product, much like the tobacco industry was reluctant to admit that they were marketing a harmful product.

Figure 1. Conservative Scientific (Lower Boundary of 99.9% Confidence Interval) vs. News Reports of the Effect of Media Violence on Aggression (Anderson & Bushman, 2002b) 
•    Fourth, people do not understand psychological processes as well as they understand biological processes. If you see a violent video game player assault another person, it is difficult to know the direct cause of the assault. Was it playing violent video games for hours on end, or was it something else? The psychological process by which playing violent video games produces this result is not as intuitive to most people as are biological processes. People are probably more accepting of the idea that smoking causes lung cancer, for example, because it is much easier to grasp the idea that smoke going into the lungs, damages cells, and starts tumor growth.

Task 3

Task 3

In music video it is very easy to represent a community, gender or race in a bad light or to easily offend. Representation of gender easily becomes an ethical problem in some videos were a female could look to be degraded or seen in a wrong way due the nature of some music videos that include nudity and ect. Religeous Beliefs also become a topic to avoid in music video due to the way you can so easily offend different communities of people, such as with Lady Gaga’s music video to Judas as well as many Marilyn Manson videos. Ethical issue regarding the public opinion can also result in these videos not being aired though there is no legal reason for it not to, such as the banning of Christina Aguilera’s music video for Beautiful.

Other Legal issues with Music video can be copyright issues as well as The Obscene Publications act 1959 seen, as there is a rise in the use of sexual content in modern music video. Though it isn’t often legal action isn’t taken in these cases censorship is used extensively if aired on television or on online accounts where the music can be used where the owner of the account is under the age of 18.

Possible Legal Situation in Music Video Industry:

A lawyer is arguing with an artist due to copyright infringement with the content of the music video and how it needs to be censored for general viewing, the artist is against this.

A possible Ethical Situation in the Music video industry:

A music video contains religious themes showed in an unflattering light and there has been an influx of complaints from those who find the content offensive and the public is calling for some action to be taken. The artist calls it creative freedom, an argument ensues.

        

Task 2 Media Structures

Media Structures and ownership.

International:

Warnerbros: 

Warner Brothers operate on an international level; making films such as Harry Potter that was successful on a worldwide level grossing billions of pounds. They also break out into television, cartoons, and a record label. Though these have been known to cross over such as the film attributes of the company being used to promote and extend income by producing music videos for the bands on their record label as well as producing, and distributing their music. Though the process of recording to releasing the music on their label is a vertical process similarly to their contribution to the film industry, the company it’s self operates on a horizontal structure with many “departments” to the company it’s self. They own the rights to release music, films and television making the company horizontal in this way whilst completely owning the production process of each of these making it equally vertical.

National:

LightEngine:

LIGHTengine operate across the UK producing and distributing music videos for various artists, working on a vertical structure, strictly work only on music video as well as owning the rights to everything produced as the process is done entirely by the company themselves mostly as they operate as a small company and cannot afford to operate horizontally.

Local:

GotGrog:

GotGrog work in and around Crawley locally based they focus mainly on photography but also venture into making music videos for local artists. The Started as a vertical structure due to the nature of their photography based company they did all of the photography them selves, the editing and distribution.  But are now expanding to a horizontal structure by making music videos commercially. By this they are both a horizontal and vertical structure as they film, produce and distribute the videos themselves as well.

• Publishing (novels, books etc.) : Publishing is the design and priniting of novels,books, magazines, comic books using programs such as Quark and Indesign.
• Magazines: In the magazine industry a paticular genre, style or topic is selected for the magazine to be based around and news, gossip, interviews and relative subjects are communicated to the public throught the use of printing these magazines.
• Newspapers: Similarly to magazines news papers are used to communicate with the public containing news and information that they need to hear on a more local, political and factual level, imterviews may be used but the basis of the newspapers is to convey a wide variety of topics.
• Animation: The manipulation of an image or other matireals such as clay can be used to animate. Animation is used in films, adverts, music videos and lots more. It is a lengthy process and is quickly going out of date in mainstream film, but is a steady feature in films and tv shows aimed towards a child audience.
• Film: Film can be used to convey a large variety of subjects but is mostly used for entretainment. It envolves a large crew, equipment, actors, editors, directors and more. Films can cost over millions of pounds with use of "celebrity", locations and props factoring to the budget.
• Television: Television is similar to film in the way that most of the same things are needed but on a lower budget, series are released instead of films, thought they are aired occasionally or on channels such as Film4. But television features something aimed at all audiences such as childrens t.v, international and local news, documentries, dramas, comedies, and the majority of these also have specialized channels now after the change over into digital.
• Web 2.0: The web contains all of the subjects listed here, but online. There are websites for nearly evrything you could think of all managed by domains, some are non profit, some are. There are factual to entertainment websites, but ther has been a massive increase in social networks such as faceboko at twitter.
• Music: Music has been around since the beginning of time but is now easily accessible through the radio, internet (downloading, youtube.) and is featured in films, have their own short films (music videos) are featured in video games and reviewed or talked about in newspapers and magazines.
• Radio: The radio like many other things on this list crosses over into one another, it primarily features, music, news and adverts. But is mainly used for entertainment.
• Video Games: Video games are aimed at younger audiences but have a wind range of people who play them, they are used for entertainment but also can feature music and a basic plot.
• Facilities: This is the rental of equipment used to make all of the above media industries, without the equipment they could not manafacture their products.