Lessons from Oz: Quantitative Guidelines for Children*s Educational Television

Angela Campbell

In the summer of 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted
a guideline under which television stations that aired three hours per week
of children*s educational programming would be renewed. In addition to
establishing the guideline of three hours, the FCC defined what programming
would qualify and established a number of procedures to increase public
monitoring.

This paper tries to anticipate the likelihood of success and possible pitfalls
of the FCC*s newly adopted quantitative approach, by examining the experience
of Australia, a country that has long required commercial television stations
to air a specific amount of children's programming.

The paper argues that Australia*s experience with quantitative children*s
program requirements or quota suggests that the FCC*s recently adopted
guideline can work to increase the quantity and diversity of children*s
educational and informational programming. At the same time, broadcasters
may try to count as core programming a program that is not specifically
designed for children, is of low quality or is not sufficiently educational
or entertaining. An Australian-like procedure in which the FCC would
determine in advance what programming counts toward the guideline has not been
adopted and probably would be found to violate the First Amendment*s guarantee
of free speech. Instead, the FCC has left the determination of what counts
toward the minimum up to licensees to decide in the first instance, while
permitting members of the public to challenge the reasonableness of a
licensee*s claims at the end of the license term. The timing of this method
presents practical problems because it can be a very long time before problems
are addressed.

The Australian experience also raises the question whether in the absence of
preclassification, a quantitative minimum will lead to the airing of quality,
age-specific and entertaining children*s educational programming. To maximize
the likelihood that the FCC*s new guideline will succeed in achieving these
goals, I recommend that the public and the FCC carefully monitor the claims
of broadcasters during the next few years to be sure that programming claimed
by broadcasters as educational children*s program is in fact specifically
designed for children and is truly both educational and entertaining.
I also suggest that the FCC consider providing a more helpful definition of
*educational* and to include in the definition of *core* programming some
objective measurements of program quality. Finally, I think it is important
that the efforts of licensees be reviewed more frequently than once every
eight years.