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 and interact with the media in their everyday lives.