Violence on television

Violence on television

In these past few days, as a number of our television stations
are busy marking their anniversaries with a variety of special
entertainment for the benefit of their viewers, many of us tend
to forget that there is reason for us, Indonesians, to be
grateful for their presence.

The truth is that while the printed news media also deserves
due credit for doing its part in making the Indonesian public
better informed about current affairs at home and abroad, it is
television that has the strongest impact in this area. As for
entertainment, the share supplied by television is without doubt
unsurpassed. Because of all this, the expansion of our television
networks over the past few years is surely something to be
grateful about.

Ironically perhaps, but certainly not surprisingly, it is this
very power of impact of television that has, over the past few
years, given rise to numerous expressions of concern over the
fare that is being presented by our television stations.

True, there seems at present to be no consensus among
researchers as to the influence which television has on the
behavior of its viewers. The Indonesian psychologist, Darmanto
Jatman, in a seminar held in Semarang a few months ago, offered
the view that the impact of television on the behavior of
Indonesian youngsters was negligible compared to that of family
upbringing, schools and social environment.

A survey made by the Jakarta newspaper Kompas late last year,
on the other hand, appeared to confirm recent American research
findings that there seems to be a correlation between the high
exposure to violence on television and the growth of violent
behavior among American youths. In September of last year, when
the Kompas survey was held, each day Indonesian youths were
exposed to at least 127 scenes of violence broadcast by four
television stations -- RCTI, TPI, TVRI and SCTV.

In the absence of a more recent survey we cannot say whether
or not, or to what degree, there has been any improvement over
the past months -- that is to say, whether or not those
television stations have complied with the many requests from
educators and other concerned viewers to reduce the number of
violent scenes in their broadcasts. We tend to believe that if
there has, indeed, been such a reduction, it has not been near
enough.

In view of all this we would like to refer to a statement made
by Ishadi SK, head of the research and development department of
the Ministry of Information, in December last year. He said that
some kind of institution to oversee television programs,
regulated by law, is needed at present because practically no one
can escape the impact of television, either in the positive or
the negative sense.

We believe this is a good time to seriously ponder the
proposition. Elsewhere in the world consumers appear to have
enough clout to pressure television networks into heeding their
appeals, either through boycotts of products promoted by
advertisers on television or by other means. Since such a
situation does not exist here, assistance is needed, either from
the government, from legislators, or from others who are in a
position to do something about the situation.