Specialized Print Reference Books

Singer, D. (2001). Handbook of children and the media. Thousand Oaks, Calif. Sage Productions

Singer has written a handbook that attempts to analyze all aspects of how the media affect children. There are chapters about media violence and its effect on aggression, making the book relevant for this topic. There is also a bibliography that includes many references. It is a comprehensive look at children's lives after being influenced by media. It would be interesting to use this as a source as it explores every aspect of media and their effects on children. While it does not exclusively speak to media violence, it does talk about it some, and it offers more about the overall influence of media on children.


Signorielli, N. (2005). Violence in the media : a reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.

Signorielli is a professor of communication at the University of Deleware, and in this work, she talks about television and media violence. She offers suggestions on how to use television to one's advantage and provides a history of television violence. There are numerous books, web sites, organizations and films that she references that can be used by a journalist to continue research. This would be an interesting source because one could read about the history of media violence to see how it has evolved over time. Also, Signorielli gives ways to use television positively which could be important to many readers.