THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9407290027
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Clearly, Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and parent action groups have judged TV programming (commercial entertainment television and cable programming, that is) as ineffective and lacking value for wholesome entertainment and enrichment of children. Evidence is to be found in the Children's Television Act and the recent FCC hearings.
Cable television reaches just over 60 percent of TV households with the greatest penetration in more affluent urban-suburban areas and less availability in rural and inner-city areas with ``children at risk.''
Public television, on the other hand, reaches 98 percent of television households every day with an array of educational programming. Who is more likely to need the benefits television can bring? Where are they? In wealthy suburbs where kids have access to more alternatives - cable, video games and a myriad of sound and recreational distractions, or in inner cities where over the air traditional broadcast signals can be viewed, but not necessarily cable TV? These kids have fewer distractions or resources to occupy them and a significantly greater need for access to programming that provides specific information, helps improve learning skills and prepares them to enter school ready to learn. This is the kind of programming public television provides.
In your editorial ``Stone Age TV'' (July 7), you hardly mention public television's 30-year history and demonstrated positive educational impact. By that omission, you dismiss public telecommunication centers like WHRO that are using their expertise and their public-television programming and educational services to serve our communities' informational and educational needs.
I find it an interesting irony that while the FCC holds hearings to try to get commercial and cable TV programmers to give serious attention to the needs of children, Congress is debating again the reduction of funding to the public-television system (which has the most highly valued and honored children's programs).
If public television has done anything right over the past 30-plus years, it has emphasized the needs of children and provided the best line-up of programs for every age group. Ask any kindergarten or first-grade teacher about children's readiness to learn once they've been exposed to public television's programs.
If the editorial writer wants government to lay off the private broadcaster and cable operator, he should then join with parents, teachers, and other citizens to encourage continuation of funding of public television to sustain and expand its tested and demonstrated commitment to the needs of children.
Perhaps The Virginian Pilot and The Ledger-Star need to examine their perception of WHRO as just a television station and find out what educational services are being provided for the enrichment of children and learners of every age.
JOHN R. MORISON
President and general manager
WHRO
Norfolk, July 15, 1994 by CNB