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<title> Protecting children from TV violence </title>
Violence on TV has become a huge problem for parents of young children. Most parents do not want their children to watch news or violent shows and often stop them from doing that whenever they can. They set rules on what is allowed to watch on TV and make sure their children stick to those rules. In most cases, this works fine as long as the parents are present. The problems begin when the parents are not around to check what TV programmes their children are watching. What can be done to help those parents who can not stay at home with their children all the time?
	Nowadays there is violence not only in the news and certain TV shows for adults, but also in children's programmes and in many computer games. I think that the most disturbing section of the issue on television violence is the way violence is hidden in children's programmes. It is not healthy for young children to watch for instance "Batman" or to play violent computer games in which the characters just kill each other. It is difficult, as a parent, to know where to draw the line and what rules to set. Should a child be allowed to watch whatever he or she wants when the parents are at work, or should only specific children's programmes be permitted? And if there are special rules, how can one know that the child will not break them when the parents are not around? Not even parents who stay at home can be sure that their children are not watching violent TV shows at a friend's house or read a newspaper with horrible war pictures at the library.
	A possible solution to this problem was presented in 1995 in the US: a V chip. It is a small computer chip, which can be put in a television set, and give parents the opportunity to lock out TV programmes containing too much violence. This means that it would be impossible for the children to watch those shows, at least in the homes that have this chip. But then again, who knows what they are watching somewhere else? To shelter children from TV violence, every television set must have a V chip, or one must simply remove all violence from all TV programmes. And isn't that a form a censorship? Who is to decide what people can watch on TV? The American president Bill Clinton said about the V chip: "This is not censorship, this is parental responsibility." Does it mean that parents who do not get this V chip are irresponsible? And can parents who do get it just relax and think that their children are protected enough? I think parental responsibility goes far beyond that.
	In Sweden, another method has been tried for some years now. Television companies do not broadcast unsuitable TV programmes during the day, which is very good. Movies and programmes with a lot of violence are most of the time broadcast after eight o'clock in the evening. However, they do show the news all day long. Why is violence in the news more acceptable than violence in a movie or TV programme?
	I don't think there is a simple solution to this very difficult and complicated problem. A V chip alone does not solve it and neither does the Swedish "model" (not to broadcast violent shows during the day). In order to make the world seem better on TV, we must in fact change the whole society. Television programmes and movies have for a long time reflected the world and time we live in, just like music and other forms of culture. However, children should, as much as possible, be protected from watching violence on TV. Violence should be removed from children's programmes and violent shows should be broadcast only at night. Parents have the ultimate responsibility in the upbringing of their children and it is important that they talk to them and try to explain what the world is like, and why it is not suitable for children to watch violent shows on TV.
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