PTC Agrees With Disney’s CEO That Gun Violence Needs to be Addressed – But Also by the Entertainment Industry

The Parents Television Council is calling on Hollywood to take gun violence seriously by evaluating and lowering its use on TV shows and in films. “We agree with Disney’s Bob Iger that gun violence should be taken seriously, and in that vein, we are calling on the entire entertainment industry to evaluate its own incessant, and ever-more-realistic daily rehearsals of gun violence – and graphic violence in general – on its TV shows and in its movies. Hollywood needs to take seriously its own role in contributing to normalizing violence. Mr. Iger and other industry leaders cannot claim their content does not have real-life impact when their very economic existence is based on advertising -- the sole purpose of which is to change the behavior of each viewer,” said PTC President Tim Winter. “Gun violence has been Hollywood’s favorite kind of violence for years. Research conducted by the PTC in 2013 found that during a one-month study period of primetime broadcast TV shows, nearly half (193 of the 392 shows examined) contained violence; and almost a third (121) contained violence and guns. These results even came immediately after the White House summit with entertainment executives following Newtown and during which those executives touted parental controls as the only way to control TV violence. The entertainment industry effectively scrubbed their hands of any responsibility. “A 2013 study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that gun violence tripled in PG-13-rated films. “Even in our latest research of only fantasy-based broadcast TV shows, which kids are more likely to be attracted to, there were over 1,000 incidents of violence and 300 deaths. “We urge the entertainment industry to evaluate and ideally lower portrayals of violence and specifically, gun violence.”