Are the kids all right? CANADIAN FAMILIES AND TELEVISION IN THE DIGITAL AGE Groupe de recherche sur les jeunes et les médias Centre for Youth and Media Studies We would like to acknowledge the Canada Media Fund for their support in facilitating the diusion of our research reports. Youth Media Alliance Alliance Médias Jeunesse 1400 boul. René-Lévesque Est Bureau 106 Montréal, QC, H2L 2M2 Fax: 1-514-597-5205 [email protected] Groupe de recherche sur les jeunes et les médias Centre for Youth and Media Studies GRJM/CYMS, Département de communication C.P. 6128, succursale centre-ville Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7 Phone: 1-514-343-7828 [email protected] Copy Editor : Curtis White Design & Editing : Pierre-Luc Chabot Illustrations : Jean-Frédéric Koné All Rights Reserved © 2012 Are the Kids All Right? Canadian Families and Television in the Digital Age Groupe de recherche sur les jeunes et les médias I Centre for Youth and Media Studies Département de communication, Université de Montréal Authors André H. Caron Ed.D. Jennie M. Hwang Ph.D. Elizabeth McPhedran B.A. In collaboration with Catherine Mathys B.Sc. Pierre-Luc Chabot B.Sc. Ninozka Marrder B.A.A. Boris H.J.M. Brummans, Ph.D. Letizia Caronia, Ph.D. II Acknowledgements First of all, we would like to underline the It goes without saying that a project on this exceptional collaboration that developed between scale could never have seen the light without us and the Youth Media Alliance, particularly the enthusiasm, drive and hard work of an with Peter Moss, Chair of the YMA, the Executive entire team of people, who provided assistance Directors Caroline Fortier and Chantal Bowen. throughout the process. We would also like to thank Groupe CIC President Last but not least, we thank the many families Richard J. Paradis for his support in this and young people we met, all across the country, project. We are grateful as well to Michele Paris, for taking part, giving of their time, and Alexandra Raé, J.J. Johnson, Lyne Côté and extending such warm welcomes. None of this Katrina Walsh for their work editing the regional would have been possible were it not for them. chapters. ey provided invaluable support through their curiosity, appreciation of the research and exemplary suggestions. We also wish to thank Bell Media for its tremendous nancial contribution, as well as Dr. André H. Caron the Canada Media Fund for their support in Director of the Centre for Youth and Media Studies facilitating the diusion of our research reports. Université de Montréal. Table of Contents Background 1 Introduction to Phase II Study 2 Methodology 3 Regional Analysis of St. John's, NL 9 III Introduction 10 From a Family’s Perspective 12 From a Child’s Perspective 19 Children take on the role of television producer 23 From an Adolescent’s Perspective 25 Final oughts 26 Regional Analysis of Montréal, QC 27 Introduction 28 From a Family’s Perspective 30 From a Child’s Perspective 37 Children take on the role of television producer 40 From an Adolescent’s Perspective 41 Final oughts 43 Regional Analysis of Toronto, ON 45 Introduction 46 From a Family’s Perspective 49 From a Child’s Perspective 61 Children take on the role of television producer 65 From an Adolescent’s Perspective 66 Final oughts 68 Table of Contents (continued) Regional Analysis of Calgary, AB 69 Introduction 70 From a Family’s Perspective 72 From a Child’s Perspective 84 IV Children take on the role of television producer 87 From an Adolescent’s Perspective 87 Final oughts 89 Regional Analysis of Vancouver, BC 91 Introduction 92 From a Family’s Perspective 94 From a Child’s Perspective 105 Children take on the role of television producer 109 From an Adolescent’s Perspective 110 Final oughts 112 Conclusion 115 Final oughts 118 Appendix 1 121 — How do children really watch television in Background 2012? For more than three decades, the Youth Media Alliance (YMA) [previously the Alliance for Chil- — Is television still a prevalent medium in chil- dren and Television (ACT)] has been monitoring dren’s lives? the quality of Canadian children’s television and all screen-based content, while keenly contribut- — Are kids watching children’s television pro- ing to the vitality of the industry. e YMA also grams on the Internet? actively undertakes original research projects to advance understanding of children’s television — How did television shape us as adults and how and the impact of screen-based media on young is it shaping our children today? people. Working with the Canadian Radio- television and Telecommunications Commission In their own words, parents, teenagers and 1 (CRTC) and other government agencies, the YMA children across Canada answered these questions continuously provides valuable insights into all and more as we