The "G" in family movie ratings clearly doesn't stand for "girl-power." Researchers at the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Southern California studied 101 kids' flicks and found that male roles predominate: three of four characters are male, and fewer than one in three of speaking roles overall belongs to a female. There's evidence that exposure to television is a "significant and positive" predictor of sex role acceptance and attitudes among children and adults. The study was study sponsored by the nonprofit Dads and Daughters and its See Jane program.

About 70 percent of all network television shows contain some sexual content, showing an average of five sexual scenes per hour, and the number of scenes containing such content has increased 96 percent since 1998. The rate of references to safer sex issues is down slightly from 2002, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation report.

Increased competition from kid-oriented cable networks like Nickelodeon and uncertainty about continued levels of public funding make these difficult times for the producers of children's programming at PBS. Rob Capriccioso spoke with some media experts about the challenge PBS faces, and how it can continue to provide top-notch educational programming.

After 11 years as the grown-up host of Nick News, Linda Ellerbee knows a lot about how to take on tough issues in ways that inform and engage kids. The long-time journalist shares her views with Rob Capriccioso.

Professor Joseph Illick of San Francisco State University looks at how TV has developed in American culture, from those "Howdy Doody" times to today.