Media Companies Fire Back At Violence Studies

MEDIA COMPANIES FIRE BACK AT VIOLENCE STUDIES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
University of Toronto professor Jonathan Freedman concedes that there is a correlation between violent media and aggression, but says that is not the same as causation. While he FCC's recent report to Congress concludes that research shows TV violence is harmful to kids, Prof Freedman says advocates claiming "overwhelming" evidence for the causal connection are wrong -- and need to be challenged on it. Instead, he said, the FCC did no thorough analysis of the research. "There seems to be mainly an acceptance of that view because more of those they talked with favored it than favored the other view," saying the result "could not hope to produce anything of much use." "The Violence Report was very clear to differentiate between causation and correlation," countered an FCC official. "It said the data on causation is mixed/inconclusive at this time but that there is strong evidence of correlation and that alone warrants some action to be taken."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6442496.html?rssid=193

* Freedman's paper: http://www.mediainstitute.org/issue_papers/policyviews/2007/Freedman-Tel...

* Media Institute challenge FCC
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117965058.html?categoryid=14&cs=1&nid=...