Children on TV diet of repeats and US imports; Huge growth in kids'

EVER wondered why your kids talk with that mid-Atlantic Cartoon Network drawl like Angelica from RugRats, or why they seem to be watching the same episode of Scooby-Doo that you were glued to when you were five or why you can never get to watch the news, EastEnders or Top Of The Pops because there's always a cartoon running on some channel somewhere?

Well, now you have your answers. The Institute of Public Policy Research has compiled a definitive analysis of British kids' TV over the last 50 years - and guess what? Children are watching more American programmes than British ones, more repeats than new programmes and there has been a gargantuan 15,400% rise in the number of children's programmes.

It seems that the law of diminishing returns underpins British kids' TV. Jamie Cowling, a media analyst and one of the authors of They Have been Watching - Children's TV 1952-2002, said: "Our research shows that fears about the increasing levels of imported programming and repeats on children's TV are borne out by the facts.

"The amount of programmes aimed at children and young people has risen. Yet this expansion has led to a massive increase in the levels of imported programming and repeats." Where youngsters once watched just four hours of children's TV on the BBC in 1952, they can now watch 620 hours of kids' programmes on dozens of channels.

But quantity does not mean quality. IPPR called for Ofcom - the media industry regulator - and the BBC Board of Governors to "retain a robust commitment to a diversity of content, including factual and documentary programmes for children and young people."

Soaking up hundreds of hours of Animaniacs andPokemon on the Boob- Tube doesn't help create kids with razor-sharp intellects, according to IPPR. Cowling added: "We're particularly concerned at the low level of provision for children and young people. While they do watch other news broadcasts, it is depressing to see that levels of news for children and young people have barely increased since the 1980s."

Cowling and his colleague Kirsty Lee studied TV schedules from the last week of August 1952 to the last week of August 2002. Their key findings were:

The percentage of imports has risen five-fold. In 1972, ITV broadcast 35 minutes of overseas content, just 5% of its total children's programming. By 2002, this had risen to six hours or 50% of all kids' TV. BBC1 broadcast 50 minutes of imports in 1952. By 2002 this had risen to seven hours - 60%.

By 2002, repeats accounted for nearly two-thirds of all programming. In 1972, repeats made up 36% of BBC broadcasts. This now stands at 62%. Over on ITV, five hours, or 40%, of repeats were broadcast in 1972, compared to seven-and-a-half hours, or 58%, today.

The total broadcast hours of news and factual programming - such as Newsround and Blue Peter if you were a child of the 1960s, 70s or 80s - has not increased in the past 20 years. IPPR says: "While innovative news programmes are available on both the public service broadcasters and non-terrestrial broadcasters, these remain few and far between.

"Daily news represents 0.2% of the total children's and young people's television shown by all broadcasters during the day."

If our children are going to be couch potatoes, Cowling and Lee are determined that they should at least be entertained, intelligent and informed couch potatoes. So the analysts from the centre-left think-tank have come up with a few recommendations to reform kids' TV.

These include Ofcom encouraging all broadcasters to develop new tailor-made news programmes for children and young people.

IPPR said: "There is a lack of news programming available for young people. Children and young people require diversity in news programming just as adults do."

The think-tank also demanded that Ofcom interpret a clause in the draft communications bill requiring "a suitable quantity of high- quality and original programmes for children and young people" to include news programming.

IPPR also wants all broadcasters to provide news content for kids - and if this doesn't happen, it wants the regulator to crack the whip over dumbed-down channels.

"There is a stronger case for positive regulation to ensure that broadcasters provide news for children and young people because it is less likely they will choose to watch news themselves," the report says.

IPPR also has an eye to beleaguered parents who can't get their goggle-eyed youngsters to bed because the Power Puff Girls are still fighting crime in Townsville on Cartoon Network. The think-tank wants Ofcom to "include the changing nature of the 9pm watershed" in its advice to broadcasters.

In a recent ITC survey, 80% said the most important reason for regulating TV was to protect children. A further 65% said children's TV is an essential part of public service broadcasting.

neil.mackay@sundayherald.com www.ippr.org.uk www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc www.ofcom.gov.uk

Copyright 2002
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