WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a subcommittee hearing today on Rethinking the Children's Television Act for a Digital Media Age.

 

 

The Honorable Julius Genachowski, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

 

 

Mr. Gary Knell, Chief Executive Officer and President, Sesame Workshop

 

Mr. John Lawson, Executive Vice President, ION Media Networks

 

Dr. Sandra Calvert, Director, Children’s Digital Media Center, Georgetown University

 

Ms. Cyma Zarghami, President, Nickelodeon & MTVN Family Group

 

Mr. James Steyer, CEO, Common Sense Media

 

 

“The way I see it, there are two needs here.  First, there is a need to provide quality media content for children.  Second, there is a need to protect our children from harmful content.  To provide and protect.  We must have both.  This is what the Committee would like to explore today.  How well the Children’s Television Act has worked, and how it can be updated to reflect the new digital media market.  If we value what our children read, see, and hear, we need to hold discussions like this.  If we respect parents and their need for tools to help monitor their children’s viewing, we need to hold discussions like this.  And if we believe there is some content that is simply not suitable for children, we need to hold discussions like this.”

“Experience has confirmed that educational and informational fare on television can help prepare toddlers for school and can be a powerful complement to the classroom experience. Studies have shown, for example, that programs such as “Sesame Street” enhance attentiveness and perceptual abilities in young children. Children’s television can also have beneficial effects on the social, emotional and physical development of our children.”

“Children are not only watching the television screen in the living room, but they are engaging with multiple screens.  Television has gone everywhere, it has become interactive, and children are using it.  According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, children ages six and under are spending about two hours a day with television, computers and video games, which is just about the same amount of time they spend playing outside and about triple the time they spend with books.  Older children ages eight to 18 years spend six and a half hours a day with media for recreational purposes, which is more time than they spend doing anything else, except for sleeping.”

“With the implementation of the digital television as the standard format for televised broadcasts, the time to reconsider the requirements of the Children’s Television Act is now.  We have many children who are struggling or failing in school.  Our children’s standardized scores on mathematics, science, and reading literacy assessments trail behind their international peer group.  This state of affairs is appalling.  Our country knows how to create quality media, and well-designed educational content is effective in lifting the scholastic success of our youth.”

“If this Committee were to consider changes to the Children’s Television Act, it should examine the full range of video content – both broadcast and non broadcast – available to children and their parents today before taking action. Only after carefully examining today’s diverse digital, multichannel, multi-screen video marketplace could Congress make reasoned determinations about any need for and the costs and benefits of altering the obligations imposed on the nation’s free, over-the-air broadcasters. In this regard, I note that the FCC has already adopted new rules that apply the Children’s Television Act to the digital age.”

“As much as technology – cell phones, videogames and the Internet – has impacted the ways kids and families consume information and interact, television remains an important part of their lives.  And one of the statistics that stands out for us is that, despite all of the distractions, co-viewing on kids‘ cable networks does help bring families together.  Families today treasure the time they spend together, want more of it, and even as they are pulled in many directions, co-viewing television – the heart of family entertainment – remains something that parents and children can enjoy with one another in their free time.”

“As we all know, media and entertainment profoundly impact the social, emotional, and physical development of our nation’s children.  And we are at an historic and truly transformative moment in the development and impact of media and technology on our society.  Parents and educators need help understanding and managing what their children see, hear, and surf.  But who should provide this help?  In truth, several key institutions should – nonprofit organizations, schools, the media industry, and government. Each of us has an important role to play.”

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