Sunday 2 December 2007

Life After Death

So ... my new found dissertation is to be on role models, and there is most definitely one in this week's press.

Kelly Brook is to be applauded for her appearance on Strictly Come Dancing.

The presenter come actress has been a loveable warm addition to the show, and interestingly avoided the fate of other equally attractive, talented contestants such as Gabby Logan and Penny Lancaster, by appearing approachable and warm.

Her presence on the show clearly marked a flawless transition from the pages of mens mags to mainstream children's entertainment.

She has been likeable, approachable and surprisingly un-Hollywood, despite the A-List fiance who sat watching her in the crowd, .... and for that reason she was the season's clear favourite.

However, tragedy struck this week when her father lost his battle with throat cancer.

My heart completely goes out to her - I lost my parents when I was nineteen, and I completely appreciate and understand both her desire to carry on with the show, and her decision to quit after realising she could no longer put her whole heart in to it.

The events of this week, and Kelly's dignity in dealing with them, have only furthered my admiration for the star, and underlined her positivity as a role model to children.

Her attempts to carry on regardless teach an important lesson to children who may find themselves in a similar situation. The only way to ensure life carries on after death is to live, and to live life to the max.

Tuesday 27 November 2007

Role Models

Poor old Amy Winehouse hasn't had the best week, month, or probably even year.

However, as all her fans desert her, walking out of concerts, and chastising her very public drug addiction, I for one applaud her!

Not for the drink, drugs and rock and roll! But for her academic help!

Because Amy's behaviour has helped me find my dissertation topic.

Staring at a photograph of her in the weekend's press, white powder visibly clinging to her nose hairs, and seven year old, bee-hive sporting, fan in tow, I decided my MA will be on Role Models in Children's Media.

Those of you who are regulars to my blog will have realised that it's a subject close to my heart, and so hopefully, over the nex six months as I collate my research, I'll be able to share some of my findings and views with you.

Am also hoping to speak some of the media's most famour role models, good and bad, past and present, so keep watching this space!

Friday 16 November 2007

TV fakery

Is it just me, or has the whole 'lets expose BBC fakery' witchhunt gone a bit too far?

Today's latest scandal involves using a soundbite of babies crying to enhance a clip of footage that arrived at the BBC without sound.

I realise it was used on the news but in reality, does any one really care whether the cries they hear are those of the same baby they are watching?

Obviously lines need to be drawn, and to excuse something as trivial as this isn't to forgive the larger misdemenours of the corporation, however, I do feel that the press need to get some degree of perspective on the issue.

Likewise, where Blue Peter's bloopers are concerned, the show has taken a repeated bashing over recent months.

Whilst I am in full agreement that competitions shouldn't have been fixed, and that people need to be honest with children, the recent scrutiny of every detail of the BBC's broadcasting seems completely ignorant of the fact that TV is entertainment, and not every aspect of entertainment is 100% real - a reality most viewers happily accept.

Tuesday 13 November 2007

One I Plan To Write Later

If this blog has been useful for anything yet, it has crystalised what I want to write my dissertation on.

For those of you new to my blog, I'm a 24 year old MA Broadcast Journalism student at the University of Westminster, and eventually, I hope to pursue a career in children's media.

At present I volunteer at four radio stations, including presenting the children's request at a Hospital Radio Station. Eventually I'm hoping to have my own two hour children's show on one of the hospital radio stations that I work on, but for the moment I'm content just visiting wards, chatting to the kids, and playing their requests.


Anyway, the eventual plan is to pursue a career at CBBC. Despite the recent bashing shows such as Blue Peter have received in the press recently, I'm a firm believer in the fact that the BBC is, and always has been, the best source of good, clean, homegrown children's media.

In spite of this, I must acknowledge the decline in children's media on the whole in recent years. As a child I used to flick between CBBC and CITV, hoping to benefit from the best of both channels, however, nowadays it is as if ITV has surrendered to the competition offered by specialist children's channels, and as a result, the proportion of British-made children's media has been dramatically reduced.

I plan to write my dissertation on the decline of children's media - an issue which has recently attracted the attention of both Ofcom and the Voice of Listeners and Viewers.

