Šviečiamosios programos žiniasklaidos smurtinio turinio poveikio mažinimui: tarptautinės praktikos taikymas Lietuvai

For efficient control over exposure of young people to violent media content it is important to influence, in an integrated way, the external and internal factors that affect perception of violent content. The intermediary factors – characteristics of media audience, social circumstances and subjects along with the cultural aspects – determine the processes of accepting violent media and the strength of effects. Educational programmes are one of the ways to reduce the impact of violent media. This paper examines the international practice of applying programmes and looks at the Lithuanian situation as far as educational programmes are concerned in the attempt to find out whether a need for this type of programmes exists in Lithuania and ways to use the relevant experience from other countries, as well as to examine the specificity of developing these programmes in Lithuania and to analyse existing measures to mitigate the impact of media violence. Problem of paper: in what way the international experience is applied to Lithuania in order to affect intermediary factors of violent media content ant to seek for effective mitigation of the negative effects of violent media content. Object of research: the situation with educational programmes aimed at mitigating the impact of violent media in Lithuania. Aim of the paper: to analyse the patterns of mitigating violent media content in programmes applied in international practice and after examining the situation of educational programmes in Lithuania to develop guidelines for more efficient reduction of the impact of media violence. Objectives to achieve the aim of research: to analyse theory materials on the impact of violent media content on children and adolescents, to identify factors that are considered relevant intermediary factors influencing the process of accepting violence in the media; to examine programmes on mitigating the impact of violent media content developed by progressive researchers and organisations worldwide; to identify causes of the efficiency of programmes on mitigating the impact of violent media content; to examine Lithuania’s existing practice of educational programmes and programmes on mitigating the manifestations of violence; to assess the level of development of educational programmes on reducing the impact of violent media content in Lithuania. The paper provides an overview of experience from other countries leading in the field of educational programmes on reducing the impact of violent media content. It also presents the study “Programmes on reducing the effects of violent media content in Lithuania” designed to examine the situation of the said programmes in Lithuania. The research is aimed at revealing the current situation of educational programmes on reducing the impact of violent media content in Lithuania. The programmes selected for research included: “Information Literacy at School for Grades 9 to 11”, “Raise Responsibly”, Olweus Bullying Prevention Programme, “Family University”, “Second Step”, and the Safe Internet programme “Microsoft Lietuva Volunteers at School”. After analysing the circumstances and identifying the improvement areas, the guidelines for the Lithuanian case to facilitate effective mitigation of the negative impact of violent media on children are formulated.