Kids' Media Culture: An Introduction.

This volume presents an introduction to the book Kids' Media Culture. The book explores children's mass media culture--that is, media software such as television programs, electronic games, movies, comic strips, books and ancillary toys--produced for and consumed by youngsters in the U.S. In the growing field of writings on children and media, cultural debates include the widely covered confrontations between children's advocates and researchers, on the one side, calling for more responsible programming and policies from media producers, broadcasters, advertisers, and government agencies on the other. Given that neither side assumes that kids have all the power needed to totally govern their own choices, the key issue is what kinds of guidance are most effective. It would be misleading to assume that only one of these sides is concerned with historical change or the relationship between children's media culture and its larger social context. Those who see children primarily as active agents perceive them as moving tactically through a diversified field of play that is part of a larger social history, which inevitably involves change.