small screen News Digest of Australian Council on Children and the Media (incorporating Young Media Australia) ISSN: 0817-8224 No. 269 October 2010 Changes at ACCM The Australian Children’s Television Children lie to join Facebook Foundation (ACTF), the founding Present- Professor Elizabeth ing Partner of Trop Jr, is again providing Handsley was elect- According to Jim O’Rourke, writing in The support to the festival. ABC3, ABC TV’s ed President of the Age, children as young as 8 are signing up dedicated children’s digital channel, is the Australian Council to Facebook and exposing themselves to Major Media Partner. on Children and the cyber bullying and online predators. media at the Annual Entries close on 6 January and young film- General Meeting held Both police and teachers are warning makers can enter online. To be eligible, they on Tuesday 26 October parents to be more vigilant when it comes to will have to create a film that is no longer 2010. their children and Facebook. They say that than seven minutes long that must feature a growing number of children are flouting the Trop Jr Signature Item for 2011 – FAN Jane Roberts (WA) is the new Vice- the Facebook age restrictions and creating - to prove it was made for the festival President. We are happy to welcome new accounts despite the age requirement. Directors, Kym Goodes (Tasmania) and These children have to lie about their age http://www.tropjr.com.au Marjorie Voss (Queensland) . because users have to be over 13 to create a Facebook account and many parents are Rev Elisabeth Crossman (Qld), Anne Fit- unaware that this is happening. STOP PRESS zgerald (TAS), Jennifer Cassidy (AEU rep- resentative) have resigned from the Board Child advocate Robyn Treyvaud said when Schwarzenegger vs violent games to take up other roles. she asks a class of year 4s if they have a - latest news Facebook account most put up their hands. http://www.youngmedia.org.au/aboutus/ Treyvaud warns that the greatest harms to On November 2 the US Supreme Court board.htm children come from the child’s own peer began to hear oral arguments in the case Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment ACMA confirms Nine and WIN group, in the form of cyberbullying, and not from adult predators, although we Merchants Assn, involving a California incorrectly classified program. should always be mindful of that predators law, enacted but never put into effect, that bans the sale of violent video games The Nine Network and WIN Corporation are a danger. to minors. will be required to edit or reclassify all fu- ture broadcasts of the television series http://www.theage.com.au/technology/ The issues at hand include just how del- Dante’s Cove to comply with the provisions technology-news/facebook-frenemies- eterious the effects of violence are on the of the MA (Mature Audience) or AV (Adult most-likely-to-hurt-kids-20101002-161vb. underage targets of the manufacturers, Violence) classifications, following enforce- html and whether First Amendment freedom- able undertakings accepted by the Austral- of-speech rights should override the con- ian Communications and Media Authority TropJr - enter now. tent of the violent message. (ACMA). Trop Jr – the world’s largest short film fes- Media violence researchers Professors An episode of the program broadcast in tival for kids, by kids – is inviting young Ed Donnerstein, John P Murray and December 2009 and a different episode filmmakers to once more unleash their Dale Kunkel are pictured below in front broadcast in January 2010 were both in- creativity on the big screen. Entries for the of the Supreme Court. John Murray is correctly classified as AV. They contained junior Tropfest opened on Tuesday 12 Oc- our guest editorialist this month, writing scenes of sex and nudity considered high tober giving filmmakers aged 15 years and about this case. in impact and not suitable for broadcast on under an opportunity to show off their tal- commercial television under the Commer- ents. cial Television Industry Codes of Practice. Nine, which has a program supply deal Prizes this year include a digital video with WIN, classified both episodes. camera and educational filmmaking ex- periences. Trop Jr finalists will have their According to ACMA Chairman, Chris short films screened at the Domain in Chapman., these incorrect classifications Sydney ahead of the Movie Extra Trop- are of concern because the scenes should fest event on Sunday 20 February 2011. have been easily identified and edited by Nine’s classifiers. Trop Jr and Tropfest have become major http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STAND- drawcards for film lovers across the nation, ARD/pc=PC_312327 attracting thousands of fans every year. CHANGES AT ACCM CHILDREN LIE TO JOIN FACEBOOK GUEST EDITORIAL: TERMINATOR WHO ON FOOD MARKETING vs MERCHANTS OF DEATH A DAY ON EARTH small screen October 2010 p2 EDITORIAL The Terminator vs. Entertainment Merchants viewers. Indeed, a recent of Death study