Citation

Lang GE, Lang K. J. Soc. Iss. 1972; 28(1): 93-110.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1972, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1540-4560.1972.tb00006.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

How responsible the coverage of conflict and confrontation by the news media is for the violence in contemporary American society involves at least four separate issues. (1) Do general news practices help create violence-prone situations? (2) What effect does the presence of TV and other news media in such situations have on the likelihood that violence will erupt? (3) What impact do news reports of violence already in progress have on its subsequent spread or abatement? (4) Are predictions of violence more likely to become self-fulfilling or self-defeating? The information available suggests that the media are rarely a major influence on the amount of violence in any specific situation and that they function as much to deter as to incite violence. Yet, if media reports of both actual and potential violence affect expectations, then this will influence the nature of public protest as well as the official response to it and to other situations where the possibility of violent confrontation must be reckoned with.

Language: en