Editorial

Thank God for CBBC. Parents of children ranging in age from two to 12 and who value the power of television to both educate and entertain will empathise straight away with this statement.

BBC Prime airs a series of programmes for children every morning and afternoon which, in line with the venerable British broadcaster's ethos, seek to teach and stimulate by grabbing and keeping children's interest. Using television to "baby-sit", so that busy mothers can get on with their chores, is sometimes frowned upon. But these programmes, and perhaps a few similar ones on other channels, must be the best baby-sitters of their kind in terms of their potential to enrich a child's mind.

The only snag, of course, is that CBBC is in English; there is no Maltese equivalent to this sort of educational programming. This may work fine for some parents some of the time, whether those from English-speaking backgrounds or those who want to expose their children to more spoken English (and judging by the regularity of young prize winners from Malta announced on CBBC it appears that many Maltese children tune in). But for parents who are not subscribers to such channels or who would like their children to watch some appropriate TV in Maltese, there exists a big lacuna.

This is why it is excellent news that a small working group made up of representatives from the Broadcasting Authority, the office of the Children's Commissioner and the Council for Children has been formed to look into ways of ensuring "an adequate quantity of quality children's programmes".

Writing in this newspaper, Marian Muscat Azzopardi, a member of the group on behalf of the council, said guidelines for quality television programming and a strategic plan for their implementation are in the process of being drawn up.

There is no reason why local children's television should not be a commercial success. Granted, the BBC is able to provide such a wealth of educational fare in part because it is very well funded by the British government. But the number of foreign channels piped through cable which are exclusively dedicated to children attests to the commercial potential of programming aimed at the young.

Another factor that would seem to favour a scenario where more local television is targeted at children is that more production talent has sprouted since the onset of broadcasting pluralism. The variety of shows has increased and standards have improved. Production houses could better exploit the gap in the market by teaming up with creative minds honed to children's needs both on the entertainment and educational levels.

There has been a lot of debate about the effects of television viewing on children. Research has pointed in various directions but some things appear certain: violence on the screen is bad for them and watching too much television, especially at the expense of physical activity, meeting friends or doing homework, has obvious negative repercussions.

This points strongly to the need for parents to control both the amount and content of what their children watch. That task would be made much easier if local stations were to offer enough high-quality programming that parents can be happy to use not just as a "baby-sitter" but as a valid educational tool in its own right.

The stations would do well to give some serious thought to both the public service and commercial functions of a broad offering of good programmes for children, taking on board the working group's guidelines when they are eventually drawn up.