Developmental implications of commercial broadcasters' educational offerings

This article examines the impact of public policy on the quality and availa bility of educational television for children. Three episodes of each of th e 44 educational and informational (EII) programs offered by the commercial broadcasters in the Philadelphia television market during the 1998/1999 se ason were examined for: target audience, primary lesson, episode focus, edu cational strength, social diversity, and violence. The evaluations reveal t hat the majority of programs are targeted to the elementary school-age chil d. Most programs airing on a network-affiliated station center on prosocial issues. An examination of the individual episodes reveals that there are v ery few school-related topics included in programs for children over the ag e of 12. Strong E/I programs contained little violent content and offered c hildren images of both girl and boy characters. The article suggests ways t o explore the impact of educational television on the developing child and strategies for reaching children land parents) with more diverse educationa l offerings. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All nights reserved.