by Sissela Bok

About the author: Sissela Bok is a professor of population and development studies at Harvard University and the author of Mayhem: Violence as Public Entertainment, from which the following viewpoint is excerpted.

As we consider the many approaches to deal with the influx of media violence in programs and games marketed for young people, the question arises: How might an entire society mobilize in response? Some societies offer few opportunities in this regard; in others, religious or political authorities impose policies from on high. It may be instructive to look at the experience of two democracies that have encouraged a broad-based public debate about how best to respond: Canada and Norway.

Canada’s Campaign Against Media Violence

Canada offers an example of a nationwide effort to...