Watching the Watchers: What Children Watch on TV and How They Respond, 2010

22 May 2010

Date published: May 2010

Research Company: Colmar Brunton

Qualitative research project exploring what children watch on TV, and how they respond and react to various programme contents
Forms part of wider research on New Zealanders’ viewing habits and constitutes second stage of 2007 quantitative study of programme content: “Seen and heard: children’s media use, exposure and response”

Conducted from December 2008 to April 2009 with 14 children and their families
Complementary qualitative research methods:
- ethnographic observation
- in-depth family discussion

TV is an essential part of family life and all children watch it
parenting style (strict or flexible) has implications for what children watch and how much

families have few viewing rules
parent supervision depends on childrens’ maturity
supervision is limited at times deemed appropriate for child viewing – before and after school
on the whole children do not appear to watch inappropriate programmes
parents and children sometimes watch inappropriate programmes because of interest in a particular topic; assumption that subsequent episodes conform with previous ones; to inform children of their environment and the world in general; to keep children occupied

children watching alone tend to choose children’s cartoons and series
children watching with older siblings tend to watch programmes aimed at older audiences
collectivist families display autocratic decision-making, whereas individualistic families discuss and negotiate
children who watch with their parents or siblings develop a taste for more mature content

perceptions of inappropriate content are highly subjective, varying between parents and children, and between families
parents and children agree that programmes containing bad/offensive language, violence and/or sexual references are inappropriate
although parents are adamant that children shouldn’t see this kind of content, both parents and children do watch programmes featuring it
genre blurring confuses perceptions of content and makes it difficult to evaluate, for example cartoons, which are traditionally seen as children’s programmes, containing adult themes

children react in a variety of ways when watching something that upsets them or makes them uncomfortable

parents assume programmes shown before 8:30pm are suitable for children so do not check ratings or classifications or monitor their children’s viewing as much
during weekends and holidays, all children are allowed to stay up later than usual and watch TV with their parents

parents do not necessarily let classification and/or warnings guide their actions – they make the final decision themselves
some parents would like to see more obvious warnings throughout programmes where content is inappropriate for children
in some families, AO-rated programmes are considered suitable for children, but only under parental supervision

RESEARCH AND REPORTS NGĀ RANGAHAU ME NGĀ PŪRONGO