Viewing Violence: Audience Perceptions of Violent Content in Audio-Visual Entertainment, 2008

1 September 2008

Date published: September 2008

Research Company: Colmar Brunton

BSA/OFLC research partnership
Qualitative research project exploring public perceptions towards violent content in entertainment genres, specifically in films, DVDs, on free-to-air and pay television, the internet and mobile phones
Designed not just to understand how people perceive violent content, but understand why they hold these values and perceptions
Findings add to the body of knowledge available to the OFLC and the BSA to further inform the OFLC’s decisions regarding classification and public education work, and the BSA’s determinations about alleged breaches of the violence standards in the Codes of Broadcasting Practice

Conducted from March to May 2008 with 117 participants
Complementary qualitative research methods:
- online bulletin boards, for teens aged 14–17 and adult men and women aged 18+
- focus groups, for male and female adults aged 18+ in specific locations
- in-depth interviews with teenagers aged 14–17 in selected locations

Rated the degree of violence in each of the 13 clips they viewed consistently across age, gender, ethnicity and regional location
Perceptions of what constituted low, medium, or high levels of violence were similar to academic and legislative definitions
The current New Zealand classification systems used by the OFLC and broadcasters largely met participants’ expectations

Women tended to base their assessment of each clip on the degree of empathy they felt with the characters involved; more likely to perceive harmful effects, to themselves or to children, from viewing the clips
Men were more likely to ‘step back’ from the clip, viewing the content as simply entertainment, and discuss it in that context
Younger teenagers (14–15) lacked the critical analysis skills to understand the context of the violence in a clip, or did not understand the sexual nature of the violence
Older teenagers more likely to feel they were able to make adult decisions about what they viewed, and strongly in favour of their freedom to view

Thought there were emotional and psychological harms, for young people from viewing material not suitable for their age range and potential for changes in attitude or behaviour
There was little perception that any of the research clips were offensive, provided appropriately labelled

Made clear distinction between what was appropriate viewing for mature and informed adults, and what was not appropriate for younger, less mature, audiences to view
Felt that as free-to-air television was the most accessible format, it needed more careful classifications, warnings and monitoring than other formats that are less accessible
Adult and teenage participants considered warnings and classifications to be part of the information they needed to ensure they could make informed viewing choices

Adult participants considered freedom to view to be an important part of being an adult
Few felt that the clips selected for this research warranted cutting or censoring in any way
Censorship was considered necessary only for extremely violent and disturbing material

RESEARCH AND REPORTS NGĀ RANGAHAU ME NGĀ PŪRONGO