National Television Violence Study

The National Television Violence Study (NTVS) constitutes the largest and most systematic content analysis of television programming ever conducted and reported in a single investigation. Published in two volumes and a third executive summary volume, the work represents more than 10,000 hours of TV content gathered over a 3-year period (1994–1997). The programs were recorded and coded in an effort to document the amount and types of violence that appear on television. The sampling frame included programs aired between the hours of 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. on any of 23 television channels. Unlike many published samples, the shows were selected randomly and included ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox as well as independent stations, public broadcasting stations, basic cable stations, and premium cable channels—HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax. Sports networks such as ESPN and news channels such as CNN were not included in the sample. On the basis of study findings, a number of recommendations were made for the television industry, policymakers, and parents.

The study was funded by the National Cable Television Association and conducted by researchers from four universities (University of California at Santa Barbara, University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). The group from Santa Barbara examined portrayals of violence in entertainment programming. The group from Austin focused on portrayals of violence on reality programming. The group from Wisconsin studied the impact of TV violence ratings and advisories on the viewing behavior of parents and children. The group from Chapel Hill explored the impact of anti-violence public service announcements (PSAs).

The NTVS researchers also benefited from an advisory council consisting of representatives from a total of 18 national organizations. These organizations included professional associations from the television industry, academic and scholarly organizations, and health organizations as well as legal, parental, and educational organizations. This panel was charged with ensuring the academic integrity of the studies and with providing the researchers feedback about the studies. The feedback was intended to represent a wide variety of perspectives and voices to supplement and not override the researchers' decisions and conclusions.

Three forms of violence were coded in this investigation: credible threats of physical force, actual acts of physical force, and harmful consequences of unseen violence. The inclusion of manifest and underlying codes for violence is significant because, all too often, researchers ignore underlying events that actually happen off-screen. These omissions result in the underestimation of the occurrences of violence on TV.

A founding principle of the NTVS is that not all violence poses the same degree of risk. Rather, the [Page 609]context of the violence partially determines whether the portrayal will be harmful to viewers. Based on an extensive review of the literature on the effects of media violence, the NTVS researchers identified a range of contextual features that may increase or decrease the risk of harmful effects:

• Attractive perpetrator
• Attractive victim
• Justified violence
• Unjustified violence
• Conventional weapons
• Extensive/graphic violence
• Realistic violence
• Rewards and punishments
• Pain/harm cues
• Humor

As described in the subsequent NTVS findings, consideration of these contextual features indicates that most TV violence is portrayed in ways that pose risks to viewers.

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