Public policy and children's television.

Abstract

Television occupies a large part of children's time from an early age. Among its many functions, edu- cation, social learning (prosocial as well as antisocial), and selling products are well documented by research ev- idence. Commercial programming for children in the United States consists primarily of cartoons and enter- tainment shows; educational and informative programs are supplied by public broadcasting and, to some degree, by a few cable channels emphasizing the child audience. The structural organization and revenue sources for chil- dren's television have a direct effect on program and com- mercial content. We propose two principal goals for public policy in this domain: to promote programming that serves the di- verse needs of children for education, entertainment, aes- thetic appreciation, and knowledge about the world, and to protect children from television content and advertising practices that exploit their special vulnerability. In recent years the Federal Communications Commission has fol- lowed a philosophy of deregulation, based on the as- sumption that market forces would generate diverse pro- gramming and limit commercialization. The data, as ap- plied to the programming marketplace for children, contradict that assumption. We recommend a requirement for a minimum amount of informational and educational programming for children on every station, and we propose strengthening public broadcasting, currently the only source of such programming for many children. Cable and alternative technologies cannot carry the burden of serving children's needs unless they become universally available. Regulation is also needed to protect children from commercial exploitation. The long-range policy goal should be to eliminate advertising to children; short-range goals include reinstatement of time limits on advertising and restrictions on product-related programs. Television is ubiquitous in the United States and most other industrialized societies. Because most American children are born into homes in which the television set is turned on several hours a day, it enters their lives long before most other socializing agents such as schools, peers, or religious institutions. Our purpose in this article is to review and evaluate public policies affecting children's television. There is ample evidence that television affects children's knowl- edge, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior, for good or ill. Al- though the negative effects of television often occupy the spotlight of public controversy, the potential of the me- dium for positive contributions to development is at least as important. We take the position here that the goals of public policy ought to be twofold: (a) to promote pro- gramming that serves the diverse needs of children for information, entertainment, aesthetic appreciation, and knowledge about the world, and (b) to protect children from television content and advertising practices that ex- ploit their special vulnerability. The fact that this children's public policy issue in- volves a private-sector, profit-making industry makes it an especially complex one. Most television programming is designed to attract audiences for advertised products; the welfare of child viewers is secondary to merchandising goals. As a result, polieymakers typically ask to what ex- tent the government should police or supplement the pri- vate marketplace to assure services to children, rather than asking directly what role government should play. Proposals for government intervention meet not only the usual barriers of scarce dollars and conflicting priorities but also opposition from a powerful industry with huge economic stakes to protect. In this essay, we review briefly what is known about children's uses of television and some of its major influ- ences on their lives. We then examine what kinds of tele- vision fare are available for children in the United States and how the content of programs is related to the struc- tural organization of broadcasting and production. Law and public policies affecting children's television pro- gramming and advertising are reviewed and evaluated, and proposals for feasible and effective policy changes are presented. How Children Use Television Although estimates of children's viewing time vary widely (from 11 to 28 hours a week), they all indicate that Amer- ican children spend more time watching television than in any other activity except sleep (A. C. Nielsen Co., 1988; Anderson, Field, Collins, Lorch, & Nathan, 1985; Car- penter, Huston, & Spera, in press; Comstock, Chaffee, Katzman, McCombs, & Roberts, 1978; Huston, Wright, Rice, Kerkman, & St. Peters, 1987; Timmer, Eccles, &