PA joined other professional groups such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Child Psychiatry. (Donnerstein, Slaby, and Eron, 1993) A 1990 report following a major conference, Television and Teen: Health Implications, concluded that media violence can teach adolescents violent behavior as well as create and maintain societal attitudes that condone violence. Constant exposure to these depictions can also lead to emotional desensitization toward violence (Hoberman, 1990)
             The television is a major source of violence. In many peoples' living rooms there sits an outlet for violence that often goes unnoticed. It is the television, and the children who view it are often pulled into its realistic world of violent scenes with sometimes devastating results. John Langone has often called the television an "intrusion into a child's learning process, substituting easy pictures for the discipline of reading." He also believed that television will essentially turn children into lumps of coal or "hypnotized non-thinkers" who are just after the flashy pictures without any real intake. (Langone, 1984) The truth about television violence and children has been shown. In a speech before the U.S. Senate, Leonard Eron, one of the country's foremost authorities on media and children, said:
             There can no longer be any doubt that heavy exposure to televised violence is one of the causes of aggressive behavior, crime and violence in society. The evidence comes from both the laboratory and real-life studies. Television violence affects youngsters of all ages, of both genders, at all socioeconomic levels and all levels of intelligence. The effect is not limited to children who are already disposed to being aggressive and is not restricted to this country. (Eron, L.D., 1992)
             There is a general consensus in the scientific and public health fields that there are three primary harmful ...