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<title> VIOLENCE ON THE SCREEN AFFECTS CHILDREN </title>
Times have indeed changed. Only one or two generations ago, very few children had ever seen images of someone being shot, knifed, blown up or raped in front of there bare ayes. Today most children see such violence on the screen every day, often in gruesome detail. For instance it has been estimated that an average American child now reaching the age of eighteen has witnessed some 18 000 simulated murders on television. This is of course something which has a negative impact on children and adolescents and the growing amount of violence and crime is due to a great extent to media. I have been think of that violence and the negative impact it causes on children and find it necessary to discuss around it and try to find answer to questions like: How can we protect children from being hurt by the violence on the screen? Who have the chief responsibility on working on that cause?
Though the negative impact of this mass consumption of violent images no consensus has been established as to the broader and more precise influence of media violence on child viewers; research finding so far have been contradictory. Therefore I think further research is needed and I would suggest such research to be child­centred and based on the one international treaty defining the right of children in today's world: the UN Convention on the Right of the Child, now formally endorsed by no less than 177 countries. This in particular as, there are powerful economic interests at play in this discussion, but also since the Convention has rules that we have committed ourselves to follow. 
It is also important that we keep a debate about the violence on the screen and how it affects children's lives. Even therefore is research on this topic necessary since it often creates public debate when the news papers and media in general takes up the results of such researches. In this debate should schools parents and politicians participate and of course even TV producers should be invited to participate. The discussion should among other tings include a broader perspective on how children now spend their day. Firstly since many children spend more time in front of television than in school and their time with their parents is reduced. But also since many children do not have an adult present to explain violent images and to put them into an understandable context. 
When I think about children spending more time in front of television than in school and of children getting a wrong view of reality through it I would like TV to be more educative. It is necessary to create media education because we know from psychologists that the processing of text is different from the processing of images and we cant substitute one for the other. Both have their value and both are important. And since it seems difficult to prevent our children from watching television we should educate them in the art of viewing, also. We can educate them to sea what tricks are used, and to distance themselves from what is shown. 
But whose responsibility is to work on the things I have suggested above? Well, I think the main responsibility lie on the broadcasters who knows that the violence on the screen is consumed by children who are alone and though only care about making money. But of course even parents, schools, universities and other institutions should support the work on reducing violence on the screen and protect children from being hurt by it. Everyone ought to put demands on TV companies that produce violent programs and on countries such as the United States which export a great amount of violent media products. Broadcasting stations must admit that they have an ethical responsibility and that they must change.
As we can sea is it important to discuss around the violence on the screen and to work on reducing it to protect children from being hurt. And if someone thinks that violence on the screen do not affect children in a negative way, he/she should learn that we can not assume that a young child can distinguish between reality and fiction. Most children may make this distinction, but there are so many who can not and as long as there is just one single child who can not, whose life is ruined, it is one to many.
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