Review of Violence’s Impact Isn’t a Rehash

In his Counterpunch of Nov. 6 (“Evidence on Media Violence Still Stands”), Dale Kunkel writes critically about my recent review of the research on the effect of media violence on aggression. He describes the review as a rehash of old arguments and makes a number of other negative comments. Kunkel is incorrect in almost every statement he makes.

This is not surprising. My review has not been generally available, and it is therefore very likely that Kunkel has not read it. If he has written about it without reading it, that is inexcusable; if he has actually read it and distorted it so completely, that is reprehensible. Let me set the record straight.

Kunkel claims the new review is a rehash of the old one. My first review covered work done before 1982, did not include laboratory experiments, considered only a portion of the field studies and was 20 pages long. The new review is up to date, includes the laboratory experiments, considers every study published in English and is more than 400 pages long. It is an entirely new review, much more detailed and borrows virtually nothing from the earlier one. Some rehash!

Kunkel writes that I have argued since 1986 that “methodological shortcomings in research procedures render the findings of literally every study on the topic essentially meaningless.” This is false. I have never said any such thing in either the original review, the new review or anything I have written or stated in between.

In fact, I think much of the research has been excellent, even brilliant. I truly believe and have often said that research on this issue has dealt with an extremely difficult problem with great methodological sophistication and ingenuity. Of course, few scientific studies are perfect, and certainly I do criticize some of the work on methodological grounds. But that is not by any means the point of either of my reviews.

No, the problem with the research is not with its methodology but its results. As my review makes clear, far fewer than half of the scientific studies provide any support for the idea that exposure to media violence is harmful to children, adults or anyone else.

I realize that it must be quite irritating to the true believers to have someone take the time to read the actual research, but I recommend it to anyone who wants to know the truth.

JONATHAN L. FREEDMAN

Toronto

The author is a professor of psychology at University of Toronto.