Programming Kids.. err.. TV Programming for Kids

[Dregor Thule]

As Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is sworn in today in Washington, children's TV programmers and public television advocates wonder whether her protests last week signal a tough new attitude on values in children's programming.

"She may make it very difficult for programs to get funded," says Peggy Charren, a pioneer in children's TV and board member at WGBH. The Boston station produced Postcards From Buster, the show in the center of the firestorm. "You could be put out of business."

According to its Web site, PBS receives 16.4% of its funding from the federal government through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, grants and contracts, and 18.3% from state governments. (Members contribute 23.5%; businesses, 16.1%; state colleges and universities, 6.5%; foundations, 5.5%.)

Spellings told PBS she had "very serious concerns" about an episode in which a little girl in Vermont introduces cartoon bunny Buster Baxter to her mother and her mother's lesbian partner. Spellings suggested that funding for future programming could be in jeopardy. The episode was pulled, PBS says, before the letter was received.

But WGBH's vice president for children's programming, Brigid Sullivan, believes the episode complies with the program's mission. The series, she says, is a "direct response to a request" from the Ready to Learn program, which is administered by PBS on behalf of the Department of Education, for a show about "diversity and tolerance in modern America for school-age children."

In the 40 Buster episodes that were made, families have included Muslims, Orthodox Jews, Mormons and evangelical Christians. "The show is about children," Sullivan says. "It's not about their parents. It's about letting children validate children as children, regardless of the family they live in."

WGBH is considering airing the show on Wednesday, its original air date before PBS suggested moving it to March 23 to give stations time to review the tape. WGBH says at least 10 of the 349 PBS stations plan to air the show on their own; many others are still deciding what to do.

Sullivan did not know how Spellings' move would affect future projects specifically addressing homosexuality, saying only: "We will always make shows that meet the educational objectives."

"When PBS puts its logo on a show, it's a considerable endorsement," says John Wilson, PBS' senior vice president for programming. This show, he said, "did not set out to be an episode about alternative family structures, so we felt it opened a door on a subject area and didn't go through it. We didn't give it thorough and thoughtful examination."

There is a lesson to be learned from the Buster brouhaha, Charren says: "This is a message to people who care about free speech and care about educating children. If they are in any position to fund programming, they should be saying, 'What can I do?' "

[Lohrno]

Those boobah things are really gay, showing two women together is nothing compared to that.

[Xzion]

absolutly disgusting, i not even i could fathom the conservatives going so far

the only other place on earth you could find this extreme paranoia about censorship is in a 3rd world dictatorship, and no place else

America was once the land of the free, sadly i cant say were a good example for anyone to follow today

[Marbus]

Those boobaahs are just breast implants... have no idea what the show is about and yes I have watched it a couple of times. We just turn on Barney or LotR when they come on.

Marb

[Lohrno]

Those boobaahs are just breast implants... have no idea what the show is about and yes I have watched it a couple of times.

I know...Whenever I see it I suppress the urge to say "WTF?"