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TELEVISION
AND MEDIA INFORMATION
PTA, NEA,
NCWO Announce Unprecedented New Children's Television Initiative
Leading nonprofit organizations
representing millions of American parents, teachers, nurses and children
announced the formation of the Smart Televisions Alliance (STA) to promote
quality television content for children. STA is being created under the
combined leadership of the National Education Association, the nations
largest professional organization with 3.2 million members; National
Parent Teacher Association (PTA), the nations largest volunteer child
advocacy association with 5.5 million members; and the National Council of
Women's Organizations (NCWO), a coalition of more than 200 organizations
representing over ten million women.
"In today's media saturated world, parents and caregivers need
quality information from reliable sources that they can use to make smart
choices about what is appropriate for their families," said Jan harp
Domene, PTA national president and STA co-chair. "By uniting a diverse
group of nationally recognized non profit organizations with a shared
commitment to improving what kids watch on TV, we will help parents make
informed choices about what television programming their families watch.
We want to make screen time healthy and educational, gathering the
best information from a variety of trusted sources including children's
media experts, educators and parents."
STA will encourage families to use information from trusted sources to
identify shows that inform and educated children and to utilize technology
to control what is on television and when it is watched. NEA Members also
will contribute information as well as offering specific tips from
educators for parents to use television as a learning opportunity.
Children's television programming recommendations will come from nonprofit
experts including Parent's Choice Foundation, Common Sense Media, parent's
Television Council, member organizations, as well as from parents and
caregivers by means of an interactive Web site and Smart News, STA's twice
monthly free newsletter.
For more information on STA and to receive Smart News, please visit:
www.smarttelevisionalliance.org.
Source: This Week in Washington, October 16, 2007
New Study Shows the Need for Parents to Promote
Media Literacy
A new study
released by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that
electronic media is a central focus of many very young children's
lives, used by parents to help manage busy schedules, keep the peace,
and facilitate family routines such as eating, relaxing, and falling
asleep. The report,
The Media Family:
Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers, and
Their Parents,
is based on a national survey of 1,051 parents with children ages 6
months to 6 years and a series of focus groups across the country.
According to the study, in a typical day, more than eight in 10 (83
percent) children under the age of 6 use screen media, with those
children averaging about two hours a day (1:57). In many homes,
parents have created an environment where the TV is a nearly constant
presence, from the living room to the dining room and the bedroom. One
in three (33 percent) children this age has a TV in their bedroom. The
most common reasons parents give for putting a TV in their child's
bedroom is to free up other TVs in the house so the parent or other
family members can watch their own shows (55 percent), to keep the
child occupied so the parent can do things around the house (39
percent), to help the child fall asleep (30 percent), and as a reward
for good behavior (26 percent).
Source: Kaiser Family
Foundation, "New
study shows how kids' media use helps parents cope,"
news release, May 24, 2006. Learn more on the
Kaiser Family Foundation website.
National PTA recognizes that media messages from TV, movies, music,
and the Internet are a daily part of children's lives. While
electronic media can open up new worlds of rich learning experiences
to children, they can also convey messages about violence, sex,
commercialism, stereotyping, and other themes that worry parents.
When children are exposed to images and messages they do not
understand and are unable to interpret them, parents will want to
intervene. For example, when children see smoking, drinking, and drug
use in the media, parents will want talk about it with their children
and guide them in taking a critical look at how cigarettes, alcohol,
and other drugs are portrayed. To learn how to control your children's
exposure to electronic media and promote their media literacy, visit
the
Media and Technology area of
www.pta.org.
Source: This Week in Washington, May 26, 2006
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