'60 Minutes Describes Video Game as a Killer Application
First, video games were linked to
childhood obesity because teens sat around playing the games instead
of exercising. Now, CBSs 60 Minutes is linking them to something
far more destructive murder while ignoring obvious points that
make the claim look ridiculous.
The Sunday, March 6, 2005, broadcast of CBSs news
magazine showed Co-editor Ed Bradley reporting on a lawsuit about
the enormously popular video game Grand Theft Auto. The suit
claimed the video game was responsible for deaths of three police
officers in Fayette, Ala. in 2003. Eighteen-year-old Devin Moore was
charged with the crimes and had played Grand Theft Auto day and
night for months, according to the broadcast.
Bradley opened with: Imagine if the entertainment
industry created a video game in which you could decapitate police
officers, kill them with a sniper rifle, massacre them with a
chainsaw, and set them on fire. Think anyone would buy such a
violent game? They would, and they have.
He followed with more than 12 minutes on the evils of
violent video games especially Grand Theft Auto. According to
Bradley, Grand Theft Auto is a world governed by the laws of
depravity. It didnt occur to him that violence and other
depravity are the norm for movies, TV and pop music. Those werent
mentioned.
It didnt take long for Bradley to build the case
against GTA as it is known by many fans. He interviewed attorney
Jack Thompson, a long-time crusader against video game violence.
Thompson filed a multi-million-dollar suit against Take-Two
Interactive Software, the manufacturer of the game, Sony, the maker
of the PlayStation 2 system it ran on, and two stores he bought it
from Wal-Mart Stores and Gamestop. It's our theory, which we
think we can prove to a jury in Alabama, that but for the video game
training, he would not have done what he did, Thompson said.
Bradley piled on with more critics of the game
including David Walsh, a child psychologist, whos co-authored a
study connecting violent video games to physical aggression and
Steve Strickland, the brother of one of the murdered officers, who
according to Bradley wants the video game industry to pay.
When Bradley pointed out that millions of kids play
violent video games and never hurt a fly, Walsh responded that
there are many risk factors involved. Bradley said those included,
in this case, a profoundly troubled upbringing, bouncing back and
forth between a broken home and a handful of foster families. That
didnt stop Walsh from attacking the game: And so when a young man
with a developing brain, already angry, spends hours and hours and
hours rehearsing violent acts and then he's put in a situation of
emotional stress, there's a likelihood that he will literally go to
that familiar pattern that's been wired repeatedly, perhaps
thousands and thousands of times.
Despite the doctors claims, Bradley later admitted:
But to date, not a single court case has acknowledged a link
between virtual violence and the real thing.
It took more than seven minutes before anyone spoke for
the gaming company. The companies were naturally cautious since the
case is under litigation, but Bradley did find one expert to defend
the industry. Doug Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment
Software Association, spoke for the video game industry but said he
couldnt defend individual titles. Bradley continued the attack on
the game and commented: I would imagine you wouldn't feel
comfortable trying to defend a game Like Grand Theft Auto.
The report ended by pointing out that several states
are considering laws that would ban the sale of violent games to
those under 17. Nowhere in the story did Bradley mention that the
manufacturer already has rated the game MATURE. According to the
rating system similar to one used for movies, Titles rated M
(Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and
older. Titles in this category may contain mature sexual themes,
more intense violence and/or strong language.
Bradley missed several key points in the story that
undermine the case for the plaintiff and made the makers of GTA
look better. Those include:
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Video game sales are on the rise, but violent crime continues
to decline. According to CanWest Interactive: Video and computer
game sales continued their record-breaking pace in 2004, as gamers
bought $7.3 billion U.S. of game software. The Bureau of Justice
Statistics reports that violent crime has declined from more than
4 million incidents in 1993 to fewer than 2 million in 2003.
Video games are popular worldwide, yet this supposed crisis of
video game related murders in only cited in the United States.
While Bradley admitted attorney Jack Thompson is a crusader
against the video game industry, he failed to point out that it is
a cottage industry for him. The website
www.stopkill.com
is a promotional site for Thompson and describes its mission as:
This site's purpose is to give you the means to contact Miami
attorney Jack Thompson if you know of someone harmed as a result
of violent entertainment, including violent video games. Thompson
was simply drumming up business against deep-pocket clients for
more multi-million-dollar suits.
The 60 Minutes report was typical for
show and consistent with how the media cover the whole topic of
runaway litigation. The Business & Media Institute recently completed a
report, entitled Media Malpractice, that detailed how the major
news media have ignored tort reform, embracing one-sided,
anti-business stories that promote lawyers as fighting for Davids
against the Goliaths of industry. One of the points of the study
was that the media tell stories from the side of plaintiff three
times as often as they do for defendants. CBS did so nearly
two-thirds of the time and this broadcast reflects that bias.
Click here for the entire report.
