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research 54 24/2011/2 Kirsten Schneid Top source of information or disaster-free zone? The disasters in Japan on international children’s TV The article presents the results of were asked to make their programmes Children’s news programmes a study of 32 broadcasters from available (see box). We received re- Karrewiet (VRT/Belgium) 32 countries, asking whether they sponses from 32 broadcasters from Newsround (CBBC/Great Britain) covered the incidents in Japan in 32 countries. It became clear that a News2Day (RTE/Ireland) March 2011 in their children’s pro­ catastrophe such as that in Japan is Supernytt (NRK/Norway) gramming, and if so, how. a major challenge for producers of Lilla Aktuellt (SVT/Sweden) children’s TV, and is dealt with in Minisguard (RTR/Switzerland) HaMahadura (IBA/Israel) very different ways. The most striking Pocket News (CCTV/China hildren’s television world- result is that, in many countries, there Behind the News (ABC/Australia) wide dealt with the natural has been no attempt at all to respond Other programme formats (maga­ Cand nuclear disaster in Japan to such events, although editors and zines, live studio programmes etc.) in 3 different ways: producers do see the importance of Live Tok! Tok! Bony Hany (EBS/South • Some TV networks reported on the offering children age-appropriate in- Korea) Japanese disaster intensively and formation about such serious topics. Balbatika (Image Channel/Nepal) in detail; mainly in children’s news Ala Al Hawa (Al Jazeera Children’s formats produced by public service Channel/Qatar) Japan in children’s news World? Why? Wit and Kra-r-sa broadcasters. (Thai PBS/Thailand) • Some makers of children’s TV Intensive coverage of the Japanese My World (BBS/Bhutan) avoided mention of the topic in disaster was mainly offered by broad- Big Pocket (MNB/Mongolia) their children’s programming. casters with a regular children’s news • Many broadcasters had no oppor- programme, for example many Eu- tunity to provide coverage because ropean public service broadcasters. here. The images so often seen in their children’s programming of- The approach to coverage is relatively the adult news, of walls shaking and fers no scope for responding to similar here, the design elements are people panicking, are also present current events. much the same, and in some cases in children’s news. The tsunami is To get an impression of how the the same film material is used. One shown in all its destructive force, events in Japan were dealt with on reason for this is the “Youth News Ex- e.g. with pictures of houses, cars, children’s TV worldwide, questions change” run by the European Broad- and ships being swept forward by were sent to public service broad- casting Union (EBU), which almost the massive tide of water. The re- casters and commercial networks on all the European broadcasters in the ports in children’s news also include every continent using the contacts study participate in. harrowing interviews with victims, from the PRIX JEUNESSE network. or images of children still under the The broadcasters were asked, in writ- Images similar to adult TV influence of the events. ing, whether and in what form they The choice of images in children’s The nuclear disaster is also shown in had offered their young viewers in- news programmes is very similar to explicit pictures, e.g. of the explosion formation on the topic, or why no those in the news programmes for of the Fukushima reactor. The danger coverage had been provided. Broad- adults. There are no hesitations about which the escaping radiation poses casters who had covered the events using shocking pictures and scenes to humans is also depicted: people – research 24/2011/2 55 © CCTV © © VRT © Karrewiet Pocket News Pocket Screenshot from from Screenshot Screenshot from Screenshot Ill. 1: Pocket News (CCTV/China) shows a young Chinese inventor Ill. 2: A child reporter carries out research in a nuclear power plant for with an emergency box for earthquake disasters the children’s news programme Karrewiet (VRT/Belgium) including children – are shown be- Focusing on children’s In rare cases adult experts report on ing scanned for exposure to radiation. point of view the situation of children in the dis- The pictures are sometimes used with In the items in children’s news pro- aster area, e.g. in the Norwegian the original sound, while some scenes grammes, the child’s perspective is programme Supernytt. Here, a Nor- are accompanied by emotive music. very clearly in the foreground. The wegian expert from “Save the Chil­­- The only children’s news programme Australian programme Behind the d ren” talks about how the children are that did not broadcast these images News, for example, gives a short intro- getting on and how they receive help. is Pocket News from China. The pre- duction before