The television reality show 鈥淔ear Factor鈥� has it. So does the animated show, 鈥淭he Hulk鈥� and even 鈥淏arney & Friends,鈥� the Emmy Award-winning PBS children鈥檚 show featuring a singing purple dinosaur.
What the shows have in common is violence鈥攑hysical, verbal, or sexual鈥攁nd sometimes a combination of the three, say some 6th graders in Minnesota who have produced a violence-rating guide to their favorite programs.
The 26 students at the 850-student Rush Creek Elementary School in suburban Minneapolis put together a project called 鈥淔irst Piece of the Peace Puzzle鈥� that includes the guide, an advertising campaign, and a Web site to address violence in the media, said Douglas Greener, their teacher.
鈥淚 see lots of bad stuff going on,鈥� he said. 鈥淸This] makes them feel power and more control over their future.鈥�
The 24-page guide, available at rates 43 of their peers鈥� favorite TV shows according to the number of violent incidents per episode. The students dedicated the booklet to the victims of the March 21 shootings at Red Lake High School in Red Lake, Minn.
The NBC show 鈥淔ear Factor,鈥� for example, in which contestants have eaten a bowl of blended rats and navigated a maze of electrified wire, had 23 incidents of verbal violence and 37 of physical violence on average per episode, the students found. 鈥淏arney & Friends鈥� had only one incident of verbal violence per episode.
Each student, along with one parent, watched two episodes of the shows to tally up the violent incidents, Mr. Greener said. The students defined violence as 鈥渁ny word, act, look, or gesture that intentionally hurts a person鈥檚 body, feelings, or things.鈥�
The students also persuaded a local ad agency to copy and advertise posters they created on violence in the media in public restrooms in and around Minneapolis this summer. They also have asked local businesses to sponsor their project and have held a silent auction. They鈥檝e raised close to $5,000 and will donate it to Home Free, a shelter for battered women.
