Historicizing the media effects debate

This chapter offers a brief overview of the historical context in which the debate over media effects might be considered. It sketches the relationship between research in this field and regulation in the UK, and considers the contribution made by a series of high-profile media stories that have naturalized the relationship between violent media and violent crime. The chapter nevertheless argues that such common-sense links may well be unfounded, and though some effects researchers (eg Anderson 2004; 2010) may claim strong evidence for direct, causal effects, others are more circumspect in their assessment of the evidence. Ultimately the author suggests that media effects may be asking the wrong questions, and that a more ethnographic approach to the relations between people and media may be more fruitful.