The Times newspaper reports that Duncan Smith warned 'innocence is being destroyed by children's television and computer games'.

"We are driving children to lose their childhood, and some video games are incredibly violent, like Grand Theft Auto," he said. "They are meant to be 18 but nobody cares what it says on the label."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=232502



Has IDS seen the Haiti footage that gets shown all throughout the day?

That’s the problem, isn’t it? And Haiti isn’t even a man made disaster. We get to see a lot more reality on the telly than we used to, and that can show a very one sided view of some things. As I have observed before, it makes for good TV to have soldiers firing guns into the distance. We never show what the consequence of those actions are - the maiming and killing of people at the receiving end. We only get to see the bloodshed when the “bad people” do it. What message does this tell us? That if you are a “good guy” shooting guns carries no consequences, no moral judgement? How influential would this kind of imagery be on a child? Should a parent discuss this with their child? How would a parent discuss this with their child?

Now, let’s go back to the Call of Duty MW2 for a moment. I watched the airport sequence, and I would say that it shows a ore balanced picture of the consequences of actions than the news footage does.

Games rated at 18 are over rated in terms of thier age rating:
14 year olds can easily cope with the majority of violent and explicit games.
Being still 17 I have seen/played/ taken part in which is prohibited:

Games (In the year of release):
witcher
medal of honor 1,2,3,4 (can't remember thier titles)
call of duty 2, MW2
GTA san andreas (6 month after rel), vice city and gta 3(2 yr after rel)
fallout 3
gothic 3
halo: combat evolved
c&c red alert 1
camand and conquer 1
oblivion (tes iv)

A few Films I've watched before the rated recomendation :

green mile
pulp fiction
kill bill 1/2
good the bad and the ugly
gladiator
collateral
american history x
the exorcist
the shining
28 days/weeks later
The american pie series
jackie brown
lost boys
Dusk till dawn
And many more

A few tv peices:
Supernatural
Buffy
and many more

Substances bought/ consumed before it is legal:
tobbaco (not as a habit but have smoke on occasion)
alcohol

Well I've got bored of listing the things I am prohibited from taking part in but ended up doing anyway and am I a knuckle draging psychopathic binge drinking sexual deviant in the making:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zNjQecyjE8
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO![code][/code]

so you have admitted to breaking the law and/or inducing others to break the law. Tsk tsk!

I agree with your sentiments there, and would also suggest you iPlayer Newswipe with Mr Brooker - not only is it funny , it also touches on the media sticking to set narratives and structures when it comes to broadcasting the 'news'. Including a suicide bomber in America who barely got a mention because the big story was apparently redneck militias if you believed the media (Timothy McVeigh types). Oh, and the small matter of Ebola outbreaks...

Seriously, it's well worth your time, and I'd like to thank adidan again for reminding me about it

"We are driving children to lose their childhood, and some video games are incredibly violent, like Grand Theft Auto," he said. "They are meant to be 18 but nobody cares what it says on the label."