Media Violence: Relevant Links

ACT—Adults and Children Together—Against Violence is a violence prevention project that focuses on adults who raise, care for, and teach children. It is designed to prevent violence by helping these adults to be positive role models and learn the skills to teach children nonviolent ways to resolve conflicts, deal with frustration, and handle anger. Decades of research have shown that early childhood is a critical period in a child's life when children learn basic interpersonal skills, problem-solving, and self-control. It is a good time to teach positive behavior and the skills needed to get along with others. ACT is one of the few violence prevention programs to focus on this important time in a child's life. The ACT Project includes a national media campaign and training for community professionals. This site includes a bibliography of books and publications relevant to parents for violence prevention for children.

PsychologyMatters.org is a web-based compendium of psychological research that demonstrates the application and value of psychological science in our everyday lives. Within 19 content areas, individual and interrelated studies, all of which found statistically significant effects and that have had important applications in society, are described. Some of the studies we report on started out as basic research and led to unexpected results and valuable applications. All of the studies demonstrate the important role that psychology and psychological research play in addressing societal and human needs. This compendium is a living document. As psychological scientists continue their research, new and important discoveries and applications will be added.

A pioneer in its field, the Center for Media Literacy (CML) is a nonprofit educational organization that provides leadership, public education, professional development and educational resources nationally. Dedicated to promoting and supporting media literacy education as a framework for accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating media content, CML works to help citizens, especially the young, develop critical thinking and media production skills needed to live fully in the 21st century media culture. The ultimate goal is to make wise choices possible. Incorporated in 1989, CML is an independent, nonpartisan 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

The Encyclopedia of Death and Dying contains essays of social, psychological, and philosophical slant not only on all issues relating to death and dying but also on violence and the potential effects of media violence. The essays are especially relevant to the challenges of parenting.

eNotes.com features high-quality study guides, lesson plans, and other reference material in various academic areas.

The Free Expression Policy Project (FEPP), founded in 2000, provides research and advocacy on free speech, copyright, and media democracy issues. In May 2004, FEPP became part of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. Along with its opposition to forms of censorship, this site offers considerable information on research and publications arguing that the effects of entertainment violence are not primarily negative. In that respect it presents points of view that are not consistent with many of the positions I take in my book Our Faith in Evil. But this site is valuable for clarification and understanding of particular opposing lines of argument and their popular appeal.

The Lion & Lamb Project was an initiative by parents for parents, providing information about the effects of violent entertainment, toys and games on children's behavior. The Project's Parent Action Kit details specific steps parents can take to reduce their children's exposure to glorified "entertainment" violence. Due to the fact that The Lion & Lamb Project no longer exists, they now only provide the resources available on this website. This site offers a wealth of information on research and publications that make a case for the negative effects of entertainment violence and provides a comprehensive set of links to other web sites containing related material.

The Media Education Foundation produces and distributes video documentaries to encourage critical thinking and debate about the relationship between media ownership, commercial media content, and the democratic demand for free flows of information, diverse representations of ideas and people, and informed citizen participation. MEF has grown to become the nation's leading producer and distributor of educational videos designed to inspire students and others to reflect critically on the structure of the media industry and the content it produces. This site includes a long list of links to other relevant media information sites. MEF was founded in 1991 by Sut Jhally, Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts and includes among its board of advisors activists and academics such as Noam Chomsky, Michael Eric Dyson, Todd Gitlin, Robert W. McChesney, Ellen Wartella, Cornel West, and, until his death in January of 2006, George Gerbner.

It is the mission of the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence (NCCEV) to increase the capacity of individuals and communities to reduce the incidence and impact of violence on children and families; to train and support the professionals who provide intervention and treatment to children and families affected by violence; and, to increase professional and public awareness of the effects of violence on children, families, communities and society.

National Institute on Media and the Family
www.mediafamily.org
Contact information can be found on the web site

Founded by David Walsh, Ph.D. in 1996, the National Institute on Media and the Family, the leading organization examining the impact of electronic media on families, has worked tirelessly to help parents and communities watch what our kids watch. Follow these links to learn more about who we are and how you can become part of the MediaWise movement. The National Institute on Media and the Family is the world's leading and most respected research-based organization on the positive and harmful effects of media on children and youth. The National Institute on Media and the Family is an independent, nonpartisan, nonsectarian, and nonprofit organization that is based on research, education, and advocacy. Its MediaWise® movement is being adopted in communities throughout the country to help families make wiser media choices and encourage parents to “Watch What their Kids Watch.” Our mission is to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm of media on children and families through research, education, and advocacy.