from the National no. 269 October 2010 Institutes of Health by a Our guest editor this month is John P Murray, Ph D, team of psychologists and small screen Research Fellow in Psychology Washington College neuroscientists under the Editor: Barbara Biggins OAM and Visiting Scholar, Center on Media and Child direction of Dr. Jordan Compiler: Caroline Donald Health Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical Grafman (Social Cognitive Editorial Board: Barbara Biggins, School and Affective Neuroscience, Jane Roberts, Judy Bundy, October 18, 2010) showed that repeated exposure Elizabeth Handsley. This is an edited version of a letter he wrote to the to violent videos caused neurological changes Washington Post, 31 October 2010 small screen is published at the in adolescents that reduced their emotional beginning of each month and responsiveness to violence and therefore On November 2 the Supreme Court will reports on the events of the promotes aggressive attitudes and behavior. previous month 11 issues per be hearing Oral Arguments in the case of year (Dec/Jan double issue) Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants In my own research on brainmapping and video Published by Association arising out of a challenge to a violence viewing in 8 to 13 year-old boys and girls Australian Council on California law that prohibits the sale or rental of (Media Psychology, 2006) we demonstrated that Children and the Media violent video games to minors. It is ironic that there are distinctive patterns of brain activation (ACCM) Governor Schwarzenegger (who is, of course, which show that children are storing the video PO Box 447 known as The Terminator) would be pressing a violence in a area of the brain (the posterior Glenelg 5045 case against the video violence industry but it is cingulate) that enables the children to recall these South Australia to Governor Schwarzenegger’s great credit that images in a flash, rather like posttraumatic stress [email protected] he had the courage to stand up to the bullies of www.youngmedia.org.au disorder (PTSD) thereby serving as potential the video violence groupies. When the violence Tel: +61 8 8376 2111 models for aggressive behavior. Fax: +61 8 8376 2122 industry challenged similar laws in Michigan, Helpline: 1800 700 357 Illinois and Utah the governors backed down in So, Tuesday 2 November will be an interesting the face of the legal onslaught. ACCM is a national, non-profit day in the Supreme Court and I hope that The community organisation. Terminator wins this battle. In support of Governor Schwarzenegger is 50 Its mission is to promote a quality media environment for years of research findings showing the harmful John P. Murray, Ph.D. Australian children. effects of TV and Video violence on young No part of this publication may be reproduced without NEW BOOK Mother’s invention. permission of the Editor. Asher Moses, writing in The Age, reports that a Contributions are welcome. Children Media and Culture mother of four from south-west Sydney could Maire Messenger Davies make a fortune out of a simple Nintendo DS Open University Press accessory that she invented to solve an expen- ACCM’s services are sive problem. Janene Samuel invented the $20 supported by a grant Gametag after her children kept losing their Nintendo DS games, costing her close to $100 from the every time. The product consists of a lanyard South Australian attached to a keyring that holds eight tags, Government which are stuck on to the game cartridges. http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/games/ aussie-mums-kitchen-table-games-empire- 20101014-16kmo.html ACCM’s Web Page and Broadband access Children’s film making awards. are supported by its At the annual Panasonic Kid Witness News New Internet Service Provider Vision Awards held in Sydney on 21 October, children from Norfolk Village State School, Internode Childhood and children’s culture are regularly in Queensland, took away this year’s major in the forefront of debates about how society award for primary schools.. Their short film is changing.. This book addresses continuing Environmental Rescue is about a secret band concerns around media and critically examines of native animals that fight against habitat loss. the view that technology has dramatically Publication and changed modern children?s lives. It considers Kaurna Plains School in South Australia was printing of small screen how public anxieties regarding the harmful awarded the National Secondary School is supported by a influences of the media are heightened at times Award for its film Warraburna Kaurna, a story commemorating the 30th anniversary of revival donation from of rapid technological change. of the Kaurna language. Nickelodeon The book discusses various genres, including National winners now enter a regional television and the Internet, children’s books, competition and then, possibly, the worldwide fairy tales, children in art, playground games, competition.