In order to research my dissertation, I hope to spend the next six months getting as much children's media work experience.

I hope to speak with Susan Stranks and Baroness Warnock, two of the most prolific figures in the campaign for improved children's media, and two ladies who I was lucky enough to speak with at the House of Lords at a Select Committee on the subject when I was just 17,

I will use this blog to document my findings, and explore the state of children's media today, and in the future.

Celebrities?

Hmm ... if there's one thing I disagree with in the media, it's people famous for being famous.

Reality tv contestants whose next step is to become a celebrity tv contestant, sidestepping the celebrity part somewhere along the line.

A classic example of this is Katie Hopkins, the newest addition to the I'm A Celebrity jungle. She's 'famous' for nothing more than appearing on a reality TV show.

Whilst arguably the majority of the other contestants have questionable qulifications, Hopkins is just another reality TV show veteran, following in the footsteps of the likes of Big Brother's Jade Goody and Grace Adams-Short (who appeared, respectively, on Celebrity Big Brother, and Cirque de Celebrite).

Maybe I'm old fashioned in thinking you ought to earn celebrity status ... however, to say this I guess is to be ignorant of the shoals of today's celebrities, famous for nothing more than being rich (Paris Hilton), being related to someone famous (Kelly and Jack Osbourne), or socialising with someone famous (Tara Palmer-Tompkinson).

Saturday 10 November 2007

Lily Allen and Friends

I'm beginning to get a little cynical about social networking sites, however I do have to admit I quite like the sound of BBC3's new project - a show based around social networking, hosted by Lily Allen, and contributed to by her MySpace friends.

Lily Allen rose to fame as a result of the site, and her revealing blogs have shown her to be an approachable and realistic role model for youngsters.

The straight-laced traditionalist in me does quite like a good role model.

As the Ofcom report into Chilren's TV highlighted a few weeks ago, a worrying number of children aspire to be the people they see on TV.

Whilst we can try to tackle this idolistic trend by better educating children as to who to look to as role models, another way to stem it is at the source.

If producers look more carefully at the role models they are providing for children, then hopefully even if children do continue to idolise tv personalities, they will be aspiring to mimic positive traits.

Lily Allen is independent, talented and real.

She appears to eat like a normal person, is not overly concerned with her appearance, and is not photographed drinking, or smoking.

She doesn't promote drugs, and has remarkably appears to have carved herself a successful career without abusing her father's fame.

She also sings and speaks about things which teenagers can understand and empathise with.

Admittedly my straight-laced nature would perhaps prefer her to be a little more well-spoken, and a little more geeky!, howeve, kids like her, a fact which the popularity of her MySpace page has starkly proven.

To build on this success, and use it to enable children to contribute to a show is a great way to improve the multifaceted nature of today's media, and hopefully the BBC will put this popularity to good use.

Friday 9 November 2007

Sign this Petition!!!

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure that UK children have access to a wider range of high quality, UK-made public service kids' television programmes that reflect the rich diversity of UK culture

GO TO http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/kidstelevision/

A Better Way To Inspire

Following on from my last post, I believe the BBC has hit the nail on the head when it comes to promoting activity to children.

Whilst a celebrity dance show may not appear all that different to a kids' aerobics show, the effect of Strictly Come Dancing is infinitely better so far as children's perceptions of exercise are concerned.

For a start, it is not an institutionalised dose of exercise.

The kids are not being told to get up and dance, or put their hands in the air, lift their leg etc etc.

They are doing the exercise of their own accord - they see their favourite stars dancing, and they WANT to copy them. They hear the music, and they can't help joining in.

At Brownies all I have to do is start humming the Strictly tune and all the girls begin to salsa!

Furthermore, Strictly shows anyone can do it, AND more importantly, you don't have to be any good to have fun! The most entertaining performers are the ones who don't have a clue what they are doing, but are clearly loving every minute.

And then, when you finally see your favourite star acing a dance ... well then you want to ace it too!

That's why shows like Blue Peter are so important. They show people the children admore, presenters they have gotten to know, trying all kinds of activities and sports.

Sometimes they triumph, sometimes they fail, but the whole point is the more you try, the more likely you are to find something that you enjoy, and something that you will stick to.

