Media influence theory

Media influence theory is a crime-related theory which suggests that the rise in rates of certain criminal actions may be due to the increased violence in various forms of popular media, especially with crimes committed by minors. The basis of the theory lies in the assumption that a small percentage of people exposed to a high level of violent media outlets may have a signficantly harder time separating what is appropriate in fantasy and what is appropriate in reality.

The topic became of particular interest after the string of school shootings in the late 1990's and early 2000's, most notably the Columbine High School massacre. The most frequent target of the theory's advocates are First Person Shooter video games, most of which feature a high level of violence and gore. Other frequent targets are musicians labeled (and often incorrectly so) as having hateful lyrics and violent movies.

Many of the critics of the theory compare relative crime rates of the United States to other countries which have similar violent media outlets, a topic heavily explored in Michael Moore's award-winning documentary, Bowling For Columbine.

Though many politicians have taken strong stance against violence in media, many people feel that any governmental action is unfounded, as all potentially inappropriate media is labeled as such by government- and industry-sanctioned ratings organizations. Most of these ratings require that all children under the age of 18 must have an adult present at the time of purchase, leading many people to argue that parents who are concerned with their children's well-being take a more active role in monitoring the types of media to which their children are exposed.