beginning its coverage The Chinese children’s news pro- senter announces this decision in the with the question: “How are the chil- gramme concentrates less on describ- programme: “There are many pictures dren in Japan getting on now?” The re- ing the situation of affected children, from Japan which make us sad, but ports then deal with stories of children but rather deliberately reports on the there are also pictures showing new affected by the disaster. Children talk strength of the Japanese people and strength.” The programme then fo- about their experiences of the earth- their ability to cope with life in times cuses on images showing the staying quake, or how they are coping with the of crisis. A report from Pocket News power of the Japanese people. situation. The children portrayed are describes Japanese children who – often children from the same country although some of them have lost their Explaining the context as the viewers, who lived in Japan parents – bravely go through with In all the news programmes, the pro- with their parents. They talk about their school graduation ceremony. ducers aim at helping children contex- how they got away, and what they are tualise the disaster, e.g. with animated missing. Having children from their Responding to the questions and maps of the world showing where own country reporting in their own fears of children in the audience Japan is. In the case of the European language offers young viewers a good Almost every news programme from countries, the great distance between opportunity for identification. Europe gives children space to ask Europe and Japan is demonstrated – a Japanese children are also portrayed. questions and to express their fears reassuring fact in the light of the nu- Items of coverage show how they and feelings. In most countries, the clear threat. Various typical features manage their everyday life during the reporters go into schools and give the of Japan are also mentioned, such as crisis. In the Australian programme children there a chance to speak. the names of well-known high-tech Behind the News, a Japanese boy In almost every Western children’s firms or Mount Fuji. To make the na- describes his family’s daily life, for news programme the children in the ture and scale of the disaster clearer, example how to get hold of food home country are explicitly reas- references are often made to natural when everything in the supermar- sured: the programmes stress that disasters, e.g. the earthquake in Haiti. kets has been sold out. The Swedish this form of disaster is very unlikely Animation is very frequently used to programme Lilla Aktuellt presents a to happen in their country. give clear explanations of processes Japanese girl who used to live very The children’s news programme from or facts, for example to show how a close to the Fukushima power plant China is different: the reports only of- tsunami comes about or how a nuclear and is now staying in emergency ac- fer tips about what to do in a disaster. power plant works. commodation with her family. A report is shown about an earthquake research 56 24/2011/2 drill in a Chinese kindergarten, and The Arabian Al Jazeera Children’s their feelings and questions. There was about young Chinese inventors and Channel from Qatar invited its young also a short explanatory item about why their devices for mitigating the ef- viewers to take part in a campaign the earth frequently moves in Japan. fects of disasters (see ill. 1). “Little of solidarity for Japan. The children Our study gave the Nepalese com- children must know how to protect were encouraged to write letters to mercial broadcaster Image Channel themselves in an earthquake. Older Japanese children, draw pictures, or the idea of offering information to children should begin to develop ideas donate money (see ill. 3). An edition its young viewers. In the magazine about how to prevent such disasters.” of the weekly live broadcast Ala Al programme Balbatika, children dis- Hawa invited the Japanese ambassa- cussed their knowledge about the di- Letting experts explain facts dor in Qatar, who took questions saster, and experts also had their say. Experts are often called on to explain over the phone, and was handed the letters and pictures for the Japanese facts. They are either invited to the “Disaster­free” children’s children. This campaign of solidarity studio, or child reporters interview programming them in their work place. In the Bel- also included the online arena, where gian children’s news programme Kar- children were given the opportunity Some broadcasters deliberately de- rewiet, for example, a child reporter to post messages to Japanese children. cided not to report on the incidents interviews a nuclear scientist in a nu- The weekly children’s news pro- for their young audience.

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