Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 13, 1994 TAG: 9407070013
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: EXTRA1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By ELLEN EDWARDS THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The report, undertaken by the Center for Media Education, concludes that commercial networks and stations have done little to comply with the spirit of the Children's Television Act of 1990.
``Lots of good people want to do good programs,'' said Kathryn Montgomery, president of the center, ``but they've been blocked by the dominant worldview in that industry that kids don't want to watch the stuff. There's an institutional mind-set that entertainment is what television is all about. And what they are really saying is that it's all driven by advertisers.''
Many stations have no budgets for children's programs, since they can get them free as ``barter programs,'' says the report, written by Montgomery and Patricia Aufderheide, an associate professor at American University School of Communications.
Under that arrangement, a station receives a program - frequently one that serves as a de-facto advertisement for a toy or related product - at no cost. To get a desirable time slot, the report says, in many cases toy companies associated with the show will agree to buy a specified amount of time on other programming.
``In big cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, which are crucial for a national market, television stations often demand that in addition to the program, the toy manufacturer ... must spend a million dollars or more advertising dollars to buy time on that station,'' the report says.
Montgomery said she found it ``troubling how strong those market forces are. Advertisers can basically buy their way into the best time slot.''
The Children's Television Act prohibits the airing of commercials about products or characters during a show about those products or characters, and limits the number of commercial minutes in children's shows.
Montgomery said that in 1991 the Federal Communications Commission created weak rules to enforce the act, thereby sending a message it was not taking the legislation seriously. She said most stations believe that if they have one half-hour educational children's program a week, they are fulfilling their obligation.
In fact, current regulations provide only a loose definition of what is educational (``programming that furthers the positive development of the child in any respect...'') and they do not specify how much such programming a station must provide or when it must air.
This study follows a similar one done by the center nearly two years ago that said stations were listing such programs as ``GI Joe'' and ``The Jetsons'' as educational on their license-renewal applications. That study caused the FCC to reconsider its regulations with an eye to making them more specific, an evaluation that is under way.
Montgomery said stations and network schedulers see children's educational programming as an unpleasant ``obligation, something they can put down on their license-renewal applications.''
But they often air such shows between 5 and 6:30 a.m. or place them in time slots where they are likely to be pre-empted. Frequently, they are moved around the schedule, making it difficult for anyone to find them, the report says.
Among the shows Montgomery cited as being victimized by bad time slots are the syndicated ``Real News for Kids,'' ``Not Just News,'' ``Energy Express,'' ``Nick News'' and ``Scratch,'' a current-events magazine show that has been canceled.
In addition, CBS' ``Beekman's World'' and ABC's ``City Kids'' have been subject to frequent pre-emptions, she said, adding that the latter was frequently moved around the ABC schedule and is now on hiatus.
The center is asking the FCC to define more precisely what stations must do to meet the requirements of the act, which was created with the intention of getting more educational programming for children on the air.
In addition, it wants the FCC to require that programs be standard length - some stations have listed minute-long public-service announcements as educational programming - and that they be regularly scheduled between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., and that stations have an hour a day of such programming for children.
Montgomery said the report documents the development of a new category of program, cynically tagged by the industry as ``FCC-friendly,'' that stations air simply to comply with the letter - though not the spirit - of the law. ``A number of people, particularly the producers of such programming, expressed frustration and discouragement at what they viewed as a cynical attitude'' about the programming, the report said.
The report comes as the debate over children's television is heating up once again. It was be released Friday morning at a congressional hearing on the subject chaired by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.; the FCC has scheduled another hearing for later this month. It also comes as the television industry is just beginning to recover its balance and image in the wake of recurrent furor over the issue of violence on the air.
The Center for Media Education is an advocacy organization that focuses on children's television and the information superhighway.
by CNB