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'TV Turn Off Week'
 
April 23-30, 2007
 
 
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Family and Media Association An educational resource for Families and the community at large concerned about the impact the media has on their lives. Highlights the implications for Christian values in programme content, especially those relating to the family, critically assesses standards of honesty, decency, fairness and truthfulness in the media and makes these assessments available to the public through its publication, media report, public seminars and the internet; makes available relevant research relating to the links between media content and psychsocial development, facilitates effective dialogue between the media and the public by informing both media and public about issues relating to both ; promotes public understanding of the functioning and power of the media, assesses and enhances the value of the media to the individual, the family and the community.

 

'TV Turnoff Week'

Last week was ‘TV Turn Off Week’ in the United States.

 

‘Honoured more in the breach than in the observance’, as they say, TV turn off week, which was supported by 65 national organizations, was used to encourage both children and adults to watch much less television.

 

But why would groups like the American Medical Association  (AMA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), to name just two, want to encourage people to watch less TV?  

 

Well, in the words of American Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher who kicked off the 2001 event, "we are raising the most overweight generation of youngsters in American history...This week is about saving lives”

 

But obesity is really just the tip of the iceberg, as reported in a recent editorial (21 April) of the ‘New Scientist’ magazine. ‘In Denial’ ran the headline. ‘Why are we so reluctant to accept that on-screen violence is bad for us?’

 

Apparently the link between exposure to media violence and aggression is double the strength of the link between passive smoking and lung cancer! The report continues, ‘each time you bawl out a stranger over the phone or loose it with another driver from the safety of your car, consider that these  too are aggressive acts which studies have shown are more likely after repeated exposure to on-screen violence … (therefore) it seems inappropriate to keep calling this harmless entertainment’.

 

The New Scientist acknowledged, however, that, as with smoking, any criticism of a multi-billion dollar business is bound to provoke a sharp rebuttal.

 

 

 

Some statistics: Children on average watch an estimated 18,000 murders on TV by age 18 and over 200,000 acts of violence

 

More information on

http://www.fma.ie/tv_turnoff.htm