Private conventional broadcasters in Canada provide about one per cent of children’s programming, while educational and specialty broadcasters accounted for more than 90% (41% and 49%, respectively).
This from the Alliance for Children and Television, which announced preliminary results from a national study on Canadian children’s and youth programming as the highlight of the Children, Youth & Media Conference.
The national study was led by a team of researchers at the Université de Montréal communications department’s Centre for Youth and Media Studies, under the supervision of Dr. André H. Caron, Ed.D. It received generous support from CTVglobemedia (CTVgm) through the CTVgm/CHUM tangible benefits, the association describes.
Over one thousand hours (1,065) of children’s programs broadcast in the week of March 30 to April 5, 2009 (by 19 different telecasters across Canada) were recorded and a nationally representative sample of nearly 200 hours (196 hrs) was selected for content analysis. These broadcasters included ACCESS, APTN, BBC Kids (CANWEST MEDIAWORKS), CBC, CFTO/CTV, Discovery Kids, Family Channel, Knowledge, SRC, SCN, Teletoon English, Télétoon French, Treehouse, TQS, TVO, TFO, Télé-Québec, VRAK.TV, and YTV. Over five hundred (563) children’s programs were coded, and more than sixteen hundred (1,613) main characters were analyzed in this sample.
“This study raised a number of challenges given that we wanted it not only to be scientifically valid, but also to address new cultural and social perspectives beyond the traditional violence/sex and gender issues,” said Dr. André H. Caron.
Among key findings, the main characters’ emotional well-being was assessed for the first time. This involved using an innovative approach to examine characters’ mental state in children’s programming. The main characters we analyzed exhibited relatively strong positive feelings (the average was 5.71 on a seven-point scale), meaning they rated highly in terms of being good, pleasant, interested, happy, contented, loving, and joyful.
The relationship between program theme and target audience was also found to be statistically significant. Within preschool programming, the most dominant theme was social relationships and learning (43% and 31%, respectively). Themes explicitly related to fighting, violence and/or conflict were not found in preschool programs. Within programs that targeted children 6–12, the most dominant program theme was social relationships (28%), closely followed by adventure (24%), learning (17%), fighting and violence (11%), play/games (9%), and environmentalism (2%).
Several positive program issues were found to be statistically related to country of origin. As could be expected, Canadian productions scored the highest percentage of “understanding of Canada” (14%). Canadian productions were also highest in terms of “stimulating reflection, creativity, and interactivity with the viewer” (47%). Both Canadian co-productions and US/Canadian co-ventures showed high percentages in terms of “encouraging positive social values” (85% and 78%, respectively).
Characters’ ecological practices, cultural activities and their uses of new ICTs were also found to be statistically related to country of origin. For characters’ ecological practices (recycling, energy conservation, etc.), these examples were seen more in Canadian productions (11%) and US/Canadian co-ventures (9%). Characters who engaged in cultural production activities were seen most in Canadian productions (30%) and US/Canadian co-ventures (30%). Characters’ cultural consumption was seen more in US productions (19%), while characters’ use of new ICTs was most prevalent in Canadian productions (17%).
“To sum up these findings, our Canadian kids are exposed to emotionally healthy characters who learn, build social relationships, and experience adventures in a remarkably non-violent environment,” said ACT Executive Director Caroline Fortier. “We are also very pleased to find that compared to programming from other countries, Canadian productions scored highest when it comes to stimulating reflection, creativity, and interactivity with the viewer.”
In terms of television broadcaster type, both educational and specialty broadcasters accounted for more than 90% of children’s programming in Canada (41% and 49%, respectively), followed by public (9%) and private (1%) conventional broadcasters.
The relationship between program genre and broadcast language was found to be statistically significant. Animation programs were more prevalent in French (71%) than in English (54%), while live-action programs were more often English-language (29%) than French-language (21%).
The target audience of children’s programs was statistically related to country of origin (p < .01). Specifically, Canada and the US were the top two countries producing children’s programs targeting children 6–12 (64% and 67%, respectively), while Canadian co-productions (58%) and other foreign productions (60%) had the highest percentages in terms of preschool programs.
“In terms of gender representation in an international study (based on research coordinated by IZI), Canada ranked third out of 24 countries for highest percentage of female characters. It should be noted, however, that there’s still considerable room for improvement given the existing imbalance of approximately one-third female to two-thirds male characters in our children’s programs. In terms of ethnic representation in children’s programs, we found that distribution of whites and minority groups was quite similar to the one found in the Canadian census studies, although Asian characters appear to be underrepresented in programs. Overall our analysis to date shows that Canadian broadcasters appear not only to be providing Canadian children with high-quality content in national productions and co-productions (36.4% and 11.5%, respectively), but also in their acquisitions. However, in recent years we have witnessed a strong decline in the quantity of Canadian productions (on average 50% of broadcasted programs were Canadian in the late 1990s vs. 36% today).” concluded Dr. André H. Caron.
For 35 years, the Alliance for Children and Television (ACT) has been monitoring the quality of Canadian children’s television and other screen-based content, while actively contributing to the vitality of the industry. ACT is the only association in Canada that recognizes and rewards the work of children’s and youth programming creators and producers through its Awards of Excellence. It also offers vocational training and other events specially designed to serve English- and French-speaking professionals. Lastly, ACT conducts research to better understand children’s television and multiplatform issues, in addition to intervening with the CRTC and other government agencies on matters concerning children’s screen-based content in Canada.
For more information, visit www.act-aet.tv.