grams from their TV sets using an on-screen classifi-
cation system—although this system was delayed for
years after the V-chip’s introduction. Part of the
push for classification and the V-chip came from the
concerns of Canadian broadcasters and the Cana-
dian public about U.S. stations available in Canada.
In the United States, V-chip requirements were
written into the Telecommunications Act of 1996. As
in Canada, it was the U.S. content developers them-
selves who were charged with designing and regulat-
ing a nationwide V-chip ratings system. The Tele-
communications Act required stations to inform
television program guides about the suitable viewing
age range for all program listings. In 1998, the FCC
informed television manufacturers that the V-chip
would be required in all new television sets thirteen
inches or larger by January, 2000, the same year that
Canadian broadcasters actualized their on-screen
classification system for use with V-chip technology.
Media Effects One of the few agreed-upon conclu-
sions drawn from research during the 1990’s about
media effects on children is that a child’s compre-
hension of television programming is not a simple
process. Comprehension requires a complex set of
tasks that include selective attention, the ability to
impose coherence on a series of events, and the abil-
ity to make inferences beyond the literal meaning of
pictured content. Not surprisingly, other research
indicates that interacting with adults about the con-
tent of a television program can increase a child’s
understanding of his or her viewing experience.
Viewer age is another widely recognized variable in
predicting the effects of television violence on chil-
dren, for attention to the screen first increases then
decreases with the passage of time. Attention to the
television screen is termed “fragmentary” before the
age of two. Attention gradually increases during the
preschool and early elementary school years. Then,
around age eight, it starts to decrease to the atten-
tion rates that characterize adult viewers.
Research on media effects on children produced
a variety of results. One study concluded that fre-
quent television viewing—regardless of content—
was proven to be the harmful factor. Another study
suggested that rather than media violence causing
behavioral change in young viewers, children who
already exhibited aggressive behaviors tended to se-
lect a larger amount of violent content than other
children.
Neither activist groups nor lawmakers made con-
sistent attempts to draw their conclusions from a fair
range of evidence. Moreover, there was a general
failure among groups to precisely define “violence.”
Yet another problem was a lack of clarity about
the relationships between aggressive behaviors in
laboratory experiments and aggressive behaviors
prompted by real-world settings.
Marjorie Heins, author ofNot in Front of the
Children(2001) and herself a First Amendment at-
torney, sums up the era’s perceptions of the issue:
The effects vary widely, and are difficult to quan-
tify....Thus, for some people, in some circum-
stances, some movies, TV shows, or video games may
cause a “copy cat” effect. For others, the same enter-
tainment may produce revulsion, fear, indignation,
boredom, curiosity, or some combination of these
reactions. For still others, the same works provide
escapist enjoyment.... At bottom, public concern
about violent entertainment probably has more to
do with widely shared feelings about the kinds of
messages and ideas children should be receiving
than with any direct cause-and-effect relationship
that has been, or likely can be, established.According to Heins, there was agreement about one
research finding. While under some circumstances
television viewing may contribute to aggressive be-
havior, its impact is always modified “by age, sex,
family practices and the way violence is pre-
sented....Television has large effects on a small
number of individuals, and modest effects on a large
number of people.”
A prime example of the widespread controversy
over media violence was the children’s television se-
riesMighty Morphin Power Rangers, which aired from
1993 to 1996. Geared toward nine- to twelve-year-
olds, the series drew major criticism from U.S. and
Canadian viewers who objected to the show’s vio-
lence (an average of 211 acts of violence per epi-
sode). Many Canadian stations took the series off
the air, but Canadians with cable television could
choose to continue viewing it on the American Fox
network.
Violence was not the only trigger for controversy
during the decade. Studies documented that stereo-
typing, particularly with regard to gender and race/
ethnicity, was prevalent in children’s programming.
African American characters were often negatively
stereotyped, while other minority groups received
little representation.The Nineties in America Children’s television 173