Conference paper
Devils, angels and pester power: Why children need to be protected from television, and why parents need to be protected from children
Refereed Proceedings of the 2008 Australian and New Zealand Communication Association Conference, pp.1-14
Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) Conference: Power and Place, 2008 (Wellington, New Zealand, 09-Jul-2008–11-Jul-2008)
Australian and New Zealand Communication Association
2008
Abstract
This paper considers how the dichotomous construction of childhood which has traditionally underpinned Australian media policy, allowing governments to exert power over children by controlling the programming available to them, is being used to justify bans on junk food advertising. Through an analysis of scholarly and industry sources, supplemented by primary interview material, it finds that children are frequently denied the right to make rational decisions about their own television consumption. Furthermore the need to control children's program consumption extends to their consumption of advertising material, with similarly confused justifications. At the same time, the only power with which children are enthusiastically invested is pester power, something which parents are apparently powerless to resist and which provides an all too easy justification for bans on junk food advertising. Such bans however decimate the funding available for children's television production, leading to a steady reduction in the very material policy makers and parents appear keen for children to view.
Details
- Title
- Devils, angels and pester power: Why children need to be protected from television, and why parents need to be protected from children
- Authors
- Anna Potter (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
- Contributors
- E Tilley (Editor)
- Publication details
- Refereed Proceedings of the 2008 Australian and New Zealand Communication Association Conference, pp.1-14
- Conference details
- Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) Conference: Power and Place, 2008 (Wellington, New Zealand, 09-Jul-2008–11-Jul-2008)
- Publisher
- Australian and New Zealand Communication Association
- Date published
- 2008
- ISSN
- 1179-0199
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2008 The Authors. Reproduced here with permission.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Business and Creative Industries; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Creative Industries - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450135602621
- Output Type
- Conference paper
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