Interpersonal violence is one of the most important issues facing our nation’s youth. Although many institutional and community-based efforts have been directed towards alleviating this problem, information about these efforts is not always easy to find. To fill this need, the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center web site and call center, 1-866-SAFEYOUTH (723-3968), serve as a user-friendly, single point of access to Federal information on youth violence. Developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other Federal partners, the Resource Center provides current information developed by Federal agencies or with Federal support pertaining to youth violence. A gateway for professionals, parents, youth and other interested individuals, the Resource Center offers the latest tools to facilitate discussion with children, to resolve conflicts nonviolently, to stop bullying, to prevent teen suicide, and to end violence committed by and against young people. Resources include fact sheets, best practices documents, funding and conference announcements, statistics, research bulletins, surveillance reports, and profiles of promising programs.

The Parents Television Council was founded in 1995 to ensure that children are not constantly assaulted by sex, violence and profanity on television and in other media. Our national grassroots organization has nearly one million members across the United States, and works with television producers, broadcasters, networks and sponsors in an effort to stem the flow of harmful and negative messages targeted to children. We are a nonpartisan organization that works with elected and appointed government officials to enforce broadcast decency standards. Most importantly, the PTC produces critical research and publications documenting the dramatic increase in sex, violence and profanity in entertainment. This information is provided free of charge so parents can make informed viewing choices for their own families.

Denis is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. His site offers a wealth of articles relating to philosophy, art, literature, and culture and contains many of his book reviews and journalistic pieces written for various newspapers. Denis always selects topics and books that are of interest and his evaluative, critical commentaries never fail to be provocative, witty, and entertaining. He is also the founder and editor of what is now the number one most visited web site in the world: Arts and Letters Daily. If you have not seen this web site, go directly to: www.aldaily.com. As if that were not enough, he is also the founding and continuing editor of the journal Philosophy and Literature (which began in the 1970s). To view the web site for this journal go to: muse.jhu.edu/journals/philosophy_and_literature/

This site is a blog relating to the history of the Isla Vista riots of 1970 and the counter-cultural movement at the University of California at Santa Barbara from 1968 to the present. It is also a link to Malcolm’s book on this period, which is the definitive documentary account of the Isla Vista riots leading to and following the burning of the Bank of America on February 25th and 26th 1970—an event that is also the subject of my own work-in-progress, a novelistic account entitled: The Bank of Amerika Marshmallow Roast. Those interested in the history of surfing should visit Malcolm’s main web site at: www.legendarysurfers.com where entrance to the current Isla Vista blog can also be found.

Stephen C. Rose Blog
http://stephencrosehome.blogspot.com

Stephen describes his site in the following way: Stephen C. Rose Home is a personal blog which offers hopefully prescient information based on analyses of past and present happenings. Predictive themes include the end of oil, the need for a centrist politics, the collapse of the "mainline" church, the prospects for religious enterprises and, most pertinently, the question of human settlements -- their shape and scope. His running comments on the candidacy of Barack Obama are especially interesting and insightful.

Michael’s web site is devoted to the improvement of local (Colorado) and global community through increasing political awareness and activism by way of critical examination of current actions and policies of corporations and governmental bureaucracies and administrations. This site contains many links to relevant internet publications and articles as well as links to other instructive web sites.

Gabriel Books (Northampton, MA) was opened in 1993 by John and Patty Riley, booksellers since 1972. They began selling books as Madeleine Books in Santa Barbara (Isla Vista), California. They opened the Globe Bookshop in Northampton in 1980, which was subsequently sold prior to the opening of Gabriel Books in 1993. Gabriel Books specializes in antiquarian and scholarly books with strengths in art, literature, philosophy, science and history as well as nature, cooking and gardening. Books are bought, sold and appraised. If you are looking for a classic or unusual book in fine used condition, make this site your first stop.

Craig is the chair of the Department of Film and Electronic Arts at the State University of California at Long Beach and President of the The Center for First Amendment Studies. This Center is dedicated to providing programs to educate students and the public about their First Amendment heritage, and to encourage faculty to do original research on freedom of expression. The Center maintains a number of white papers available for downloading on the history of First Amendment issues. See also Craig’s personal web site at: www.csulb.edu/%7Ecrsmith/smithm.html

Michele’s site, updated monthly, contains articles from various news and internet sources on politically relevant topics of world, national, and local interest in addition to news and articles ranging from the arts to education to religion and health. Michele draws attention to thought-provoking writings from many internet sources that serve to raise critical awareness of events across the nation and the world.