When trying to calculate the time that children actually spend watching TV and the amount of information they assimilate in that time. It is important to consider how their levels of both auditory and visual attention “can vary greatly depending on: program content, the age of the viewer and the viewing context” (Van Evra, p36). Children may in fact spend considerable time with the television on but doing other things rather than looking at it. Thus, those considered ‘heavy viewers’ (i.e. children who tend to spend a lot of time with television) are not necessarily ‘heavy viewers’ in the amount of time they spend actively attending TV (Anderson et al., 1985). Similarly, some children that might spend less time watching TV might actually be retaining more information compared to those ‘heavy viewers’ just because in that short amount of time they have put more effort into attending the program. The age of the children must also be considered, as younbger children need to be more focused to assimilate information, yet the older they get the information they can gather from television content even when involved in other activities while watching.
Fowels (1992) stated that children would absorb more information than adults per hour of TV they view as they are always trying to learn about the world. But as we get older, and more discriminating to information, we learn a smaller amount at a slower rate compared to the number of hours we view.
In general, to keep children’s level of attention high it is not just important that the program they are watching is interesting and understandable, but also that the format (the way the program is structured) is compatible with the way their brains are stimulated. Stimulations can be generated by some of the formal features of television such as pace, cuts, sounds effects, colours and the presence or absence of a dialogue (Huston, Greer, Wright, Welch, & Ross, 1984; Huston & Wright 1983).
It is also vital to consider the importance of imagery and symbolism used in television. For example, according to Salomon (1981,1983,1984) TV allows viewers to attain information with less effort that they would require to derive meaning from reading a book. Children are also capable of using many cues to decide what level of attention they need to apply, and how much effort they need to put into watching to comprehend the information presented. For example, children can change their processing and can decide to pay more attention to something if they are told, by a teacher or parents, that they will be tested for recall of content (Anderson & Collins, 1988). If they have a specific reason and they are not just watching TV because it is on in the room where they are, they are capable of focusing on it more and assimilating more information.
Once it has been established that children are able to assimilate, learn and at times emulate what they have seen on TV, it is fundamental to try and understand what the effects, if there are any, that TV has on their lives in order to protect their mental development and growth.
Television is not an easy platform for children to grasp. The people inside the screen are human, they are real looking people, and they are potentially playing a role that could easily be replicated in real life.
To the eye of a child: ‘They [television personalities] have no substance, they are only human-seeming shadows moving on glass, but they can go anywhere and do anything- one minute a male and a female shadow will be in a bar and zap! A second later they are in a bed together… They dance, they sing they drive very fast. They seem sure they can make us laugh, cry and watch them, but if we don’t, they vanish’ (Celebrating Television, 1989, p.6).
This concept does not solely involve TV when discussing movies, adult dramas, and so all the fictional aspects of television. It encompasses all features of television including news broadcast, documentaries and so everything that is real and is happening in the world.
Theories, suggest that realism in TV content and children’s abilities to distinguish real from fantasy are important factors in their understanding of television information and in the effects that television has on them.
Young children tend to believe that what they watch is real. In one study (Van Evra, 1984), for example, proved that children did not think of television as something separate from the real world. They resulted to have a very restricted understanding of television content. For this reason, they were not severely affected by frightening, aggressive or inappropriate scenes which were taken from both fictional and realistic material such as footage broadcasted in a news bulletin. However, older children, able to better differentiate reality from fiction, appeared to be less affected by a scary movie which pictured monsters and creatures of non-human form. Contrastingly they did show signs of fear and discomfort after watching a crime show, a realistic thriller and, of particular significance, a news bulletin that opened with a kidnapping. Older children understood the reality of those actions. They perceived the kidnapping as a real life event that could eventually affect their lives as well.
‘Studies have shown that more realistic portrayals of violence may heighten levels of involvement and aggression, immediate fright reactions, fear of the world as a scary place, and desensitization’ (Paik and Comstock 516-546).
Parents, teachers, educators, often worry about the effects that television in general and most importantly violence perpetuated in some television content can affect children’s growth, and behaviour. Does growing up watching violent scenes in the “telly” makes a child a violent and aggressive adult? According to research, (Van Evra, p.85) watching violence in TV does not necessarily push a child into acting violently. It is the violent act in itself, and most importantly the reality of it (as could be rape discussed in the news) that generates fear and anxiety in those children who grow to believe that something similar could happen to them or to the people they love as well.