That is the best way to promote activity in kids, because once children find an activity they enjoy, they will stick with it for years.

Toddler Aerobics

I have to say I was appalled this week at the news that tv channels plan to introduce toddler aerobics to reduce obesity in children.

Obviously exercise is extremely important to kids, but to suggest that the most appropriate form is a mini mock up of adult institutionalised classes really worries me.

People who go to aerobics classes are normally those who don't have the opportunity for enough natural exercise in their lives.

They specifically make a trip to a gym or a leisure centre, to ensure that half an hour or an hour of their day is dedicated to calorie burning, normally for cosmetic or health reasons.

Now I'm not saying this is wrong - at the moment while I train for my Iron Man I'm in the gym six days a week.

What I do think is wrong is that at an early age, the aerobics and gym phenomenon is being imprinted on children's brains as constituting 'exercise', and constituting 'healthy'.

Gyms were created for busy adults with busy lives. They cram the activity which you could normally do in your day, and years ago would have done, into a quick fix capsule of time.

Aerobics classes are for those who find it hard to inspire themselves to exercise.
Those lacking the inspiration to perspirate simply need to get themselves to the class, after that the instructor takes control.

Rather than teach children that this is the way to stay active and healthy, we need to inspire children from an early age to naturally include activity in their lives, and to inspire themselves to exercise.

At two or three activity should be toddling around a park, walking by the river to feed the ducks, flying a kite. It should be learning to ride a bike, or parent and baby classes at the local pool.

Activity should not be plonking the child infront of the telly and hoping he or she dances along with the presenter.

Whilst the media is still desperately trying to reduce the blame it receives for child obesity, aerobics classes are only a quick fix, and they will come at the cost of potentially warping a generation of children's perceptions of exercise and healthy behaviour even more.

Monday 29 October 2007

Get Active!

Firstly apologies for the massive gap since my last Blog.

I do have an excuse! I've been on Brownie Pack Holiday!

And it actually fits in rather nicely with the today's hot topic involving children and the media - obesity.

The media are frequently blamed for our nation's ever-expanding waist bands.

Whilst advertising fast food, and promoting couch-hogging as an afternoon activity are obvious ways in which the media can be seen to play a part in childhood obesity, children's television can also be used to promote healthier lifestyles.

Here I return to one of my key 'mantras' of children's television.

Show children what life has to offer!

Show them the challenges, and they will seek them out for themselves.

Last week my Brownies were abseiling off towers, wriggling through man-made caves, and firing bows and arrows.

What they were also doing was burning a heap of calories, but if you asked them the purpose of their activities, they would have told you 'fun'.

Healthy activity can be fun - you just need to show kids that it is.

That's where shows like Blue Peter, my holy grail of children's tv, come in.

When the presenters run marathons, or go sailing or dancing, kids want to follow them.

All we need to do to to reduce the negative links between media and child obesity is to increase the number of active, insiring children's programmes.

Living a healthy life does not mean living a boring one, or one without tv!

Saturday 13 October 2007

Cambridge University's Primary Review

The results of yesterday's review into primary school children have furthered worries about literacy, anti-social behaviour, materialism and the cult of personality.

And rightly so ...

Whilst many primary-age children struggle to even spell their name, when it comes to celebrity identity they are all clued up.

PR and Marketing agencies are appealing to younger and younger audiences, having identified the persuasive influence children have over their parents' spending.

With 'young' versions of adult magazines, and evening television created for an ever expaning age-group, children are growing up far too fast.

The world these days is increasingly materialistic and celebrity obsessed.

And children are being thrown into that world far too early.

You only have to look at the front pages of the very magazines which peddle the cult of personality to see the damaging effects of the world they have created.

Stars are dropping like flies, spiralling into depression, drug abuse, and nervous breakdowns.

Children should be sheltered from the realities of the 21st century, not used to financially support them.

When I was seven I just about knew who Kylie Minogue was.

I had one tape of hers, which I treasured, and the most high-tech item I owned was a propelling pencil, which I thought was awesome.

My happiest memories as a child were making 'perfume' out of rose petals, and learning how to make a cup of tea for my Hostess badge.

