A pair of academic speakers criticized violent media during yesterday’s Public Affairs Conference at Missouri State University.

As reported by the Springfield News-Leader, the gathering sought ways to deal with conflict and violence in schools. Virginia Tech assistant prof Christine Kaestle, speaking on the first anniversary of last year’s campus shooting rampage, charged that the media tended to focus on extreme acts of violence, while ignoring more commonplace acts of aggression, sexual harassment and bullying:

There is a disconnect between the needs of the media and the needs of the students. The media are interested in acts of violence that involve weapons. There are overt acts of bullying that lead to acts of aggression and interfere with educational goals.

The University of Wisconsin’s director of the Center for Communication Research, Joanne Cantor (left), was more strident in her criticism of violent media:

We need to understand the impact entertainment violence has on kids. The media spends a lot of money debunking the research. [Kids who consume violent media] see the world as an angry place. They are desensitized to the effects of violence.

The more they play violent games, the more impulsive they are since games reward impulsive reactions, to shoot quickly in order to kill.

We pass laws that are helpful, like an ordinance that won’t allow a minor to rent a [mature] rated video game without a parent, but the laws are thrown out because the First Amendment is interpreted so broadly. It’s the merchant’s rights over the parental rights.