The use of replays, is a very common practise used in television, particularly in the broadcast of news bulletins. As an example the endless repetition of the footage of terrorist attack of 9/11 or other disasters which are terrifying even for adults to watch, make the television experience for children unbelievably upsetting and frightening. This approach of telling the story, by relieving the one single accident over time can be understood by an adult who is capable to realise its intention and meaning and might appreciate re-watching, to re-connect with a story. However, the screening of one disturbing happening proposed more than once can easily be misinterpreted by a child who will assume he is watching something that is still happening now, or is happening again.
As (Van der Molen 1771-1775) writes: “the growing practice of interrupting other television programming to report on “breaking news stories,” could also have an effect on children of all ages thus may be regularly confronted with highly distressing and violent accounts of murders, catastrophic accidents, war, and other suffering”.
Through his studies, he also showed that violence in television news may affect a considerable proportion of the child audience and could lead to serious health effects for certain sub- groups of children. It could provoke stress, frights and worries, and associated effects such as sleep disturbances or nightmares. (Van der Molen 1771-1775).
This therefore, raises the question: why (if so unsettling) is news allowed to be aired at any time of the day when children might be watching, willingly or because the parents are watching? Is it right for them to be exposed to this sort of information?
The inclusion of news in the media violence debate has been problematic, because news program makers need to keep their journalistic independence.
There has been no serious discussion about banning television news during ‘family viewing hours’ or about delivering a warning before news programs. In addition, the television parental guidelines (V-chip ratings), which were the result of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, are not applied to news and sports programs (Bushman and Cantor 130-141).
Journalist Emma Ferguson strongly feels that It is important that slowly children are made aware of the problems in the world around them. Introducing them and pushing them into watching the news is essential for their educational and intellectual growth. However, what we are discussing here is questioning the format, the way news is perpetuated and if it appropriate for a younger audience. In general, one could say that news programs that are meant for an adult audience are not suitable for children. They often paint an over exaggerated prevalence of crime and suffering, accompanied by realistic, vivid graphic pictures and sounds. (Van der Molen 1771-1775)
If we cannot stop TV news bulletins to be aired at any time of the day and we cannot even stop children from watching the news because we would prevent them from learning. What can be done to protect them from the upsetting and unsettling side of this learning process?
First of all, if children do watch the news, then they should do so together with a parent or a school- teacher who will be able to mediate the messages. Co-viewing with an adult, or even with an older sibling could lessen the hypothetical negative effects of violent news presentations by making children more critical of news violence and of. (Smith and Cowie, 2011)
It is not only up to parents and teachers to help and prevent children from this kind of TV content. A lot can and has to be done and improved in the newsrooms.
Studies that have in fact investigated a public health approach to the reporting of violence in news programs and have shown that providing a better contextual framework for violence and crime within a news item, by using for instance thematic coverage rather than episodic coverage, by providing risk factors and causal information decreases the negative effects of news violence in adults (Dorfman, Thorson and Stevens 402-419). This approach would be beneficial not only to children but to adults as well and it would not change the nature and the mean of the news that has been reported.
Finally, it should be encouraged alternative, special news programs that are tailored to the needs of child audiences. in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and some Mediterranean countries like Italy, the public broadcasting co-operations have 20 years of experience with producing a highly professional 15-minute news program that is broadcast daily in the early evening hours for children aged 8 to 12.
According to Clifford, Gunter, and McAleer (1995), from the age of 8 to mid-teens, children start developing information-processing skills together with social and intellectual schemas. Which means that children, are able to analyse and understand the messages that the programme they are watching is trying to forward. At the same time though they can interpret these messages in a different way compared to what the producer and the creator of the program intended. (Anderson and Smith, 1984). It is very important for producers to keep this in mind when creating an educational TV program for children. The messages, to be educational and appropriate for the younger audience, have to be clear.
News programs for children, are linked to their adult counterparts, and although they also present special children’s topics, most of their time are devoted to covering the main national and international news events. Thus, unavoidably, the children’s news covers violence and crime but approached in a different and safer way. The producers usually apply several “consolation strategies” (Van Der Molen and De Vries 5-19). For example, they ask experts to explain the events in a reassuring manner, they avoid over graphic film footage, and they do not use additional set or background sounds, such as people screaming or melodramatic music. Research has shown that most British, Dutch and Italian children prefer to watch the children’s news shows instead of the adult’s version. They seem to learn much more from the information presented, and they are less negatively affected by violent news presented in these programs than by presentations of the same news in programs that are intended for an adult audience (Walma Van Der Molen and Van Der Voort 132-140).
In the UK there is one particular news bulletin dedicated exclusively to children. “newsround” broadcasted on CBBC. Is it popular enough? Have producers kept in mind everything previously discussed while creating it? How can it be improved? what do children and their families think of it? And most importantly can and should more be created?
The aim of this research is trying to answer those questions to improve and make TV a safer platform for children.