In many parts of the world, blaming the media for any and all expressions of violent behaviour has become almost reflexive partly, because, the media have tended to exploit violence for their commercial advantage. Banning "explicitly sexual and violent content" (Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica) from the airways appears to many an obvious strategy to correct the perceived harm to audiences and society. For such a strategy to have any chance of working requires disentangling the complex matrix of factors which together produce what we call violent societies. This book is required reading for those who wish to go beneath the surface of the public noise about violence and media. It takes the reader into the motives behind media productions; it shows how audiences interpret what they watch and how meanings and the truth may be distorted in the process. The authors, by means of extensive and rigourous research, have been able to assemble a coherent view of this complicated topic.

In many parts of the world, blaming the media for any and all expressions of violent behaviour has become almost reflexive partly, because, the media have tended to exploit violence for their commercial advantage. Banning "explicitly sexual and violent content" (Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica) from the airways appears to many an obvious strategy to correct the perceived harm to audiences and society. For such a strategy to have any chance of working requires disentangling the complex matrix of factors which together produce what we call violent societies. This book is required reading for those who wish to go beneath the surface of the public noise about violence and media. It takes the reader into the motives behind media productions; it shows how audiences interpret what they watch and how meanings and the truth may be distorted in the process. The authors, by means of extensive and rigourous research, have been able to assemble a coherent view of this complicated topic.