The Media Institute released a white paper by Dr. Jonathan Freedman, professor of psychology at the
Freedman argued that of all of the types of research on the subject, which include experimental studies, field experimnts, longitudinal studies, and studies of communities with and without television, 'Not one method has produced a clear majority of findings consistent with the idea that exposure to violent television makes people aggressive.'
Freedman also notes that research that finds a correlation between violent programming and aggression fail to establish causality, because it may be that more aggressive individuals tend to gravitate toward violent programming.
Those familiar with the history of pop culture can observe that those who argue that correlation proves causality fall into the same trap as Dr. Fredric Wertham did over 50 years ago, when he concluded that because comics were read by the juvenile delinquents he interviewed, that comics must cause juvenile crime. The collapse in distribution of comics that followed his testimony before Congress crippled most comic publishers and stunted the flowering of the new American medium for decades. There's a real danger that the current political pressure to regulate animation and other children's programming could have a similar effect on those forms of entertainment.
The Media Institute is supported by a wide range of media companies, including Time Warner, Viacom, NBC Universal, Tribute and Gannett. It commissioned the white paper, but Freedman refused an honorarium, according to Variety.
