There’s a small but growing number of books for younger readers that feature main characters with disabilities.
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Damien O'Meara, Swinburne University of Technology and Liam Burke, Swinburne University of Technology
Australian children’s television is a leader in onscreen queer representations, due in part to its primarily cultural role.
With the ever-increasing media coverage of mass shootings in the U.S., even the youngest children are now repeatedly exposed to violent images on TV and online.
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The genius of Bluey isn’t just in its characters and stories of family life. The hit show’s soundtrack sets the mood, plays with the narrative and draws on classical scores.
Designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen teaching an art class as part of the BBC’s lockdown education programming.
BBC/Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
Bright, kinetic and celebrity-studded, the BBC’s schools output has got the tone right for teaching a generation of screen-addicted youth.
At critical developmental periods when young children are learning about themselves, others and the world, they are frequently seeing pain portrayed unrealistically in kids’ TV shows and movies.
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In children’s media, pain is depicted alarmingly frequently, usually unrealistically and often violently, but without empathy or help. These images of pain send all the wrong messages.
The complex user-generated nature of YouTube content for kids is proving difficult to control for the online giant, who have been issued with a US$170 million fine for breaching children’s privacy.
Amid endless reviews into the future of local screen content, uncertainty reigns on issues such as the impact of Netflix, the fate of local content quotas and funding for original children’s TV.
It’s not just how characters look. How they talk and the role they play have a profound impact on kids, who are quick to categorize characters as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ based on superficial qualities.
Scenes from the early days of pop music, Horrible Histories-style.
CBBC