TOPIC AREA 2 - CHILDREN AND THE MEDIA

Children and Television - suggestions

• How, where and when do kids watch tv
• Children’s viewing habits – what do they watch and why?
• Is TV the dominant medium in children’s lives?
• Is there such thing as family viewing?
• Do children watch children’s TV?
• The watershed – does it work?
• Children and interactive TV – what are the pleasures
• Who controls and influences children’s viewing
• How advertising targets children
• Reality TV – what do kids think
• What annoys kids about TV
• What do kids think about the attitude of the adult world towards TV
• Specific audience reception study of specific group and specific genre, channel, or series
• Children and the news - how they perceive the news (can they separate fact from fiction), how it ‘affects’ them and what news items they remember and are interested in;
• Perceptions of the influence of TV on children – what do parents and teachers and children believe and why
• The censorship debate could be tackled from various angles, e.g. violence and fear - what frightens children on tv and should censorship be tighter in the light of this?
• Very young children – does TV shape their development in any way? What do they understand about TV?
• What would happen if a child had the TV taken away for a week? What would they do differently?
• Or what is the existing censorship of children's tv and what do children, parents and teachers think of it (all set in the context of research into media effects on children and work such as Martin Barker's on censorship)
• Representation in children's tv: after surveying the viewing habits of a group of children, there could be some analysis of representations of, for example, the family, class, race, childhood in those texts alongside a study of how those children perceive those representations of social groups in those texts.

TIP: Small scale focus group and 1 to 1 interviews will work best. Viewing diaries are a good idea. Can use family and friends. Lots of available research studies for comparison and reference. Keep it simple.

Potential resources:

Emulation, Fears and Understanding, an ITC research publication (1998). It is a review of recent research on children, and tv advertising.
Bovill, M. & Livingstone, S. (1999), Young People, New Media funded by various bodies including ITV, BSC, BBC
Gunter, B. and McAleer, J. (1997), Children and Television, Second Edition, pub. Routledge. Covers all sorts of areas including lots about effects of tv, including advertising.
Buckingham, D.(1996) Moving Images, pub. Manchester University Press. Through small-group, focused interviews the book investigates children's own perspectives on what they find frightening, moving and upsetting
Buckingham, D. et al (1999) Children's TV in Britain, pub. BFI. Examines in detail children's programming (historical perspective and changes) and how to define child audience as well as audience research.
Buckingham D and Bazalgette C (eds) In Front of the Children BFI 1995
Buckingham D Children Talking Television Falmer Press 1993
Barker, Martin, Video Nasties Written in mid or late 1980s and deals with people's fears about video violence, taking anti-censorship stance.
Barker and Petley (eds) Ill Effects Routledge 1997
Buckingham, D. (1990), Watching Media Learning, pub. The Falmer Press. Chapter Six, called 'Reading Representations' is particularly interesting, including a study of the attitudes of children in a London comprehensive to the Cosby Show.
Bovill M and Livingstone S Young People, New Media funded by various bodies including ITV, BSC,BBc 1999
Gunter B and McAleer J Children and Television Routledge 1997
Hagell A and Newburn T Young Offenders and the Media PSI 1994
Messenger-Davies M TV is Good For Your Kids Hilary Shipman 1989
Hodge B and Tripp D Children and Television Polity 1986
MacBeth T (ed) Tuning in to Young Viewers Sage 1996
Emulation, Fears and Understanding an ITC research publication 1998

See your folder for further ideas.