Citizens' Forum

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 469, 18 June 1948, Page 10

Citizens' Forum

HE other night the 4ZB Citizens’ Forum tackled the vexed and recurring question "Is the Radio Serial Bad for Our Children?" This problem has been a topic of controversy among teachers and parents in the very recent past; and as D. Forsyth, chairman of the Forum, is a prominent member of Dunedin’s teaching community, his was an important and well-informed voice in the discussion. He was able, while not being one of the principal speakers, to put before the meeting a few points on behalf of the radio stations which those stations weren’t able ta voice themselves-mainly the point that the worst of the adufts-only type of serials are now scheduled to appear in the programmes after eight o’clock. This (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) seemed to me an important point, since the main points raised by speakers in . this discussion were (a) that children sit up listening to serials which may be all right for adults, but are wrong for youngstefs, (b) that it is neither necessary nor desirable to omit all sensation from children’s serials, but that a little goes a long way, (c) that it is partly the lack of other suitable recreation which emphasises the. fascination of the radio serial for children, That such points loom large enough to be a problem for parents and teachers seems to me not so much the. fault of the radio stations as of the parents~ themselves. The Citizens’ Forum, while | agreeing that a comprehensive ovef-all policy is necessary when the authorities are planning children’s programmes, admitted that there are other factors to.be considered in the case of the individual serial and the individual child, and that the individual parent does have one final resource at his disposal-switching off thé radio altogether.