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.