Thursday, January 13, 2000
Children's programming activist sees light at the end of the tube
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
PASADENA, Calif. — In the decade since passage of the Children's Television Act of 1990, some people have asked children's TV activist Peggy Charren: Why did you bother?
Despite flaws in the law, the Massachusetts grandmother is pleased with her impact on setting federal requirements for educational children's programming and restricting commercials during kids' peak viewing hours.
“The best thing about the Children's Television Act is that it keeps the whole TV industry, including cable, focused on the fact that children's television is something special,” Ms. Charren said during the Television Critics Association's winter press tour here.
Ms. Charren, 71, founded the Action for Children's Television advocacy group in 1968 to encourage responsible broadcasting practices. She was particularly upset by cartoon shows produced by toy manufacturers to sell action figures and accessories.
Her efforts resulted in the 1990 law, which was toughened in 1992 and 1997. The first revision was necessary after TV stations, including Cincinnati's WLWT (Channel 5), listed Yogi Bear cartoons and daytime talk shows as educational children's programs.
The law demands that stations broadcast three hours of “educational and informational” shows for children 16 and younger each week. Stations also must not exceed 12 minutes of advertising per hour during kids' programming. Cincinnati's WSTR-TV (Channel 64) and other stations have paid fines for violating the commercial limit.
“Even if they don't do it right, stations feel they should pay attention to children's programming, or they feel they could get into trouble if they do something rotten. And I think that's very important,” says Ms. Charren, here to promote PBS' Between the Lions reading series, premiering in April.
The TV picture for kids is better, she admits, but far from perfect. She hasn't lost her fire for the subject since shutting down ACT in 1992, after Congress put teeth into the legislation. She cites these failures:
• Not educational: She questions how NBC stations, including Channel 5, can list Saved By The Bell: New Class and NBA Inside Stuff as part of its three-hour “educational or informational” quota.
“I don't think NBA Inside Stuff is educational. I think it's a promo for the next sports programming,” she says.
• Not promoted: Stations do a poor job promoting the programs that fulfill the three-hour mandate, she says.
“Most of the stations never tell parents what to look for,” she says. “We have to do a better job educating parents what to look for, what to park their kids in front of. That's something that has never worked well enough.”
• Not enough: The 12-minute commercial limit during weekday kids shows is “ridiculously high,” she says. “I was embarrassed by where the limit ended up. I thought: What am I doing?”
Yet some stations have been fined thousands of dollars for airing 14 and 16 minutes of commercials per hour during children's shows, she says.
• Not practical: It's hard for the Federal Communications Commission to judge the quality of children's programming without stepping into censorship issues that Ms. Charren adamantly opposes.
“Saved by the Bell is not necessarily what the law was designed for, but it's a hard thing because you don't want the FCC determining content. That was always a problem with the law. You can't have the FCC monitoring quality,” she says.
“We just have to do a better job of helping parents find good, delicious (TV) alternatives,” she says.
Among her current favorites is ABC's Squigglevision, an animated science show (12:30 p.m. Saturday, Channel 2) not carried by Cincinnati's WCPO-TV (Channel 9).
“The good news is that when a program does something right, like Squigglevision, kids are watching,” she says.
“Most of the (kids) shows aren't exciting enough, aren't wonderful enough. Some people have said to me: Why did you bother?
“But it's an incremental thing. If kids and families learn to watch enough terrific programs, they'll like terrific programs better — and then programs will become better.”
Ms. Charren, a board member for PBS' WGBH-TV in Boston, has devoted most of her advocacy efforts in recent years to public TV, home for Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Zoom and other excellent children's shows.
Between the Lions, created for WGBH-TV by former Sesame Street writer and composer Christopher Cerf, uses Sesame-style puppets, animation and songs to teach reading and phonics to kids ages 4-7. It's reminiscent of PBS' old The Electric Company.
“Reading is a crisis today. You can't get yourself out of a poverty cycle if you can't read. If you can't read, you can't think,” Ms. Charren says.
“PBS is really doing what is important about television and kids.”
Every day, PBS lives up to its slogan, “If PBS doesn't do it, who will?” Given the 10-year history of the Children's Television Act, you surely can't count on the commercial TV stations.
Enquirer TV Critic John Kiesewetter is reporting from the winter press tour.
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