A Drug Lord and Crashes His Boat
By Andrew B. Cohen
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Mention violence on television, and most people think of the same old shows "Magnum, P.I.," "Spenser: For Hire," "Miami Vice." Well, here's a new one for the top of the list: "Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years."
That's one of the curious findings of a recent study by the National Coalition on Television Violence, a nonprofit media-watchdog organization. According to the study, the 1960 Emmy-award winning documentary on the British statesman, which is now being shown on the Arts and Entertainment Cable Network, averaged 126 acts of violence an hour; by contrast, "Miami Vice" averaged 31.
Violence Isn't Everything
The coalition's study of violence on television covers a six-month period, and the group has sent numerous influential politicians copies of its report. Its aim is to persuade the public that violent entertainment is a mental health hazard.
According to the coalition, however, a high average number of violent acts an hour isn't in itself a sufficient reason for condemnation. For example, the documentary "From the Ashes of War," which ran on the Discovery Channel, chalked up an average of 70 violent acts an hour yet it still managed to win the group's approval for its "pro-social" content.
"We're not against violence, but against violence being misrepresented on television," says Dr. Thomas Radecki, a Champaign, Ill., psychiatrist and the organization's research director.
Moreover, says Dr. Radecki, not all acts of violence are created equal. For example, the coalition counts a thrown punch as a single violent act, but a rude jostling is considered only one-third of a violent act.
Context is another consideration: A pie in the face may or may not be counted as a violent actit all depends on the thrower's intention.
'Unfit for Human Consumption'
The most violent show of all during the study period? "Victory at Sea," a rerun of an old NBC documentary series about World War II, now being offered on the Arts and Entertainment Cable Network. It averaged 301 violent acts an hour.
The most execrable show, however, was "Werewolf," from Fox Broadcasting Co. It averaged only 35 violent acts per hour, but they were particularly loathsome acts and, in the study, the coalition classified the show "unfit for human consumption." Apparently, Dr. Radecki and his associates weren't the only ones to do so: Fox recently cancelled the series.
This article first appeared in The Wall Street Journal of Sept. 22, 1988, page B1
