Quality Standards for Children's Programs in the Writings of Television Critics

Abstract

The standards television critics use to evaluate the quality of children's programs was investigated by means of a content analysis of 441 reviews of programs for children and young people that appeared in the Dutch press between 1987 and 1997. The content analysis resulted in a list of 19 quality standards, including (a) seven standards that applied primarily or only to children's programs (e.g. taking children seriously); (b) seven standards that referred to the content or form of a program and that were applicable to both children's programs and programs for adults (e.g. quality of script and aesthetic quality); and (c) five standards that referred to desirable effects programs may have on the viewer (e.g. thought provocation). Two standards were particularly prevalent in the writings of television critics: aesthetic quality and entertainment. The quality standards used varied with the favorableness of the review, the program genre reviewed, and the type of network that broadcasted the program. The degree of importance television critics attached to a subset of seven quality standards was compared with the findings from previous research on the standards used by television professionals, mothers, and children. The degree to which television critics considered each of these seven standards important for fictional children's programs was highly similar to the views of the audience (children and mothers). However, as far as non‐fictional programs were concerned, television critics were quite alone in their views about the relative importance of the seven standards.