According to reports commissioned by the Broadcasting Authority and Commissioner for Children, lack of resources and professionalism lead to mediocre children’s programmes on Maltese television.

Commissioner for Children Sonia Camilleri chaired the Round Table Conference on Quality Programmes for Children that was held in October 2005. Children’s Council Member, Marian Muscat Azzopardi started the seminar with the presentation “A Children’s Rights Perspective”. Broadcasting Authority CEO Kevin Aquilina presented a draft strategy for quality children’s programmes and draft guidelines for quality children’s programming.

Research carried out by Stephen Zerafa was also presented.

“Although local producers require more resources, simply throwing money at the problem will not necessarily raise standards and quality,” Mr Zerafa said.

Foreign children’s programmes have simple easy-to-follow story lines, plots and studio settings.

They also make use of humour and light-hearted mistakes that entertain while educating the children.

The report also revealed that in foreign programmes, there is no patronisation and the presenters do not talk down to children but use language for a mature audience.

Several taboo subjects are discussed openly and there is ethnic diversity in both the audience and the presenters. There is great variety in the subject matter and the voices used for puppets, characters and animations sound quite natural.

There is also very little and very discreet sponsorship.

Mr Zerafa also pointed out that plots in children’s programmes should be clear and simple without a patronising tone. Material needs to be presented in small doses, as children do not have a long attention span.

Another disadvantage is that no establishment dedicated to research produces and distributes children’s programmes.

Mr Zerafa said children’s programmes are still considered as time fillers and not enough resources are allocated to set them up.

Dr Sandra Dingli and Dr Jennifer Casingena Harper carried out a study for the Broadcasting Authority titled “Quality Television for Children in 2015”.

The research was conducted between May and October 2005. Various schools were involved and focus groups were held with children and media stakeholders.

The children pointed out that they wanted programmes of longer duration with no adverts. Education was an important factor – “some children said they felt that educational content should be included where it was not present”.

It emerged that lack of resources is one of the main inhibitors for good quality children programmes.

Lack of professionalism in children’s programming and an “absence of scripts and excessive ad libbing” are common in Maltese programmes.

Dr Aquilina proposed a number of guidelines for good quality children programming.

He suggested setting up

a Quality Children’s Programming Commission made up of experts in the field who will give free advice to broadcasting stations, advertisers and production houses.

The Commission will have a threefold function handled by a panel: consultancy, programme selection and programme monitoring.

Dr Aquilina added that there should be a legal or licence requirement that television stations should broadcast a minimum number of quality children’s programming and any adverts that were harmful for minors should be prohibited.

Another proposal was to set up the Quality Children’s Broadcasting Fund, which will develop high quality children’s programmes in Maltese and pay for the expenses incurred.

“The fund should receive a percentage of say 20 per cent of television licence fees... to distribute the revenue collected among broadcasters and independent production houses.”

It was also suggested that the fund receives a percentage of the advertising budget of each broadcasting station, which will be given back to the stations to compensate for the lack of advertising in children’s programmes.

Council for Children member Mrs Muscat Azzopardi also presented a report during the roundtable discussion titled “A Children’s Rights Perspective”.

Mrs Muscat Azzopardi pointed out that the Broadcasting Code for the Protection of Minors and the guidelines on Participation in Media Programmes of Vulnerable People was set up to safeguard children from harmful content of the media, especially television.

However, this is interpreted by service providers that as long as no rules are broken, they “are fulfilling their responsibility towards young viewers” even if they broadcast mediocrity.

She also added that the financial cost of quality children’s programmes should not be borne by the private sector and that children’s television has often been “described as an example of market failure.”

A national conference on Children and the Media with special focus on quality children’s programmes will be held on 8 June at Pope John Paul II Conference Centre in Attard. An updated strategic plan to ensure quality programmes for children and proposed guidelines for quality children’s programmes, will be presented by the Commissioner for Children and the Broadcasting Authority.