Visual diet of horror for children

www.sun-sentinel.com By Owain Johnson Special Correspondent Posted February 18 2003

Caracas, Venezuela · Several times in recent months, pediatrician César Rojas and his wife have had to move fast to prevent their son Raúl, 8, from seeing the televised violence that sometimes erupts during political protests. "There have been quite a few occasions when I've had to distract him and then get him out of the room," Rojas said. The Venezuelan media are not shy about showing acts of violence in detail, scenes that have become more common as the country's political crisis worsens. Now, though, parents and psychiatrists are beginning to ask what effect this visual diet of horror is having on the nation's children, and the government has proposed a bill to regulate what the channels can show and when. Rojas recalls the night in early December when gunmen attacked an opposition rally in the Plaza Francia de Altamira, leaving three people dead. The attack took place at 7 p.m., and its bloody aftermath immediately was televised live, just as people sat down to dinner. "I let Raúl watch part of that night with us," Rojas said. "I told him it was some crazy men shooting, and I don't think it affected him too much. But there's so much violence in the atmosphere, you can't always hide what's happening." The images of bloodied bodies on the ground in Altamira was repeated often for several days, and not only during newscasts. The strike and subsequent economic crisis have forced advertisers to scale back, and commercial breaks on private TV channels are increasingly filled with opposition-financed political ads that feature many of the same disturbing scenes. The opposition's publicity efforts seek to whip up popular indignation and encourage people to attend protest rallies against the government. The paid ads can be seen day or night, during films, soap operas and baseball games. The government thinks the TV channels should be more aware of their potential audience and would like to ban scenes of shootings or violent riots when children could be watching. The Content Law, as it is known, was approved during its first reading before the National Assembly last week, despite fierce criticism from the media. The private media fear President Hugo Chávez will use the law to muzzle unfavorable coverage of his government. They say the authorities want to prevent viewers from seeing politically such damaging images as national guard troops beating women demonstrators or government supporters causing disturbances. The proposals also have drawn criticism from child psychiatrists and psychologists. Sergio Garrón, a psychiatrist, says the bill goes too far by trying to prevent any disturbing or violent images from appearing until late at night. Garrón said the government should instead encourage families and schools to take greater responsibility for what children watch. "We should all be regulators: mothers, fathers, teachers and little old grandmas," Garrón says. "In the right context, these scenes can be tools for parents to teach their children. Do we really want to breed little robots who never see the bad side of life?" The president of Venezuela's Association of Psychoanalysts, María Cristina Ortega, says that unless children see some challenging images, it will be difficult for them to understand the realities of life in contemporary Venezuela. The media cannot gloss over the serious problems facing the divided society, Ortega says. She adds that it is the crisis itself, rather than its depiction by the media, that has led an increasing number of parents to bring their children to her clinic. "The television just shows reality. There is so much tension on the streets every day that it creates an entirely unhealthy atmosphere for children's mental health," Ortega said. "Growing up and developing in a situation like this is very far from ideal."