Television and America's Children: A Crisis of Neglect

Children's television in America is in a deplorable state of neglect. Since the demise of Captain Kangaroo in the early '80s, there has been no regular weekday programming for children on the three major commercial networks, and very little on chronically underfunded Public TV. Yet as Edward Palmer points out in this illuminating volume, America could easily have the finest children's television in the world, for less than one cent per day for each of the nation's 42 million children. Why have we failed to provide quality programming for young viewers? Part of the blame, Palmer argues, falls on the prevalent attitude of commercial TV, where the rule is "don't sell shows to viewers, sell viewers to advertisers." Unfortunately, except at Christmas time, children have little impact on the marketplace and are of no interest to advertisers. Thus, when the FCC removed the threat of regulation on the industry in 1983 to allow free market forces to reign, children's shows with educational values nearly vanished from commercial television. Programs such as The Today Show now claim all the morning slots, and the highly profitable soap operas and talk shows fill the afternoons. And Public Television, with its meager $4.58 per capita annual funding, offers at most 90 hours of new programs a year (compared to 590 hours produced by the BBC). Other countries surpass us in a number of important respects, but Palmer contends that quality programming is within our reach. He outlines the nature and costs of a children's service modeled on Sesame Street and other award-winning programs world-wide, and discusses ways to fund it. At a time when the American school system is failing to meet the educational demands of our children, television could provide an excellent preparation for and supplement to traditional schooling. In this valuable book, Edward Palmer shows how it can be done.Palmer, Edward L. is the author of 'Television and America's Children: A Crisis of Neglect' with ISBN 9780195055405 and ISBN 0195055403.