But minority groups tend to suffer greater symbolic reprisals for committing violence. The analysis of large national probability surveys indicates that long-term regular exposure to television tends to make an independent contribution to the feeling of living in a mean and gloomy world. Finally, viewers who see members of their own group have a higher calculus of risk than those of other groups develop feel the most vulnerable and dependent. This unequal sense of danger, vulnerability and general unease, combined with reduced sensitivity, invites not only aggression but also exploitation and repression. That is the deeper problem of violence- laden television.
Violence is a legitimate journalistic and artistic feature.
The most highly rated programs are usually not violent. A test of the relationship between violence and ratings refutes the standard rationalization for violent programming. The study compared the average Nielson ratings of two samples of over 100 programs each to test the popularity of the violence formula. The samples were drawn from the Cultural Indicators Data Archive for the past five seasons. Average Nielsen ratings and shares for the two samples were then compared.