Published: June 20, 2004
by: Diana Strumbos
Event: Release of report, panel discussions
Organized by: Children Now [1], American Academy of Pediatrics [2], American Psychological Association [3]
Where/When: Washington, D.C., June 9, 2004
This event looked at the emerging technologies in digital and interactive TV, and their effect on children. (The FCC has set a Dec. 31, 2006 deadline for all commercial TV stations to broadcast digitally.) Panelists mentioned several issues raised by the emergence of digital TV:
Educational/informational programming: Currently, every station must devote three hours per week between 7 am and 10 pm to such programming. With DTV, each station can air up to six channels. How will this change the requirement? Potential positive: DTV allows more interactive programming.
Access to information: DTV allows stations to "datacast" (provide data at the click of a remote control). Parents could use this to get instant information—such as ratings -- about what their children are watching; and possibly block certain programs, or even particular scenes.
Interactive advertising: DTV viewers will eventually be able to purchase products while watching, for example by clicking on a cartoon character and ordering the doll or action figure.
Targeted advertising: With DTV, advertisers will be able to monitor what is being watched by whom and target their advertisements to specific audiences. This is an issue that child advocates are especially concerned about.
These main issues were presented by Patti Miller, of Children Now, and expanded upon by Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), a supporter of the CAMRA (The Children and Media Research Advancement Act [4]) legislation. For more details, view the Media Now newsletter produced by Children Now: Digital Television: Sharpening the Focus on Children [5].
Two panel discussions and remarks by three FCC commissioners followed. The first panel, entitled "Safe 'D' Zone: Creating a Healthy DTV Environment for Children" featured Ann Bobeck, a representative from the National Association of Broadcasters [6]; Daniel Jaffe, a representative from the Association of National Advertisers [7]; Dale Kunkel, a professor of communication who focuses on children and media issues; Thierry Fortune, the senior vice president of Motivational Educational Entertainment Productions [8]; and Jeff Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy [9]. The panelists debated the potential dangers of DTV—especially dealing with persuasive advertising targeted at children, and whether the ability to broadcast even more programming would lead to a decline in quality and increase in televised sex, violence and dangerous behaviors.
The second panel ("The Three Es of DTV: Educating, Engaging and Entertaining") featured representatives from creators of educational and informational programming and focused on the potential benefits of DTV, such as interactive learning, access to more in-depth information about specific topics, and better data for parents about what their children are watching. Examples of interactive educational programming were presented, such as programs in which children make decisions to advance a storyline.
The last element of the conference was the Policymaker Session in which Federal Communications Commissioners Kathleen Abernathy, Michael Copps, and Jonathan Adelstein talked about what they felt the FCC needed to do, and how they felt their goals could be achieved. All three agreed that the FCC needs to enact clear rules about the obligations of broadcasters in terms of children's programming and place limits on advertisers in cases where children are involved.
(In April 2003, the Children's Media Policy Coalition made policy recommendations to the FCC regarding the above issues: Comments before FCC [10].)
http://www.connectforkids.org/node/585
Links:
[1] http://www.childrennow.org/
[2] http://www.aap.org/
[3] http://www.apa.org/
[4] http://www.childrennow.org/media/CAMRA.pdf
[5] http://www.childrennow.org/media/medianow/mnspring2004.pdf
[6] http://www.nab.org/
[7] http://www.ana.net/
[8] http://www.meeproductions.com/
[9] http://www.democraticmedia.org/
[10] http://www.childrennow.org/assets/pdf/issues_media_medianow_2004.pdf