International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

In democratic societies, the fundamental, core principle of freedom of speech must often be balanced with the need to protect children from harm. This issue has dominated the public debate over children and the media throughout the twentieth century, often moving to the forefront during the entry of a new medium, when parental anxieties are particularly high (→  Media Use and Child Development ). Since the earliest days of television and continuing into the digital age, parents' groups, health professionals, and educators have organized numerous campaigns to protect young people from various kinds of harmful media content, often calling on the government to enact safeguards (→  Violence as Media Content, Effects on Children of ). These efforts reached a high level of intensity in the 1990s, as the growth and expansion of the →  Internet and a host of accompanying digital technologies transformed the media system (→  Information and Communication Technology, Development of ). Several governments have responded with regulations designed to shield children from violent and sexually explicit material in the media. Presented below is an overview of some of these regulations as they have been proposed and carried out in a number of countries (→  Internet Law and Regulation ; Sex and Pornography Online ). Concerns over TV violence began as early as the 1950s in the US, when Congress ... log in or subscribe to read full text