Mr Loughton, who was speaking at the International Association for the Study of Attachment conference in Cambridge, said, 'There is a growing need to look again at our child performance laws, which date back to the 1960s. That is something that I will be undertaking in the autumn, together with the rather antiquated legislation on child employment'.
He referred to a controversial Channel 4 programme called 'Boys and Girls Alone', which left a group of pre-adolescent children to fend for themselves as an 'experiment'. Mr Loughton said that the programme 'sparked fierce debate about a kind of engineered Lord of the Flies type of scenario' and stressed the importance of adhering to basic child psychology principles when involving young people in television programming.
Ofcom received 180 complaints about 'Boys and Girls Alone' from viewers and organisations, including the NSPCC. The media regulator cleared Channel 4 of harming children who took part, but said it should have done more to tell viewers of the safeguards it had put in place.
Melanie Gill, child forensic psychologist and founder of the Mindful Policy Group, which promotes child mental health, told the conference, 'We campaigned strongly against this irresponsible programme at the time because it exploited the children involved. This announcement by Mr Loughton is a big step in the right direction.'
Ms Gill said that television programmes have the potential to help families and children. 'Broadcasters can show what children are really like, and explain their emotional needs, rather than using them as props to shore up ratings.
'The whole area is a minefield, which is why producers need guidance. Tens of thousands of children who might appear to be superficially normal have deep emotional problems. It takes experts to spot and understand these problems.'