I must have been 14 or 15 by the time I properly even thought about celebrities, or realised the female desire to be ever-thinner.

I had a childhood!

Shouldn't we let the next generation have theirs?

Tuesday 9 October 2007

Children are NOT accessories!

Whilst the media today is reviling Victoria Beckham's decision to stay at the Ritz on the day of the visit by the Diana inquest jury, it is an earlier impromptu photo shoot which has my blood boiling.

At the weekend Victoria was photographed arriving in LAX.

Shielded as ever by bug-like sunglasses, and towering on steep stiletto heels, 'Posh Spice' was poised and ready for photos from any angle.

However rather than modelling the latest Chloe bag, or Louis Vuitton luggage, Victoria's accessory of choice was her son.

Painfully immaculate, and disturbingly fashionable, 'Cruz' came with detachable golfing jumper, miniature hand luggage bag, and front page smile.

This wasn't a photo of a mother and child.

This was a photo of a brand, a product.

Whilst behind closed doors Victoria Beckham may well be the model mother, in front of the cameras she is merely a model.

Any parent walking with their child through a busy airport would be carrying them on their hip, or at least carrying the luggage themselves.

Had you simply seen half of the photo, it would have been perfectly plasible to assume Victoria was there on her own.

There was no ounce of maternal affection, no slip of the sleek, well practiced media facade.

But then the key relationship in the photograph is not that of Victoria and Cruz, it is the one between Victoria and the paparazzi.

Friday 5 October 2007

Strictly Come Ratings

Tomorrow not only marks the return of TV favourite 'Strictly Come Dancing', but also tolls the bells of a battle for ratings between BBC1 and ITV1.

The BBC has decided to host the popular ballroom dancing competition at the exact same time as rival reality competition 'X Factor'.

In retort ITV is to launch a new satellite show following up from the Saturday night showing, handily clashing with Strictly's Behind the Scenes footage.

Whilst these moves have already earnt the two shows many newspaper column inches, and will innevitably attract regular media scrutiny as the weeks progress, are the shows looking for the wrong attention?

Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor are designed to attract the same audience.

Whilst the thought of two major TV channels fighting for your attention may in some way be endearing, in reality the 'prize' is missing out on one of your favourite shows.

Whoever wins the ratings war, the real losers are the viewers.

Saturday night should be about relaxing in front of your favourite TV shows, not about stressing over setting the Sky+, or finding a blank video to record onto.

Wednesday 3 October 2007

Save Kids TV and the Call for Homegrown Programming

Following a report by Ofcom into children's television programming, calls have been made to increase the number of homegrown children's television shows.

Whilst exposure to other cultures through television is extremely important, I think it is important that we strike an appropriate balance.

Nowadays kids can access over 20 tv channels devoted to childrens media.

In spite of the enormous increase in programmes available to children, there has been a marked decline in British shows, with most networks chosing to import American TV instead.

Experts and media representatives have flagged up the problem of losing our oultural identity at an early age.

I think the issue goes beyond this.

Television provides children with role models and aspirational futures.

Television is a media by which children can be inspired, challenged and motivated.

Whilst American characters can obviously still achieve these things, I think it is important for children to be able to associate with the characters and presenters they see on TV.

In the same way it is important to reflect the various backgrounds and ethnicities of viewers in the shows, it is also important to form bonds with the audience through shared local knowledge and experience.

I believe it is the duty of the terrestrial channels to maintain these ties with the audience, and show children that homegrown characters and stars can do just as many amazing and fun things as characters thousands of miles away.

A second issue highlighted by the Ofcom report was the dominance of cartoons amongst children's media.

Cartoons now total over 60% of the shows designed for younger viewers.

Again, whilst escapism and imagination are important elements of childhood, it is social interaction and adult communication which helps children grow into young adults.

Cartoons are lazy television.

Great as they may be to relax to, they seldom stimulate or inspire - something which presenter interaction, and young adult drama can achieve.

Recent viewer ratings for BBC kids' shows can be shown to reflect this.

The top five CBBC shows include the magazine style show 'Blue Peter', the current affairs show 'Newsround', and two drama series.

