The power of the American government to regulate media violence is constrained by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states that “Congress shall make no law ...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” Laws restricting media violence have been successfully challenged in court. For example, a federal district court in 1992 ruled in the case of Video Software Dealers Association v. Webster that a Missouri statute banning the distribution of violent videos to minors was unconstitutional.

Television has been granted less First Amendment protection from government regulation than have most other forms of media because the electromagnetic spectrum over which television programs are broadcast is considered public property. Local television stations are given free use of the airwaves by obtaining licenses from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on the condition that they serve “the...