Just For Kids

February 06, 1994|By BOB BLATTNER Daily Press

Most Americans are worried that our country is becoming too violent. They say there is too much fighting, too much shooting, too much killing.

And many people blame television for that violence. They believe that watching violence on television makes Americans more likely to act violently in real life.

Others disagree. They think television is just showing a picture of this country as it really is.

According to the government, America is four times as violent as it was just 30 years ago. But it is still much, much less violent than television.

Why is television so violent? Because people watch the violent shows.

The men and women in charge of television make money by selling advertising time to companies for their advertisements. The companies, such as McDonald's and Pepsi, buy that advertising time. And the companies hope the people who watch television will also watch their commercials and then go out and buy their hamburgers or soft drinks.

If more people watch the television shows, more people watch the ads. So television companies can charge advertisers more.

For very popular shows, like the Super Bowl, the television networks can charge more than a million dollars a minute for the advertising time.

The people in charge of television are very careful to make sure a lot of Americans like their TV shows. That way, they can charge a lot of money for the advertising time.

If everyone changed the channel when violence comes on, soon there would be no violence. The television companies would not make money on violent shows, so they would stop them.

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