Tuesday 2 October 2007

Yet another Child Star burnt out

As the nation debates the implications of the raised legal age for purchasing cigarettes, today's news highlights another issue desperately in need of consideration.

How old should children be before we thrust them into the media?

The latest development in the Britney Spears meltdown is a painful reminder of the teenage years which the media has stolen from a little girl from Mississippi.

Children need to make mistakes without major implications.

Only then can they learn.

Every mistake and upset Britney has made has been played out infront of the world's media, and the implications have been enormous.

With two failed marriages, and two children before she'd even transitioned from girl to woman, Britney's mistakes, like her whole life, have played out on a massive scale.

It was only going to be a matter of time before the little girl hidden beneath the identity created for her by agents, her record label and her parents, collapsed under the strain of the enormous burden.

And now that she's fallen, her 'support network' is nowhere to be seen.

She isn't the first child star to dissolve in her twenties, and she won't be the last.

Lindsay Lohan, Mary-Kate Olsen, Nicole Ritchie, Michael Jackson, Drew Barrymore, River Phoenix, Judy Garland .... does the world really need any more sad examples?

It's as if the world sits with bated breath waiting for the stars to fall

Or is that a morbid part of the attraction?

This year ITV favourite X Factor lowered its age of entry to just 14 years old.

At 14 I was worrying about my first kiss, impending GCSEs and spots .... is it really fair to add international fame and media scrutiny into that equation?

Monday 1 October 2007

I don't hate Blue Peter .... and other commentary on today's Media Guardian

Monday is upon it, and with it the latest instalment of the journalist's bible ... the Media Guardian.

A frequent subscriber to the Independent myself, I decided to strike a compromise with my lecturers, all of whom managed to insert the words 'Media Guardian' into their various disciplines last week, and read the Guardian on my way to university, and the Independent on my way home.

Two stories in particular caught my eye.

Firstly the rather sad statement 'I hate Blue Peter' used as part of a summary of the week in media.

After my last three blogs, I will assume you can all guess my response to this!

Secondly the introduction of KateModern, a new genre of tv series currently screening on Bebo.

Now you'll have to excuse me, because as far as online networking alliances lie, mine are firmly fixed in Facebook.

Whether this is as a result of my age (Bebo has always struck me as a teenage forum) or my Cambridge background (Facebook debuted in England at Oxbridge), I am not sure.

However, in words echoed from one of my introductory journalism lectures, I was pretty sure that Bebo was 'dead'.

Will this new era of interactive tv revive the most mature of the social networking sites, or is it a last ditch attempt to divert attention from its more sophisticated offspring?

Time will tell, however the introduction of KateModern, and the show's inclusion of band 'The Days', appears to echo the shift of focus by the BBC.

Last week the Corporation announced its move towards interractive media for teenagers, including the introduction of new show 'Signs of Life' and the recruitment of Kelly Osbourn.

Thursday 27 September 2007

Singing a Tired Song

I promise this blog won't end up revolving entirely around Blue Peter, however, in light of all the recent press slating the show I thought it only fair to write another post.

Ok so the show's producers have made some mistakes, but after 49 years as one of the nation's most loved programmes, surely we can all give it some leeway?

The institution which has arguably played a large role in the formation of most British journalists' childhood, is now being turned on by its 'offspring'.

The show that could for many years do no wrong, now appears, in the eyes of the press, to be able to do no right.

Here I am referring to the furore that has erupted due to the failure to use an original recording of the show's anniversary theme-tune.

Isn't it time we let sleeping dogs (or cats!) lie?

At least another Great British children's television institution is enjoying positive reviews ...........

Tuesday 25 September 2007

The Way the Cookie Crumbled

No blog about children's media would be complete without some reference to the Blue Peter cat fiasco.

In the wake of the recent phone-in fixing scandals, to suggest more care ought to have been made in the decision to forgo the winning name goes without saying.

However, the reason to ignore the results of the actual vote still appear rather illusive.

If, as multiple sources have suggested, the successful name for the kitten, now known as 'Socks', had in fact been 'Cookie', I am at a loss why the production team decided to ignore the viewer vote.

