By Alexandra Crossett
Staff Writer, ‘12

Controversy at Saint Peter’s is spreading this semester, and our own WSPC Radio is not immune to the sweep of debates and arguments springing from the ideas of the students and faculty here at the college.
The radio saga played out like this: on January 22nd, Professors Barna Donovan and Ernabel Demillo conducted their feature program on the radio, entitled Culture Wars.  The two radio talents, both experts in the field of communications, debated back and forth on the subject of violence in media and its effect on minors.  This was the bombshell broadcast, the powder keg for the issue РDr. Donovan’s position in his debate with Demillo on violent media apparently drew the attention of a few concerned listeners.
Dr. Donovan logged into the account email for the station the next morning to find new messages in the inbox –outcries against the message broadcast in the previous day’s show.  A complaint, offered by one Jenny Abrams, even went so far as to call him the “anti-Christ.”  Abrams threatened to call on the backing of a censorship mogul to silence the work being done at WSPC.  She chose the Parents’ Television Council, a national group with local chapters dedicated to protecting children from questionable media.  Specifically, she contacted New Jersey’s chapter director, Crystal Madison.
To summarize the following events, it is sufficient to say that a slew of emails were sent to WSPC protesting the program and to the PTC calling for official action.  The subject matter of Culture Wars has been cited as “smut” and “junk science” as Abrams vehemently campaigned to blow the whistle on Donovan, with the help of Joe Bonaventura, who also complained to the PTC. The emails from Abrams taunted and threatened the radio station.  One email was received at WSPC from Abrams; she copied the message from Bonaventura to the PTC and offered a thinly veiled threat about how concerned parents were working hard to stop the supposed smut.  However, no representative of the college responded directly to the emails (to the dismay of Abrams), seeing as they decided to respond in a way that reflects the free speech they intend to protect.
Crystal Madison was invited to call in to the Culture Wars show and participate in an on-air debate on February 5th.  She did indeed call in to the station and defended the position of the PTC by citing research that she thought supported her cause by correlating violence in media and violence in children; however, Dr. Donovan countered by demonstrating that Madison  did not understand the evidence that she was citing.  In an interview, he states that the PTC does not understand the way that these studies are conducted, and that anyone with a working knowledge of statistics or research methods knows that these models are not perfect.  The results in a lab cannot always accurately reflect the real world issue, considering that the study is conducted under fabricated laboratory settings rather than in the real world.
There are a few key ideas to consider in order to validate either argument.  Primarily, the radio station broadcasts are developed by and aimed at a college community.  Typically, a college or university is home to a more liberal-minded population, and a more mature one at that.  How can an association aimed at censoring content dangerous for YOUNG children try to silence a radio station made and listened to by adults?  In an email correspondence between Abrams and Madison, forwarded to the station in another intimidation attempt by Abrams, Madison herself went so far as to state that the PTC can only interfere so much in this case.  Madison is quoted in email text as saying, “We can’t get involved with contacting donors for this specific issue, and only because the radio show is targeted to adults and it’s done on an adult college forum. I wish we could, I really do, but we try and limit our many efforts to the safeguarding of minors”.  This response came after Abrams’ plea that the PTC help in her crusade to try and pull funding from the college.  While Madison and the PTC are aware of and respect the boundaries of their influence, Abrams did not intend on stopping at the complaints and the debate/  She had made her intent clear – she wanted to contact specific donors of the college and try to dissuade them from providing further funding in face of an atrocious offense in her eyes.  Although Madison could not offer the full support of the PTC at this time, she did offer advice to Abrams about raising alarms about the radical Donovan.
Furthermore, statistical conventions and definitions play an integral part of this debate.  The PTC claims that violent video games and bloody movies have shown a link to criminal and dangerous behavior.  They argue a correlation, a link between events that simply implies that the two can and have occurred together.  However, no sufficient empirical data exists that shows causality.  Causality demonstrates that one event directly influences or causes another.  It implies that the resulting event is dependent on the first, in this case it would mean that children who are exposed to violent media will in turn grow up to become delinquents as a direct effect of the media influence.  The PTC obviously does not fully understand the research they are using to defend their cause; numerous articles were linked from the webpage of the association that proved the exact opposite of their ideas, including one from Donovan’s own dissertation advisor from Rutgers University stating that violence in media in fact makes children more lethargic and less prone to acts of aggression.  Another article that was once linked on the site states, in the abstract, that no real proof can be offered for video games contributing to child aggression. The links are now broken throughout the site; the content link was removed but the title stayed on the page it originally appeared on, echoes of the PTC’s faulty proof for their argument.
For this piece, Professor Donovan offered an interview for the Pauw Wow.  When asked about the content of his blog, the accusations, and his own ideas, Donovan clarified his position, saying that he did not cite violence and porn as being “good” for children as Abrams and the PTC believe.  Porn did not even come up as a subject on the radio show, although Madison and Abrams did cite it in their emails, drawing evidence from his blog.  Rather, Donovan informed that he is neutral on the subject; video games are not necessarily bad or good for children, no proof exists to support a theory on either end of the spectrum.  Donovan cites that studies fail to show causality between violent media and aggression in individuals; one study even proved that children who watch porn actively responded to the messages and images, turning it off if it did not appeal to them, rather than allowing themselves to be brainwashed.
Donovan brings up another good point when he mentioned that Madison came on to debate about a broadcast she herself never heard on the radio.  She volunteered to offer her participation to voice the PTC and its supporters.  Abrams also forwarded her conversations with Madison to WSPC without their suggestion or knowledge, which caused a further breakdown in communication.
Lastly, Donovan was severely offended by the nature of the emails the station received and by the premise of the opponent’s argument itself.  Threats and intimidation were blatantly used as tactics to scare the station into thinking its funding would be jeopardized.  Additionally, Donovan believes that, “if you’re going say you defend free speech, you need to defend even the speech that offends you the most”; this group is “un-American” in their quest to not only censor, but eradicate all dubious media (in their mind) from ever reaching a young audience.  According to their website and existing interviews from Madison, the PTC has gone on numerous campaigns to remove questionable media altogether from broadcast channels.  In an interview last year, Madison even stated she wanted the shows Family Guy, Dexter, and American Dad to be removed from airplay entirely.
What started off as a simple, almost normal response to the Culture Wars program snowballed into an ongoing debate, one that could hold serious consequences for college funding, the future of WSPC, and the right of free speech for campus media.  Regardless of the outcome, it begs the public to consider what is appropriate content for broadcast by a college radio station and whether or not it should be subject to censorship.  Donovan and those at the station strongly wish to protect their rights to free speech and free expression on an unregulated channel – the WSPC webcasts are not controlled by the FCC – while those at the PTC wish to further their agenda and mission protect children from violent messages in society.  Each group wants to protect something, whether it be free speech or the children of our society; each group embraces a worthy cause.
I ask our audience to make their own judgments.  Should a college radio station be allowed free speech without fear of censorship?  Our “airwaves” are not subject to the rules and regulations provided by the FCC, so legally, the broadcasters at WSPC are free to say what they wish on air.  On a more subjective level, is our own Professor Donovan truly as radical as the PTC and its supporters suggest?  I encourage you to visit his blog (http://barnadonovan.blogspot.com/) and decipher his tone and message for yourself.  While you are at it, you might also pay a visit to the PTC’s website (http://www.parentstv.org/) to examine their mission and tactics.