Massachusetts News
By Curt Lovelace

September 2--Laurence Jarvik, in his 1997 book, PBS, Behind the Screen, acknowledges that children’s shows on PBS have been enormously successful. He warns, however, "While PBS executives denounce commercial networks for selling to children, the publicly subsidized ‘educational’ programming they broadcast is making literally billions of dollars for a select group of insiders. The fact is, if you want to market toys, books, or videotapes to the toddlers of America, you simply won’t find a more effective venue than PBS."

William Hoynes of Vassar College, trying to discern how public broadcasting can still claim to be commercial free, states, "Children are sold breakfast cereal and fruit juice, among other products, before and after the morning dose of kids programs. What’s more, children’s programs on PBS serve as daily advertisements for their own repertoire of licensed products from toothbrushes to stuffed toys to computer games."

What’s good for Big Bird is apparently not good for the gander, however. Seemingly fearful that their alleged educational programming might not stand up to the competition of such commercial shows as "Captain Kangaroo" and "Soupy Sales," several organizations teamed up in the 1970s to lobby on behalf of restrictions on children’s programming by commercial networks. They were successful in limiting advertising on children’s shows and otherwise restricting the marketplace. All the while, PBS continued to fund its own programs partially with tax dollars and was subject to none of the restrictions itself. They also paid no taxes. PBS and all its member stations are tax-exempt organizations.

Children’s Television Workshop, which spawned Sesame Street, is now made up of several different divisions, all of which make a tidy sum from both film and television production and, of course, from marketing literally thousands of products with the Sesame Street logo.

Children’s Programs: Not What They Appear To Be 

Researcher Jarvik reports that not long after Sesame Street was launched, parent company Children’s Television Workshop commissioned a study of the program’s educational benefits by the Educational Testing Service. The report showed that there were some educational benefits, but only if an adult was present while the show was being watched. The report also stated that the show did nothing at all to close the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children.

The Russell Sage Foundation, when it studied the program, reported that it could not replicate the findings of educational benefit from the programming. The report, according to Jarvik, concluded, "One can reasonably doubt whether the program is causing large and generalized learning gains."

Even the BBC, source of much of PBS programming, refused to run Sesame Street because they found it authoritarian, aggressively commercial and educationally unsound.

Harvard’s Alvin Poussaint also casts aspersions at one particular show – one that has been quite successful for PBS. In an article titled "The Trouble With Teletubbies," Poussaint and co-author Susan E. Linn take exception to the most recent British import of PBS. Teletubbies is aimed at an audience as young as 12 months and features four alien space creatures in a variety of colors. Poussaint and Linn state their problem with the tubbies very simply: "What’s worrisome about Teletubbies is that, to date, there is no evidence to support its producers’ claims that the program is educational for one-year-olds."

The two continue to take PBS to task stating that "There is no documented evidence that Teletubbies has any educational value at all. When asked about research, people associated with Teletubbies respond that studies show how much children and parents like the program. Children like candy, too."

The authors of the article know why Teletubbies is popular at PBS. In fact they write, "It’s easy to see how PBS officials could be tempted by a program like Teletubbies. The series is an enormous hit in Britain. In 1997, Teletubbies were the hottest-selling toys in the United Kingdom, and merchandising around the program generated 23 million pounds for the BBC."
 

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