BRSAKTHRU
The following information is taken from an article written by Stanley F. Knock
Jr,* in regards to the Television program for children scheduled to begin on Adak,
18CP Monday January 28, 1963#
Tha Time American children spend watching television programs averages more than
two hours a day. Next to school and sleeping, television watching is the dominant
activity in the life of virtually every child in the U. S. Though this situation
has been widely deplored by moralists and educators, their condemnation so far
has] constituted little more than a cursing-of the darkness in furious frustration.
Clarion calls for the television industry to mend its ways in this regard, even
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minow’s terming television pro
gramming a "vast wasteland," have produced only self-righteous denials by the in
dustry and makeshift attempts to justify the status quo.
“ Now, however, comes Breakthru, produced through efforts of the Methodist Televi
sion ministry and recently released through the National Council of Churches1
broadcasting and film commission. There are a number of significant differences
between this and previous attempts at television programing for children. For
one thing, it was produced only after the Methodists had expended over $250,000
in a five-year period in an effort to make their childrenTs programs relevant to
the television viewing experiences of the intended audience. Under supervision
of the denominations general television radio and film commission (TRAFCO) aud
ience research, pilot production and Christian education evaluation were method
, ically and intelligently carried on. A pilot program developed in 1959 met with
general acceptance except from a small group of Christian educators and communica
tions specialists. Not satisfied to go on with a program as good as but not better
than anything coming from the industry, the producers re-evaluated the format of
the pilot programs and launched a fresh, new approach.
Breakthru takes into account two well documented and at first seemingly divergent
findings: that children watch television for the entertainment and excitement it
offers, expecting to learn little or nothing in the process; and that at about the
fifth-grade level there is a discernible shift toward desire for programs which
deal with the real world in which the child lives - a world of people who think,
question and grow into personhood. That the producers of the new program have been
able to provide and effective, vibrant, prepackaged television program which fills
both those demands on the part of the intended audience is surely an accomplish
ment of first magnitude. But they have done so. And incidentally they have produced
a series which so deals with the fundamental experiences of t he junior-age child
that the adult viewer can learn something about that child as he sees life through
younger eyes. ' • •
The Methodists have recognized a fact which has been discovered through independent
research, namely, that television^ contribution to the growth and development of
persons depends finally on action following the viewing itself. Materials have
been prepared to guide the educational experiences of children and adults after
Breakthru'has been viewed; they are such as to be acceptable at almost all levels
of education in the community without regard to religious orientation.’ Thus the
program provides both the opportunity and vehicle for effective local ecumenical
witness.
Chaplain Perry