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Research Project

Children between local and global

What chances and possibilities does PRIX JEUNESSE offer to children?

The media play a crucial role in the process of globalisation. Not only do they initiate certain processes, they also are affected by globalisation themselves. Over the past years it was possible to observe the vertical integration at all levels of production and a horizontal joining of forces of different media branches from several countries (Büttner et al. 2000, p. 21). A wave of merging and buying up of companies took place which led to the creation of a global oligopoly on the media market today (McChesney 2002, p. 24).

As a result the global media market is ruled by about ten large enterprises today (McChesney 2002, p. 23) as e.g. Disney or AOL-Time Warner. These enterprises differ from the national media enterprises not only in their global range but also in their different and globally orientated presentation of contents. Critics fear at this point the loss of local cultural aspects in the media up to the formation of a "new" global culture.

PRIX JEUNESSE aims at promoting children's and youth television with the goal to encourage the international exchange of programmes as well as the communication between nations. High-quality programmes for children's television are awarded with the PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL at the festival which takes place bi-annually. The awards are given to programmes which - with their cultural content - offer support to children's and young people's mental and social development. PRIX JEUNESSE aims at promoting television programmes which enhance children's knowledge of their own culture, raise children's consciousness and further their understanding of other cultures. By emphasising the importance and the specificity of local culture the PRIX JEUNESSE tries to counteract global media contents and developments in this field.

What kind of chances does the PRIX JEUNESSE offer in particular? In which aspects do locally orientated programmes for children differ from global productions?

Method and sample
These research questions are examined by means of quantitative content analysis. A systematic sample is taken from the most successful global productions of children's television (see Tim Westcott 1999) and from all participants of the PRIX JEUNESSE, the international festival for children's quality programmes.

 

LITERATURE

Büttner, Christian; Crans, Cornelius; Gottberg, Joachim; Metze-Mangold, Verena: Jugendmedienschutz in Europa. Gießen: Psychosozial-Verlag 2000.
McChesney, Robert W.: Children, globalization, and media policy. In: von Feilitzen, Cecilia; Carlsson, Ulla (Eds.): Children, young people and media globalisation. Göteborg: Nordicom 2002, p. 23-31.

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