Surely where a cat is concerned biscuits and clothing are equally obscure sources of name?

Or am I naively ignoring the realities of naming a being?

After all many parents spend 9 months umming and ahhing between two or three names, only to decide on a previously unconsidered moniker the second they see their newborn.

As the CBBC site clearly explains, the production team felt 'Socks' more appropriate once they came to appreciate the kitten's personality.

I will refrain from attempting to suggest how one's personality may be found to embody something you wear on your feet, however, I will suggest that, should this have really been the case, then honesty would have been the best, and simplest, policy.

Honesty is paramount with children.

Children will not respect you, or in fact even listen to you, if they don't feel like you are telling the whole story.

The only thing more patronising than being told half a story, is being told that you cannot hear the other half because you are too young.

To be honest I don't even understand the full story and I'm 23!

Whilst the BBC is to be applauded for its damage limitation - a statement both on the website and on the show itself, and the introduction of a new cat to be christened with the original winning name -some doubts still surround whether 'Cookie' was in fact the name which the crew carefully side-stepped.

Certain sources, including The Sun, have suggested that the winning name had in fact been 'Pussy'.

This version of events does lend itself more to understanding why the production team avoided using the viewers' choice.

Furthermore, as an student whose friends' courses have often seemed to involve 'modules' of sofa-hogging, daytime television endurance, and wasting free mobile-phone minutes, it does not take a great stretch of the imagination to understand how, had 'Pussy' been an option available to voters, the innuendo-ridden name may have quickly become the favourite.

If this was in fact the case, then why on earth was 'Pussy' ever even an option?!

Whilst Blue Peter has arguably very successfully moved with the times, and shed all suggestions of its quaint, twee beginnings, surely some degree of responsibility and decorum must remain with regards to such potential vulgarity? Children these days grow up far too quickly. They are regretfully audience to all manner of adult language, imagery and humour. Blue Peter has always struck me as a haven away from the harsher edges of reality. Like a straight-laced and well-educated, yet energetic and wordly nanny, the show should be there to highlight all the fun and nice elements of being a child, rather than rush children hurriedly into adulthood in the way that many other areas of the media do.

Charly Lester

An Introduction To The Blogger

Hello and welcome to 'One I Wrote Earlier'.

My name is Charly Lester, and I'm a whole two days into a MA course in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Westminster.

Like most of my generation I've aspired to becoming a Blue Peter presenter as long as I can remember (suddenly the blog name begins to make sense!).

However it's not just the funky badges and amazing holidays which appeal to me.

Despite having reached the ripe old age of 23, I am still fascinated by children's television, radio, books and magazines.

Furthermore, I find the ever-increasing supply of other media available to children astonishing.

Finally, I think it is important to keep in mind those sources of media accessible by children which are not necessarily targetted towards them as an audience.

I plan to use these pages as a voice-box for my ideas and opinions of children's media.

I like to think I can understand children -

Since the age of 13 I have been a Brownie Leader, and have also helped with Scouts, Beavers, Guides and Rainbows.

At 16 I worked as a Children's Birthday Party Host at a Bowling Alley.

During Sixth form I worked as a Children's Party Entertainer, dressing up each weekend as a fairy/ princess/ astronaut/ cowgirl / pirate, etc etc.

In my Gap Year I taught English to 3-8 year olds in a remote Chinese province.

Finally, since the age of 14 I have worked on local and hospital children's radio stations.

In 1999 I was asked to speak at a House of Lords Select Committee Meeting on the topic of children's media.

I believe that the best way to communicate with children is to talk to them as equals, and to be a honest and open with them as possible.

I also believe children learn best from doing.

I think it is imperative that from an early age children have exposure to, and the opportunity to try, a infinite variety of different activities, challenges and skills.

Finally, as adults I think we're all responsible for the lessons which we inadvertantly teach youngsters, be this through our own behaviour as role models, or as a result of the imagery and information which we enable them to access and digest.

Over the course of this blog I will debate and disect current affairs in the children's media.

I will look at topics and influences of relevance to kids, and seek to find out whether we all look back at the television we watched as children with rose-tinted glasses, or whether the quality of children's media has in fact changed, for better or for worse.