The book puts together for the first time valuable updated information that looks at childrens television from its early days up to the current digital age, with its vast digital media offerings and availability. It offers new insights about a central childrens media culture and focuses on non-Anglo-American television histories. Thus, readers interested in understanding past to present, local and global processes in childrens television, would be able to find it in one book. Scholars, students, and professionals working in the field of children, as well as everyone concerned with childrens culture will find a great diversity of knowledge about the cultural, social, political, and economic contexts of programs with which they and their children have grown up.
This edited book is based on a collective effort of researchers and professionals dedicated to compiling the stories of childrens television around the world. With 12 national chapters, the book includes historical accounts of childrens television from the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Ecuador, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Kenia, Netherlands, and the United States. It provides an exploration of each individual country, revealing striking similarities and differences which are discussed in depth in the final chapter.
Looking at the global field through local eyesits main texts and active players (broadcasters, producers, and creators, as well as regulators and policy makers), their ideologies, financial prospects, and perceptions of childhoodoffers a macro-level evaluation of an entire cultural field. This is a valuable picture, as it also provides a contextualized perspective for reflection in any micro-analysis of specific programs.