Why does any of this matter?
We believe that UK kids deserve the best TV. They have as much right to a varied media diet as adults do, and they need programmes which tell them their own stories, in their own voices and reflect their lives and the issues they face growing up in Britain today. The Ofcom report has revealed that children and parents recognise the value of locally made programmes - dramas, factual and entertainment shows - which speak to kids about the life they lead in the UK today.
British society will be the ultimate loser if kids are divorced from their own cultural heritage and immersed in programmes from outside the UK. In some households television is the only way in which kids “connect” with the world and learn about the society they live in, its values and the way people interact. To damage that connection would be potentially disastrous in the long term.
Children’s television is part of the “glue” which holds our society together. At a time when we are debating the quality of childhood, and the values we want our children to understand and accept, why would we take away from them a vital ingredient of a healthy personality and one of the bonds which draw us together in mutual understanding? For a robust defence of children’s TV as a cultural force, take a look at our response to the Buckingham Review of the commercialisation of childhood, written by Save Kids’ TV member Cary Bazalgette.
We don’t “disapprove” of U.S.– made programmes. On the contrary we think that some of them are fantastic. They are well-made and can be just as empowering as home-grown content. But we feel they should be part of a rich mix – not the major force in kids’ lives. We’d like to see programmes from all over the world in kids’ media diets, helping them understand and appreciate the world around them. But it’s vital that programmes made here feature in that variety too.
