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