THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 28, 1994 TAG: 9406280303
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940628 LENGTH: Long
So is ``Disney's The Little Mermaid.'' And a show about modern-day dinosaurs living underground. Even Brazilian entertainer and former Playboy model ``Xuxa,'' prancing on stage in hot pants and fishnet stockings.
{REST} Children's advocates are in Washington today to plead with the Federal Communication Commission to tighten up its guidelines on what constitutes ``educational and informational'' programming, something the FCC has required since 1991 but doesn't clearly define. The daylong hearing will once again put heat on the TV industry, which was recently pressured into placing warnings on its more violent shows.
The stations report their programs - everything from 10-second public-service announcements to two-hour specials - that they say satisfy FCC guidelines.
In arguing that the guidelines are too loose, children's advocates point to stations around the country that have claimed ``The Jetsons'' cartoon series is ``educational'' because it shows kids how life will be in the year 2000. The advocates say much of what broadcasters now present as ``educational and informational'' is a farce, often nothing more than a cartoon with an anti-drug message tacked on the end or a situation comedy with apro-social message.
WGNT-TV listed in its records of compliance with FCC regulations episodes of ``Inspector Gadget'' such as ``Funny Money,'' where the educational message was: ``Have the lights on when reading or watching TV, and take care of your eyes.''
The station also explained the educational value behind a show by the wildly popular Latin-American entertainer Xuxa, who sings and dances to screaming youngsters: ``Xuxa tells the children that if everyone in the world learns to laugh and play together then there will be peace on earth.''
General Manager Howard Jernigan defended his station's choices, saying they fit within the FCC requirements and addressed issues while entertaining. ``I guess we feel that you have to get the children to watch the programming,'' he said.
WTKR-TV said ``Disney's The Little Mermaid'' provided a positive female role model and encouraged respect and love for one's parents as one of the station's educational programs. General Manager Christopher Pike, who said he hasn't watched the show, conceded it may not have an educational component but was listed for being ``a quality show, nonviolent and all that.''
``It's a fine line. . . . Putting on an educational show on Saturday that no one watches doesn't really solve the problem.''
``Wheel of Fortune'' on WVEC-TV is one of the non-children shows that contributes to education, according to the station's records: ``where participants and viewers are challenged with a word game which requires reading and spelling skills.''
Other stations list specific episodes of prime-time programs such as ``Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman'' and ``Home Improvement'' as being educational. WAVY-TV listed ``NFL's Ultimate Performers,'' which covered the best plays of the 1993 pro-football season. WVEClisted its daily Crime Solvers requests for anonymous tipsters.
A recent survey listed TV-watching as the No. 1 after-school activity for 80 percent of kids, said Kathyrn C. Montgomery, president of the Center for Media Education. Those hours are usually filled with soap operas and titillating talk shows. In Hampton Roads, that means programs like Ricki Lake's, which this week deals with infidelity, homosexuality and confronting your spouse's lover, and Oprah Winfrey, who covers cults and double lives this week.
The federal law doesn't specify what time of day or how often educational programs should air. Some children's advocates would like to see an hour a day reserved for such programming.
Montgomery's Center for Media Education also issued a report this month blasting commercial TV for often shunting educational shows to early-morning time slots - even 5 a.m. - before most children are awake, or scheduling them around noon on Saturdays, where they often get preempted by sports broadcasts.
The study also reported that the prime midmorning time slots usually go to cartoon series that have lucrative merchandising tie-ins. Producers often offer them free to stations, or even pay $1 million or more to gain the best time slot for what in effect is a program-length commercial for their stuffed toys and lunch boxes.
Television broadcasters counter that they've been increasing their educational programming since before the Children's Television Act took effect, and stricter rules aren't necessary.
The National Association of Broadcasters in Washington on Monday said educational children's programming has increased 81 percent since 1990, with the average station now airing more than 3 1/2 hours a week compared to two hours a week four years ago. Also, with the spread of cable TV, children now have many more viewing choices, the association said.
``I don't think regulators or lawmakers ever envisioned commercial television becoming the schoolhouse for the nation's children,'' said Doug Wills, an NAB spokesman.
by CNB