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Paper Instructions:

Final Paper Comm. 3078 Spring 2020
This (8-page minimum) paper (title pages and Works Cited pages don't count in the total)

In Chapter 9 in our textbook, the authors discuss violence in the media, a subject researched since 1930, when former U.S. Postmaster General Will H. Hays was appointed by The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) to monitor films for sex and violence. (for a brief overview, check out this web page: https://ncac.org/resource/a-brief-history-of-film-censorship) Recent studies have looked particularly at the effects of extreme violence in video games. Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005 signed into state law a bill that banned the sale or rental of video games determined to be violent to minors under the age of 17. A rating system was imposed. There were also penalties imposed on those who sold or rented these video games to minors. Bandura’s social learning theory is used to investigate violence in video games. 

But not all viewers are affected the same way after seeing violence or sex in the media. Some researchers say laws such as those passed by Governor Schwarzenegger are misguided since not all minors respond the same way to violence and sex. Also, there is so much violence in our media, regulating it in cartoons, soap operas, TV shows, and video games are impossible. 

In this paper, and after reading academic research, discuss this question: If we recognize that media violence and sex (and especially sexual violence) is impacting children & teens, then how can institutions and others mitigate the possible effects of this violence in media? Has mitigation been tried? Has it worked? Have other countries had success in mitigating the effects?