Why is it ok to censor action movies but not news about real deaths?

Question

I think kids are aware (I was) movies are fiction, but news always show very brutal scenes about REAL violence. Why can news show such scenes?

Answer 1

I don't know about where you are from, but here in England we usually have a warning just before the news telling us that some scenes may be upsetting, that is only helpful though if we see the news right from the start. I do think that news like that should only be shown after the 'watershed' about 9pm.

Answer 2

Thoughtful question.
I used to be in the TV news biz...and we took a lot of care in NOT showing anything too graphic...but we were an exception.

Personally, part of me feels that any publication (print and broadcast) should be free to show whatever they want and at the same time, be held accountable to and uphold community standards.
After all, the television has an "off" switch and no one is forcing you to buy a newspaper.
And if the news media don't tell you about what is going on, who will?

Yet, there is another part of me that says these media outlets would NOT be showing this stuff if there wasn't someone out there willing to watch/listen or otherwise buy it.
The ratings don't lie and quite frankly, people are curious about stuff they've never seen before.

And then there's the part of me that begs the question:
Can we just stop all the violence, the war, the hate, the abuse and try to live our lives as a civilized society?
That is the dreamer in me.
To paraphrase John Lennon, imagine a world where everyone got along.
There would be no need for the news media to show the violence.

People, it starts with us...you and me.
We need to be the ones to end the violence.
And if we did, there wouldn't be questions like "Why can news show such scenes?"

Answer 3

The news media in the United States seems to be on a crusade to keep people afraid by bombarding the public with constant negative images,threats of impending attacks,violence from minorities or underpriviledged,health hazards,domestic abuse,child abuse and dont forget the war.The violence perpetrated on society can be more attributed to what we see and hear on the news as opposed to any work of fiction.Reality is more frightening than the worst slasher films.Check through history.The idea is that we need to be exposed to these things.Which most of us are already.Other major countrys around the world dont experience the violence we do in the US per capita.Censorship guidelines for entertainment are sopposed to protect children from images that could potentially damage them in one way or another.News programming isnt geared towards children.But it still can show the most horriffic images seemingly without consequence to children.I could go on forever about this topic but Im hungry .Look for the hypocracy.

Answer 4

They have to show you that stuff on the news for shock value because our society has become so desensitized to stuff like that, we wouldn't even look twice if we didn't think we might see something that may actually repulse us. The news media here is so biased anyway. Think about all of the things you don't see that go on in different countries everyday--beheadings, murders, etc, that they show on tv in other countries. It makes ours news look tame! It's all about ratings anyway. Whatever happened to make love, not war? I'd rather see someone's breast than a shoot out anyday. Our society's just bent and has their value system screwed up.

Answer 5

Good Question...i always wondered that myself. It makes no sense. It seems like it would be better to show violence in fictional movies..because at least it's not REAL!!!

Answer 6

Ask the concerned at Censor Board regarding this partiality?

Answer 7

It is the governments way of keeping us scared, if we were no longer scared of what was happening we just may get rid of them.

Answer 8

Great question... I wish more people actually thought about how messed up that is.