Some say yes. In today's world, much of the production and distribution of television programming, movies, newspapers, magazines, and publishing are controlled by large media corporations. These corporations, or Big Media, are global in scale. These global operators have learned that programming aimed to touch deep, basic human emotions is very effective at reaching and retaining viewers and readers. People's fear seems to be one of the easier buttons to push.
As with any modern, multi-national industry, the media companies have directed significant resources toward the research and development of effective tools and techniques which they use to deliver their content. Some of these tools are highly technical and have direct application outside of the media-centric world, such as the computer animation techniques of Disney/Pixar. Some of the techniques are obviously aimed at more primitive instincts and behaviors of the viewing public. In "Heads Above the Hype" (Phillips) by Peter Philips, the author identifies the typical content of broadcast television and newspapers as "Washington sex scandals, celebrity exposes, gruesome murders, schoolyard attacks, gangs, crime, [and] corruption." When questioned as to why this content is presented, Big Media responds "we are just giving the public what it wants." By giving the public what it wants, these companies ensure repeat business, meaning that viewers and readers always come back for more. Repeat business is valued by Big Media's advertising sponsors who are the primary source of revenue. In order to deliver the viewers and readers demanded by the advertisers, the media companies rely on titillating the basic human emotions. Fear being the primary emotion, as noted several times by Myrna Blyth in "The Female Fear Factor." (Blyth)
Global media companies have reaped the rewards of their research investments. Their lessons are well learned. Fear and drama draw viewers, viewers draw advertisers, to this end media companies promote fear to sustain and grow their business.
So, producers and distributors of modern media content have been indicted. The offense with which they have been charged is "promotion of a culture of fear." There are numerous plaintiffs, an example being George Gerbner, Professor of Communication at the Anenberg School of Communication, Philadelphia. In an article published in The Ecology of Justice "Television's Global Marketing Strategy Creates a Damaging and Alienated Window on the World," (Gerbner) Professor Gerbner states that "the more television people watch, the more they are likely to be afraid to go out on the street in their own community."
The contrarian argument would ask why? Certainly, watching too much television could cause one to be unable to go out onto the street, especially if the viewing is paired with an over-indulgence of Yodels. But citing fear as the reason for not venturing outside is less obvious. Fear is a basic human response that has developed as man has developed from cave dweller to modern times. Some of this response is an instinctive reaction based deep in our nervous system. Modern humans only experience this type of fear infrequently; our life does not include the daily exposure to life and death circumstances that our ancestors experienced. The rest of this response is learned from our environment. For the first 5-10 years of our lives, that environment is dominated by the confines of family and home. Development of unusual reactions to stressful situations would be learned from that environment, not exposure to media content. One interpretation of "Who's Taking the Kids" (Alter) by Jonathan Alter could be that it is in fact parents who may be instilling fear in their children, from parental reaction, or overreaction, to what they see and hear in the media. The article makes the point that simply digging further into the facts behind the hype blaring from the tube might put the statistics into perspective. In "Stop Blaming Kids and TV" (Males) by Mike Males the author also provides many examples showing that one's environment has more influence on behavior than exposure to certain types of media. One of Male's overriding themes is his theory that children mimic not only their parents but other influential adults and fear is certainly contagious.
Big-time media does produce and distribute content that is meant to strike at our deepest emotions; that is the definition of entertainment and the arts. But the indicted media companies have much less control over the development of our emotions, behaviors, and reactions than our family, friends, educators, and civic leaders. These media companies are not promoting fear, it is already out there in spades.
Alter, Jonathon. "Who's Taking the Kids?" Goshgarian, Gary. What Matters in America. New York: Pearson Education Inc., 2007. 93-96.
Blyth, Myrna. "The Female Fear Factor." Goshgarian, Gary. What Matters in America. New York: Pearson Education Inc., 2007. 96-102.
Gerbner, George. "Televisions Global Marketing Strategy Creates a Damaging and Alientaed Window on the World." Goshgarian, Gary. What Matters in America. New York: Pearson Education Inc., 2007. 261-265.
Males, Mike. "Stop Blaming Kids and TV." Goshgarian, Gary. What Matters in America. New Tork: Pearson Education Inc., 2007. 267-271.
Phillips, Peter. "Heads Above the Hype." Goshgarian, Gary. What Matters in America. New York: Pearson Education Inc., 2007. 104-107.
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