Educational Tools/Resources

Federal Trade Commission Consumer Response Center:

The FTC accepts consumer complaints about media violence, including complaints about the advertising, marketing, and sale of violent movies, electronic/video games, and music. Use the FTC complaint form, available at:

http://www.ftc.gov, or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) M-F 9am-9pm ET.

Note: Complaints regarding the content of television programming should be directed to the Federal Communications Commission at :

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html.

TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board:

(The Board is responsible for ensuring that the ratings are applied with accuracy and consistency to television programming.) Complaints about a television show's program rating may be made to the board via mail, phone, or e-mail:

TV Parental Guidelines
Post Office Box 14097
Washington, DC 20004
Phone: 202-879-9364
Email: tvomb.usa.net

Reports/Publications

Counseling patients on mass media and health

• https://www.aafp.org/afp/2004/0601/p2545.htmlThis article in the June 1, 2004 issue of the journal American Family Physician reviews the health risks associated with media exposure and describes the physician’s role in screening patients with a “media history” and providing preventive counseling. 

• American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Position Paper on violence in the media. https://www.aafp.org/about/policies/all/violence-media-entertainment.htmlThis paper is a call to action for family physicians to encourage the safer use of digital media with patients and their parents/guardians during well child/well adolescent visits.
• Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children. A report to Congress 2009. FTC violence entertainment marketing towards children. This Federal Trade Commission report reviews current marketing practices of the entertainment media industries to find that while they have improved in some areas, they continue to advertise violent and explicit-content products in media with large teen audiences.

• American Psychological Association, “Violence in the Media: Psychologists Study Potential Harmful Effects” https://www.apa.org/topics/video-games/violence-harmful-effects. This article provides an overview of some of the research that has been done on television and video game violence.

• American Journal of Preventative Medicine from2009: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7039734/.The study looked at looked at the associations among male youths’ gender attitudes, intentions to intervene, witnessing peers’ abusive behaviors, and multiple forms of adolescent violence perpetration though surveys done in community settings.

• American Academy of Pediatrics https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7039734/. Report from the American Academy of Pediatrics outlining their recommendations for regarding relationship of pediatricians with media violence.

• The Influence of Media Violence on Youth(2003). This article in the December 2003 issue of the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest reviews the empirical research on how media violence affects youth and interventions to mitigate the effects.
• Television and Growing Up: The Impact of Televised Violence(1972). This early report from the Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior concludes that viewing violence on television does affect some children, causing them to be more aggressive.

Links to Other Resources  

• Media Smarts – Canada’s Centre for Digital and Media Literacy – Media Violence Section: https://mediasmarts.ca/violence/violence-overview
  •   Tip sheets on dealing with fear and the media: Media smarts tip sheet.

• Pamphlet and fact sheet from the New Jersey Government about Media Violence and the Youth put together by the Media Violence working group

• https://www.nj.gov/education/students/safety/behavior/MediaViolencePamphlet.pdf
• Offers information for parents on symptoms of over exposure to violence, tips for parents regarding media violence, and predictors of violent behavior in youth
• Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA)
  Conducts studies of news and entertainment media, including studies on violence in popular culture
• Center for Media Literacy (CML)
  Provides educational resources on a variety of media topics; offers articles, teaching ideas, recommended teaching resources, and links to relevant sites 

• Center for Public Integrity
  Offers Media Tracker, a searchable database containing ownership information on American media companies, investigative reports, and other resources
• Common Sense Media
  Offers information for parents to make informed media decisions, reviews of children's movies and other media, research reviews, and links to helpful organizations 

• Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
  Provides a rating system that helps consumers choose the games that are right for their families, and a search page to look up any video game and view its rating
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• Parents' Place offers information for parents about the communications their children can access, including children's TV laws, programming, channel blocking and other information
  
  • KIDS FIRST!® Coalition for Quality Children's Media
    Offers resources to aid parents in choosing children's media, reviews of children's videos and other media, articles by media specialists, and a discussion forum