Workshop tells how to take charge of television sets

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

May 7, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

About 20 parents, teachers and day care providers went back to school Monday, attending a two-hour course concerning how to take charge of the television sets in their homes.

The workshop, titled "Taking Charge of Your TV," is part of the Family and Community Critical Viewing Project -- a partnership, among the National Parent Teacher Association, National Cable Television Association and Cable in the Classroom, launched in 1994 to address concerns about television and the impact of its violence and commercialism on children.

The course, which was held at the Bemidji Middle School, was referred to by one of its presenters as "Media Literacy 101," and was presented to teach parents critical television viewing techniques and how to counter the effects of television's violence and commercialism.

"There's not a right or wrong way to watch television, but there are some helpful hints as to how to take charge of your family's viewing habits," said Patsy Hoyt of Marcus Cable in Wisconsin, one of the two presenters.

Hoyt added many parents feel television is not the only culprit which portrays too much violence, profane language and sexual innuendo, but it is the most prominent medium in American culture.

In addition, parents should not rely on the cable industry to solve the problem because it is a commercial enterprise with the goal of earning money, and there is a lot of money to be made showing violent and sexually explicit programming, she said.

Hoyt, and co-presenter Delpha Harris of Paragon Cable in Minneapolis, worked through a series of exercises with parents, teaching them techniques to educate their children their about television viewing during the workshop.

The four main themes to remember when taking charge of a family's television, Hoyt and Harris said, are:

1. Television programs and their messages are created to achieve specific results.

2. Each person interprets programs and messages differently.

3. Television violence takes many forms.

4. All television programs have an underlying economic purpose.

Most teenagers think they are critically aware of television's effects on them, but younger children cannot always tell the difference between reality and fantasy, Harris said about the first theme.

"Little kids don't get television at all. They think it's real," she said. "They don't understand what actors are."

To underscore her point, Harris had the group of parents view a series of television clips from reality-based programs, such as "Rescue 911" and "Cops," and discuss what was real or not. Harris added this might be a difficult task for children.

One participant just called the shows "trash."

Of people interpreting television's messages differently -- the second theme -- Hoyt said commercials are an opportune time to "mute" the television and discuss with children what they are viewing.

As for the third theme, Harris said violence takes many forms on television. One form many viewers do not recognize is called "slapstick" comedy, and even though it seems more acceptable to parents, it is a form of violence parents might not even think about.

"It is really important that we teach our children that commercials have a purpose. Especially the commercials around Christmas time," Hoyt said of the fourth theme.

Overall, the presenters said it is not enough to just shut the television off because it will still have an effect on children's lives. Parents have to educate their children using a variety of tools, including recording good television shows for children to watch, selectively choosing the hours the family watches television, using a calendar to schedule viewing hours and communicating about television with children.

"Taking it away is not the answer," Hoyt said. "You have to address the issue."