Since our April Newsletter SKTV has been active in a number of areas. The main task has been to ensure a coherent response to the Ofcom Public Service Review which stresses the need for the kids issue to be dealt with promptly and with appropriate funding.
Next - our discussions with the BBC Trust to ensure their review recommends strengthening the regulatory position, so that BBC must maintain and indeed extend children’s provision and recognise its fundamental importance in the public service mix.
SKTV has been represented at some key meetings in recent months:
At the June 12th launch of the International Broadcasting Trust report “Screening the World”. This was a major survey into UK broadcasters’ commitment to portraying international issues and inclusion of foreign reports or programming in their schedules. The chapter on coverage of world issues and other cultures in children’s programmes made salutary reading – with US-centric programming representing a huge tranche of their viewing time. But there were very few other references apart from in Blue Peter and Newsround. It provided a strong message of support for the Save Kids’ TV campaign’s stress on the importance of public serviced content which develops kids’ views not only of themselves but the wider world.
At a Voice of the Listener and Viewer event on June 24th with Culture Minister, Andy Burnham. When asked about the future of kids’ TV, Burnham made a lot of generally supportive remarks but did not answer the question as to whether the government might be minded to speed up the process of legislating to save kid’s PSB. SKTV has since written to follow-up with the Minister and our aim remains fast-tracking.
SKTV also attended the July 17th Ofcom debate on the future of public service content at the London Business School. Lord David Currie the Chairman of Ofcom and Professor Patrick Barwise spoke. Lord Currie stressed that there was only one chance to get PSB right and this was it. When questioned, Currie thought that the kids’ crisis was at the heart of the matter. There was some optimism about funding at the meeting as the speakers explored the possibility that the “digital dividend” (the additional money currently in the BBC licence fee to pay for digital switchover support) could be used to fund new public service models, with no additional strain on the Treasury.
What is clear from this and other meetings with Ofcom is that from the Autumn the decision rests in the Government’s hands – and that is where Save Kids’ TV’s next priorities must lie.
Finally – on the wider issue of children’s cultural provision - Anna Home will be representing Save Kids’ TV at the Action for Children’s Arts launch of their Manifesto for Children’s Culture on the 21st July, to be attended by key kids’ campaigners and politicians,. The event is designed to call for more “joined up thinking” in providing for children’s culture, and will provide an excellent opportunity for us to get across the message to politicians who watch little TV, that kids’ media content is as much a cultural force as museums, books and movies.
