Nursery World - Again, again trend in children's television

Too many imports, too many repeats and not enough news is the unwholesome diet of television programming being fed to the UK's children, according to a report which looks at 50 years of broadcasting. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) report, They Have Been Watching -Children's TV 1952-2002, published last week, said the percentage of imports has increased five-fold since 1972 and that repeats now make up nearly two-thirds of children's programmes - trends reflected in the output of both the BBC and ITV. However, the IPPR acknowledged that the recent BBC digital services, CBBC and CBeebies, the latter specifically for pre-school-age children, had significantly reduced the proportion of imported programming on non-terrestrial television.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) report, They Have Been Watching -Children's TV 1952-2002, published last week, said the percentage of imports has increased five-fold since 1972 and that repeats now make up nearly two-thirds of children's programmes - trends reflected in the output of both the BBC and ITV. However, the IPPR acknowledged that the recent BBC digital services, CBBC and CBeebies, the latter specifically for pre-school-age children, had significantly reduced the proportion of imported programming on non-terrestrial television.

The report said the amount of children's and young people's television had risen from just four hours a week in 1952 to more than 620 hours on all broadcasters in 2002 during the week examined in the IPPR's research.

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