Matrin Barker

Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth

"Ill Effects: the Media-Violence Debate"

The influence of the media remains a contentious issue. Every time a particularly high-profile crime of violence is committed, there are those who blame the effects of the media. The familiar culprits of cinema, television, video and rock music, have now been joined, particularly in the wake of the massacre at Columbine High School, by the Internet. Yet, any real evidence that the media do actually have such negative effects remains as elusive as ever and, consequently, the debate about effects frequently ends up as being little more than strident and rhetorical appeals to "common sense." Ill Effects is a guide for the perplexed. It suggests new and productive ways in which we can understand the influences of the media and question why the effects paradigm still exerts a tenacious hold in some quarters. Refusing to adopt the absurd position that the media have no influence at all, Ill Effects rethinks the notion of media influence in ways which take into account how people actually use andinteract with the media in their everyday lives.
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Ill Effects is a radical re-examination of the whole 'media effects' debate. It questions not only whether the media is capable of directly influencing people's views and actions, but also whether the idea of 'effects' is the most useful way of conceptualising the relationship between the media and audiences. Ill Effects looks at the reasons why the media are routinely blamed for horrific events such as the murders of James Bulger and Suzanne Capper and the Hungerford massacre, as well as for perceived trends such as the alleged 'death of the family' and the rise of 'yob culture'. The authors' concern goes beyond individual cases: they discuss the development and current state of play of research into media effects, the remarkable power of 'common-sense' notions of media effects and the way in which the effects issue has become embroiled in debates about freedom of expression and censorship. They suggest how audiences really respond to media texts, and argue that there is an urgent need for informed and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the media.