FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 11/9/00

Contacts:

Marjorie Heins,
National Coalition Against Censorship/Free Expression Policy Project
202-807-6222

David Greene,
First Amendment Project
510-208-7744

November 9, 2000

The National Coalition Against Censorship's Free Expression Policy Project and The First Amendment Project today filed an amicus brief on behalf of eight prominent scholars and authors urging a federal appellate court to recognize that social science studies have not established that violent entertainment causes harmful effects in minors. The United States Court of Appeals is reviewing a trial court decision upholding an Indianapolis law that barred access to anyone under 18 to any video game that contains simulated "graphic violence" and that is considered "harmful to minors." The trial court had relied on social science research to conclude that the city "had a solidly reasonable basis" to so limit minors' First Amendment rights.

The brief was filed on behalf of friends of the court Henry Jenkins, Richard Rhodes, Jib Fowles, Robert Horwitz, Ellen Seiter, Donna Gaines, Vivian Sobchack and Constance Penley. All are scholars and authors specializing in media and communications who are concerned about the misrepresentations and distortions that have for many years characterized political discourse regarding the social science research into "media violence."

As set forth in the brief:

"The fact is that although thousands of articles and book chapters have been written about the subject of media violence, only a few hundred laboratory experiments, field experiments, or correlation studies have been conducted, and their results are ambiguous and inconsistent. As the Federal Trade Commission acknowledged in a a recent report, no firm conclusions can be drawn from the media effects research. . . . In the case of video games, moreover, laboratory research has not yet even yielded the positive results that have been obtained in some studies of television violence."

The scholars also urge the court to recognize that censorship of violent content such as the city has attempted may in fact be counter productive. Indeed, experts on childhood have recognized the importance of violent play and fantasy in processing anxieties and providing outlets for aggression.

The case is American Amusement Machine Ass'n et al v. Kendrick et al.,no. 00-3643.

The brief is found at http://www.thefirstamendment.org/aamaamicus.html