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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 74-3228 LEACH, Alan Lyon, 1947- CCM4ERCIALISM AND THE QUALITY OF CHILDREN'S TV PROGRAMS: AN ANALYSIS OF RESPONSES TO THE PROPOSALS OF ACTION FOR CHILDREN’S TELEVISION— FEBRUARY 1970 TO JANUARY 1973. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1973 Mass Communications University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan © Copyright "by Alan Lyon Leach 1973 COMMERCIALISM AND THE QUALITY OF CHILDREN'S TV PROGRAMSi AN ANALYSIS OF RESPONSES TO THE PROPOSALS OF ACTION FOR CHILDREN'S TELEVISION— FEBRUARY 1970 TO JANUARY 1973 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Alan Lyon Leach, B.A., M.A. w ■» & The Ohio State University 1973 Reading Committeei Approved By Joseph f.i, Foley James L. Golden Leonard C. Hawes . /C Adviser (J Department of Communication ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are numerous people who have been especially helpful in gathering the necessary data for this study. My special thanks to Peggy Charren, Evelyn Sarson, Judy Chalfen, and Gretchen Cupp of ACT and to Dr. Alan Pearce, Elizabeth Roberts, and Jonathan David of the FCC, all of whom took the time to talk with me and to provide me with valuable source materials. My thanks also to Margaret Thomas, ACT's Resource Director, who has organized the group's excellent library. Finally, I would Tiike to express my appreciation to Dr. Joseph M, Foley, Dr. James L. Golden, and Dr. Leonard Hawes for their encouragement and thoughtful criticism. VITA August 19* 19^7 • • • Born - Brockton, Massachusetts 1969 ... ...... B. A. , Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio 1969“1973 ............ University Fellowship, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1970-1971 ............ Research Assistant, Department of Speech, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1971 ........ Ivl.A., The Ohio State University, C olumbus, Oh i o 1971-1972 ...... Teaching Associate, Department of Speech Communication, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Fieldi Mass Communication Studies in Broadcasting. Professors Walter B. Emery, Joseph I«I. Foley, and Robert R. Monaghan Studies in Film. Professors Ali Elgabri and H. Wayne Schuth Studies in Communication Theory. Professors Leonard Hawes and Franklin H. Knower Studies in Rhetoric. Professor James 1. Golden TABLE OP CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................... ii VITA ................ iii INTRODUCTION ....................... 1 Chapter 1. BACKGROUND ................................. 12 Program Content Research Commercialism Research Beginnings of ACT Conclusion 2. ACT'S CAMPAIGN .......... .................. 51 Regulatory Campaign* The FCC The FTC The Congress Public Consciousness Raising Campaign Conclusion' 3. FCC INQUIRY COMMENTS ...................... 108 ACT Broadcasters* The Networks Local Stations The NAB Sponsors Other Citizen's Groups General Public Conclusion THE CONTINUING FCC INQUIRY DEBATE . • . l6l Children's Program Practices Advertising Practices Economic Considerations Suggested Remedies Conclusion THE CONTROVERSY’S IMPACT ON THE BROADCASTING INDUSTRY ......... 212 Programming Self Regulation . Trade Press Editorials Other Responses Conclusion 6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS , 267 Research Questions and the Issues Utility of Proposed Solutions ACT’s Impact Projected Future Trends Suggested Topics for Future Research Conclusion APPENDIX I. • , 303 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 307 v INTRODUCTION And shall we just carelessly allow chil­ dren to hear any casual tales which may he devised by casual persons and to re­ ceive in their minds ideas for the most part the very opposite of those which we should wish them to have when they are grown u p ?1 Socrates Unless we teach our children wisely, our society is only 20 years from savagery# Perhaps v/e are the same distance — one generation — from a more civilized world. Television can help propel us in either direction.2 Psychology Today, 1972 Over the past three years there has been a new wave of controversy concerning children's television program­ ming in.the United States. The uproar has involved the broadcasting industry, the Congress, the Federal Communi­ cations Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, child­ 1Socrates, quoted in The Republic of Plato, trans. by Benjamin Jowett (rev. ed.; New York* The Colonial Press, 1901), p. 57. ^Robert M. Liebert and Rita V/, Poulos, "TV for Kid­ dies* Truth, Goodness, Beauty — and a Little Bit of Brainwash," Psychology Today. November, 1972, p. 128. 1 hood professionals, and large numbers of the general pub­ lic. As will be seen below, much of the controversy can be traced to a Boston-based citizen's group called Action for Children's Television (ACT). Founded by four women in 1968, the group assumed prominence on the national scene in 1970 and has been in that spotlight ever since. In the words of TV C-uide' s Richard K. Doan, ACT has "kicked up quite a storm. The Problem The ."storm" to which Doan refers stemmed from a pro­ posal which ACT presented to the FCC in February, 1970* Concerned with the quality of children's TV programming and convinced that that quality was being adversely ef­ fected by the commercial pressures inherent in the Ameri­ can system of broadcasting, the women asked that the Com­ mission ban all advertisements on children's programs. That "very modest proposal," as ACT's co-founder Evelyn Sarson has termed it,^ touched off a debate v/hich has been going on ever since. The FCC proceeding devoted to consideration of the proposal and of the children's TV problem in general has generated well over 100,000 comments -a -'Richard-K. Doan*, "3oston Tea Party — 1970," TV Guide, July 1970, p. 13. h. Evelyn Sarson, private interview held in the offices of Action for Children's Television, Newtonville, iviassachusetts, January 11, 1973. 3 from the three commercial networks, other broadcasters, advertisers, educators, ACT members, and the general public, a flood of mail which represents the largest response to. any such FCC proceeding to date. Nor has the response been limited to FCC filings. Broadcasting, the industry’s primary trade publication, has devoted some 100 articles and 9 editorials to ACT re­ lated matters in the past three years, including a lengthy special report.^ Coverage in the general press has also been extensive with many articles appearing in such publi­ cations as the New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Saturday Review, TV Guide, Fortune, etc. (see bibliogra­ phy ). ' Clearly, then, ACT has identified an important and controversial problem and stands as one of the major broad­ cast citizen’s groups today (Time magazine has called the group the "most effective force in children’s TV," which . n is but one of the many accolades the women have received). Just as clearly, ACT's vigorous campaign for quality chil- ^"FCC's puzzler* Should it move on children’s TV?," Broadcasting, November 20, 1972, p. 52. ^Broadcasting. November 20, 1972, pp. 31-5*+. 7 "The Year's Most," Time, January 1, 1973i p* 63. See also "V/hat People Are Saying About ACT," an ACT reprint which notes, numerous laudatory comments from such sources as the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Sen­ ator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass•), FCC™Chairman Dean Burch, and Commissioner Nicholas Johnson. dren's programming and the responses which that campaign has engendered are worthy topics of scholarly inquiry. Prior Research Substantial research on the issue of children*s pro­ gramming content and its effects has been conducted since the mid-1950*s« Some preliminary research has also been done on television advertising directed to children and its effects. These bodies of literature will be reviewed in Chapter 1• However* as for the literature specifically concern­ ing ACT's campaign and the responses to it, there is very little, other than press accounts. The most extensive treatment to date appears in Norman I.Iorris' recent book, Television's Child. The work is a "popular** account of the broad spectrum of problems concerning children's TV, based on some of the existing literature, interview data, and some public opinion polling.