Princeton University Press Channeling Violence – The Economic Market for Violent Television Programming

In this volume, the author argues that television violence, like pollution, generates negative externalities, defined as costs borne by others rather than those involved in the production activity. Broadcasters seeking to attract viewers may not fully bear the costs to society of their violent programming, if those costs include such factors as increased aggression and crime in society. He offers the opinion that approaches devised to control violent programming, such as restricting it to certain times and rating programmes according to the violence they contain, have parallels in zoning and education politicies designed to protect the environment.