Children's Television: A Barometer of the Australian Media Policy Climate

Abstract

In relation to media policy, children's television is ‘special’ on a number of levels. The ways in which childhood is constructed and defined are complex and often contradictory; the state of children's television can be used as a barometer of the broader media policy climate; and the subject of children's television has mobilised strong, active and ‘successful’ interest groups. The following discussion is based on analysis of the introduction, development and trajectory of children's television policy and production practices in Australia from the 1945 ‘List of Principles to Govern Children's Programs' (radio) to the debates, issues and policy initiatives raised in the Australian Commonwealth Government Productivity Commission Inquiry into Broadcasting in 1999.

Regulating contemporary children’s television: how digitisation is re-shaping compliance norms and production practices

“…Television for children has been the focus of sustained regulatory attention in Australia and the United Kingdom, reflecting longstanding social and political concerns about young audiences’ relationship with screen content (Aisbett, 2000; Keys, 1999; Simpson, 2004). We remain particularly anxious about television’s power to corrupt children – through their commercialisation, sexualisation, or exposure to violent content – and these fears are regularly exposed by the media, which are often themselves blamed for their part in the corrupting processes (Buckingham, 2000).…”

You've Been Pranked: Reality Tv, National Identity and the Privileged Status of Australian Children's Drama

“…In these debates about children and television, certain long-standing constructions of the child audience tend to dominate. As a television audience, children historically have been and continue to be thought of as vulnerable and immature, requiring protection from certain kinds of content, while also deserving of other kinds of programs made especially for them (Keys, 1999;Simpson, 2004;Kunkel, 2007).…”

A very special audience: how layering and drift in Australian cultural policy have affected the production of children’s television drama for digital markets

“…Within this system, Australian children have always been considered a special audience with particular programming needs that include the need for culturally specific, high-quality child-centred programming (Hodge and Tripp 1986, Keys 1999, Mencinsky and Mullen 1999. When television was first introduced in Australia in 1956, a mixed model television system that was considered to incorporate the best elements of the British and American systems was established from the start (Curthoys 1991).…”