attempted to explore the role of matters concerning screen-based content for media content in young people’s lives in greater young Canadians. detail. e research was based not only on the habitual media use of Canadian families but on e current research on children’s television, the ways in which they interpret, make sense of, sponsored and supported by Bell Media, is a and use media during their daily social interac- 3-year project led by a team of researchers from tions with family and friends. the Centre for Youth and Media Studies at the Université de Montréal’s Département de com- In the following sections, we will detail the phase munication, under the supervision of Dr. André two research objectives and methodology, and H. Caron, Ed.D. is groundbreaking project has then report our ndings based on the ve regions two parts. In phase one, we took a quantitative our researchers visited in their tour across approach and conducted a national content analy- Canada. sis to investigate the current state of children’s television programming in Canada. e ndings, published in 2010, provided the industry with an overall portrait of where children’s programming stands, what its strengths are, and what new paths could be considered. rough an analysis of the relationship between types of television net- work, scheduling, and audience viewing behavior, the phase one report also looked into what children’s programs young Canadians are actually watching in terms of their age groups, and what are the most popular children’s shows. Based on the ndings of the phase one study, the second phase involves qualitative research that focuses on the ways children and parents ap- propriate media and media content. Our research team conducted in-depth family interviews and focus group discussions across the country. is study addressed questions like: particularly tricky for children as they tend to Introduction to mature and undergo these changes at dierent rates and over dierent lengths of time. It should Phase II Study also be noted that children today are increasingly In collaboration with the Youth Media Alliance exposed to numerous screen-based technologies (YMA), the Centre for Youth and Media Studies that may impact on the amount of time they at the University of Montreal has undertaken watch television. is is relevant to the ndings. an extensive qualitative study that looks at children’s and parents’ appropriation of media In the past, children were loyal viewers of many and media content in Canada. Based on our quality Canadian-made children’s programs. knowledge of children’s television programming However, they now have access to fewer Canadian from the phase one report, the phase two study children’s programs made especially for them, 2 was designed to look at Canadian families in their and they have begun shifting toward viewing home environment and to learn about what par- non-Canadian programs. In addition, with ents and children think about today’s children’s limited variety and quality of Canadian programs television programs. targeting their age group in particular, many chil- dren have begun to watch content destined for e results from phase one (2010) showed, older viewers, such as general-audience or adult among other things, a serious gap in the programs, which are not always age appropriate. availability and variety of Canadian television programs targeted expressly at children aged 9 Hence, the second phase was designed to inter- to 12. e study found that all Canadian-made view Canadian families in their everyday settings, children’s programs represented a mere 2 out of in order to learn more about what parents and 5 of the programs oered to this age group, and children aged 9 to 12 think about today’s televi- that more than half of all the programs made sion programs made specically for the 9-to-12 available for this age group were animations. age group. Parents, teenagers and children across Canada opened their homes and engaged our In English Canada, only three of the top ten researchers in this discussion, as we attempted to favourite children’s programs for 9-12 year olds explore in greater detail the role of media content were Canadian-made, whereas with the younger 2 in these young people’s lives. In addition to the to 6 year olds, eight of the top ten children’s pro- role of television and its content, children’s use grams were either Canadian-made or Canadian of new technologies, such as the computer, iPad, co-productions. For French speaking children, video game consoles, and cellular phones were the numbers were six of the top ten Canadian also investigated. erefore, the study looked at children’s productions for the 2 to 6 age range each family as a whole, in terms of how its mem- and ve of the top ten for the older age group.