Indiantelevision.com's Kidology: Smart Television Alliance launched in US to help parents
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Indiantelevision.com's Kidology
 
 
Smart Television Alliance launched in US to help parents
 
Indiantelevision.com Team
(19 October 2007 10:30 pm)
 

MUMBAI: Leading nonprofit organizations representing millions of American parents, teachers, nurses and children announced the formation of the Smart Television Alliance (STA) to promote quality television content for children.

STA is being created under the leadership of the National Education Association, America's largest professional organization with 3.2 million members; National Parent Teacher Association (PTA), the largest volunteer child advocacy association in the US with 5.5 million members; and the National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO), a coalition of more than 200 organizations representing over 11 million women.

Initial funding to support STA will come from DVR leader TiVo.

"In today's media saturated world, parents and caregivers need quality information from reliable sources that they can use to make smart choices about what is appropriate for their families," said Jan Harp Domene, PTA national president and STA co-chair. "By uniting a diverse group of nationally recognized nonprofit organizations with a shared commitment to improving what kids watch on TV, we will help parents make informed choices about what television programming their families watch. We want to make screen time healthy and educational, gathering the best information from a variety of trusted sources, including children's media experts, educators and parents."

"The fact that the average child spends more time watching TV than in the classroom means parents need to make smart viewing choices to help foster learning at home," said NEA President Reg Weaver, STA co-chair. "Like it or not, TV viewing remains the number one source of media consumption by children of all ages. The alliance will help parents make more informed decisions about their child's TV consumption and find ways to turn it into a learning tool."

STA will encourage families to use information from trusted sources to identify shows that inform and educate children and to utilize technology to control what is on television and when it is watched. NEA members also will contribute information, as well as offering specific tips from educators for parents to use television as a learning opportunity.

"You don't have to be an expert to realize there is a lot of inappropriate television programming all too easily accessible by kids", said Susan Scanlan, chair of NCWO and co-chair of STA, "But there also is excellent programming and easy to use technology. Parents need to know about the good alternatives for their kids to watch. STA will focus our energy on promoting the best of kid's TV, how to find it easily, and how to watch it on families' timetables, not the broadcast schedule," added Scanlan.

The initial organizations participating in the coalition include After school Alliance, Association for Jewish Family and Children's Agencies, Coalition for Quality Children's Media: KIDS FIRST!, National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health, National Council of Women's Organizations, National Education Association, National Military Family Association, National Parent Teacher Association (PTA),Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ (OC, Inc.),Rainbow PUSH Coalition, United American Nurses, WE Inc. and YWCA USA.

Children's television programming recommendations will come from nonprofit experts including Parent's Choice Foundation, Common Sense Media, Parent's Television Council, member organizations, as well as from parents and caregivers by means of an interactive Website and Smart News, STA's twice monthly free newsletter.
 
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