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Audiovisual media are part of children's daily life. They build and/or replace a part of the reality that is sometimes preceded. This paper is interested in one of the elements of the audiovisual binomial, the soundtrack, in order to analyse its meaning and sense from the children's point of view. The objectives are: to determine if the audiovisual media clips to which children are exposed (sound, image and all) are perceived differently; to establish the possible differences in the assessment they make when comparing the sound and image presentation modalities. Fourteen audiovisual media (movies, series, cartoons and documentaries) were identified by 115 children (10-12 years old) as preferred. Audiovisuals were edited in three modalities (sound, image, and all) and grouped into different series of three clips, which were watched in group sessions by 547 Spanish and Argentinian children (mean age: 11 years old). An Assessment Questionnaire of audiovisual clips was designed and implemented. Results showed differences in the meaning of the soundtrack in three of the five categories of the questionnaire. The significant predominance of the sound in series, documentaries and, especially, movies is highlighted. Contextual space-time elements, affective implications, feelings, and empathy as well as assessment of the experience are all perceived by means of the sound (the music). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the main contributions of the TV broadcasters in Spain to the study of the relationships between television and childhood. It is justified by the need of compile and organise these contributions. Quality contents broadcasted for children, children consumption of television and the role of TV channels to transfer a positive image of the childhood have been the mainstays of this text. The information that we report is the result of the study carried out from Observatorio Comunicación y Sociedad. Methodologically, consulting scientific bibliography about television and childhood has made possible to put our study into context. After that, the use of questionnaire to people responsible of contents broadcasted for children by the main Spanish TV channels, and the analysis of the different experiences and work papers prepared by televisions, have allowed to create a setting with the broadcasters' main contributions to a new paradigm which improves the relationship between minors and television. The conclusion from the analysis and the consultation to experts point that, except in the case of the public state television and some regional televisions, the research and the redesign of the childhood/television relationship is not one of the channels priorities. In fact, only TVE has an important scientific production in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is usually known about television for children are the programmes broadcast. In contrast, the underlying criteria as well as their conditioning factors are largely unknown. This paper aims to unveil the television backstage, presenting and analysing the logics and strategic options that shape the conception, production and broadcasting of programming for children. In this way, this paper also intends to contribute to a wellgrounded knowledge about a reality quite present in children's daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyse child viewers' interpretation of television violence shown in television programmes specifically aimed at children. The justification for this work is based on the research that considers that more theoretical and empirical studies need to be carried out on the conceptualisation of violence, and about how much violence is legitimised and through what mechanisms such legitimacy is constructed. It is aimed at providing a notion of television violence as interpreted by child television viewers which takes these mechanisms into account. The methodology used is based on an analysis of the content and the dialogue of in-depth interviews conducted with sixteen children under the age of 12 years, after showing them two sequences of television programmes with types and various formalisation of fictional violence. The results, as well as providing a conceptual map of the responses, also show how children define and differentiate different types of violence. We can also verify how their reception process is framed by their cultural history and specific reading and consumption experiences, in which contextual narrative aspects play a very important role in children's interpretation of violence. Thus, the results of this study indicate how children give an unrestricted significance to violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the main characteristics of advertising discourse in relation to childhood and its engagement with children's view of this stage of life, in line with «new social studies» and critical discourse analysis. This discussion seeks to complement the functionalist perspective of communication studies in the field of advertising content analysis by incorporating a discursive focus, taking into account contextual issues that may condition the interpretation of messages. Firstly, discourse analysis was used as a means of exploring social representations, identifying stereotypes employed in children's advertising in order to establish the possible functions of the message. To contrast these findings, group interviews were conducted with 10 and 11 year-old boys and girls from middle-income families in Santiago, Chile. A comparison of both findings reveals a complex and relational notion of childhood. Children see themselves as burdened by parents, and adulthood as an effective lack of liberty, where the archetypes reveal an image of the adult world as a state of loss with respect to the exercise of creativity, imagination and freedom. These archetypes correlate to children's television output, where a number of shows ridicule the image of adults through irony and parody, presenting them as incompetent in their roles as parents and in their moral authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]