Strategy proposed for better children's programmes

A proposed strategy to raise the quality of children's programming was launched yesterday and the Commissioner for Children is calling on the government to implement it - because the young cannot wait.

Sonia Camilleri said children's programmes were often of poor quality and the new strategy was vital because it would be instrumental for the child's development.

"It is the government's responsibility to implement this strategy. All we can do as a commission is keep on lobbying, as we don't have the executive powers," she said.

The strategy was yesterday presented to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech and Family Minister Dolores Cristina.

The launch coincided with the occasion of World Children's Day and highlights the fact that children's rights to good quality children's programmes were still not being adequately addressed.

The strategy is the fruit of two years of hard work and research by a joint working group with the Broadcasting Authority, made up of Kevin Aquilina, Mario Axiak, Daniela DeBono and Marian Muscat Azzopardi.

It is being recommended that the strategy should become part of a consolidated law on children's broadcasting to ensure long-term and consistent good quality programmes.

The strategy proposes eight categories of action: institutional; legal/regulatory; financial; human resources; programming; awareness; enforcement mechanism; and new media.

It recognises that the high rate of change and development in the genre of children's programming is such that it requires an institutional structure.

In the light of this it is recommending that a Quality Children's Programming Commission be appointed by the Prime Minister to oversee its implementation.

This commission, which would act on the advice of the authority and the Commissioner for Children, shall appoint three panels, with a child on each panel, to carry out its functions.

The working group recognised the unfortunate situation producers faced when it came to attracting advertising for children's programmes. At times, producers had to contend with taking on adverts that promoted junk food to support the show, a situation that did more harm than good to the children.

To counteract this situation, the strategy is recommending that a fund be set up to develop high-quality children's programmes and increase their availability.

It is being proposed that the fund should receive a reasonable percentage of television licence fees to distribute the revenue among broadcasters and independent production houses, which will have to compete for the money.

The fund should also receive a nominal percentage of the advertising budget of each broadcasting station. This money will be given back to these stations in the form of a programme.

Among the proposals is the need for a daily children's news bulletin, which would present local and international current affairs in a child-friendly manner.

The strategy is recommending that adverts which harm minors, from the promotion of junk food to toy weapons, should be prohibited.

Among the programmes mentioned as good examples was Sesame Street, the American educational children's television series for pre-schoolers. Sesame Street was a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standards, which combine both education and entertainment.

Ms Muscat Azzopardi said that in the UK it was established that good quality children's programmes were the cheapest way to reach children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

"We need to look at ways of informing and educating children in an entertaining way. This strategy is in line with the government's policy for social inclusion and stepping up literacy levels," she said.