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American Morning

New Book Says Media Surrogate Parent to Millions of American Children

Aired May 21, 2002 - 09:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: If you think your kids are spending way too much time playing video games, watching TV and going online, you are probably right, and you're not alone. There a new book out that says the media is a surrogate parent to millions of American children, teaching them about sex, violence and what to buy. A recent study found that kids spend 40 hours a week with the various media, and just 17 hours interacting with their real parents.

So what can we do about it? James Steyer is the author of the just-released book called "The Other Parent." He's also a Stanford University professor and a parent himself, a father to three. He's joining us now.

Good to see you. Welcome.

JAMES STEYER, AUTHOR, "WHO'S WATCHING THE KIDS": Hi, Paula.

ZAHN: So have these numbers changed much over the years?

STEYER: They have changed over the last 20 year, although the 10 years, it's been pretty steady, and it's pretty amazing if you think about it as a parent. If you're spending 17 hours a week with your kids, and various forms of media -- TV, music, the Internet -- spending 40 hours a week with your kids, and kids are in school maybe 30 hours a week.

ZAHN: You wonder who has control over your kids, and guess what?

STEYER: And you tell me who is the parent in this picture.

ZAHN: Talk to us about television. Let's talk about the 8:00 p.m. time slot and average American child could be assaulted with if their parents let them?

STEYER: If they had just turned it on last week on Friday, they could have seen on Fox, "The Search for the Girl Next Door," making of Playboy centerfold, at 8:00, or 7:00 Central Time. You could watch "Friends." You can watch "Boston Public." You can watch a bunch of shows that really don't belong in that timeslot. You know, there used to be a family hour, which was a voluntarily agreement among the broadcast networks to respect that time period and have family- friendly fare.

But it's a taboo-free zone today, and that's a big problem if you're a parent.

ZAHN: Why don't you run us through some of the guidelines you would recommend that we impose in our households if we don't want TV to be the other parent, and the rest of the media be the other parent. You set rules by age two or three on using media, right? What do you mean? What does a 2-year-old know about how much TV he or she can watch?

STEYER: But, Paula, I think you have to start early and set limits, and I think first you have to think about a media diet, because if you think about in that context, it's pretty easy for people to understand. You wouldn't let your kid only eat junk food and sugary cereals and candy. You'd try to have some kind of healthy balance. So, a, you have to set limits on media, not just TV, but also, you definitely have to talk to them about those media.

ZAHN: No TV, computers in kids bedrooms, this media diet you're talk about. And I think the most important prong of this is watching and listening with your kids. It is very tempting for most families, because we know how busy everybody is in America, to set your kid up with a video or the TV running without sitting there. You are saying that is dead wrong? .

STEYER: Absolutely, and actually, it's so important as a parent. You know, you're a parent. It's so important to talk to your kids about it, and also listen to them and tell them what you like and don't like and why. Particularly as kids get older, they're more and more free to do whatever they want to do. But they always remember your voice. So if you don't like misogynic gangster rap music or if you don't like portrayals of women in various movies or video games. If you talk to your kids about that, they may still go listen to that music or watch that television show, but they will always hear your voice, and that's the case.

ZAHN: You set an interesting rule here about when they set off to the neighbors home to make sure there's clear guidelines about what they can watch there, and also check with your pediatrician to review your kid's media diet.

STEYER: Yes, I think we have to get involved. Parents are the fist line of defense. That doesn't mean we shouldn't have role here for media industry leaders and for our government, but right now, parents are pretty much on their own on these issues, because there's a pretty much major void of leadership in this country on these issues.

ZAHN: You are very tough in this book on mostly men, the men who control the content of their networks. You're particularly tough on Rupert Murdoch of Fox.

STEYER: Right.

ZAHN: Basically you take on, basically, everybody in the industry that allows for this kind of fare to be seen during what should be you say family hour.

STEYER: I think we need to be, Paula.

Remember, I run a kid's educational media company, and I'm in business with some of these folks, but I think that there needs to be a whole new standard of leadership in this area, because a lot of times, I think that the people who run these companies separate their lives. They bifurcate their lives between what they do with their own families and their own kids, and then the products they come out with and sell to kids all across this country.

ZAHN: It's pretty easy to hide behind the First Amendment, is it not?

STEYER: Yes, but I'm a professor of, you know, constitutional law at Stanford, and the First Amendment does protect you and me saying whatever we want to say, or a rap artist recording whatever song or rap music they want to do, but it doesn't give a major media company protection for selling and targeting kids and teens with this kind of product. That's not what the First Amendment is about.

But every time Jack Valenti and others get up and talk about the First Amendment in a somewhat cynical way, very few people calls them on it.

ZAHN: We should, before we let you go, just mention that Chelsea Clinton wrote the afterword your book. She is very upset about what she sees as gratuitous violence in these shows.

STEYER: Right. She took three courses from me at Stanford. She is a really smart young woman, and she did the research on the commercialism and violence chapter, and she did a great job on it.

ZAHN: Did you give her all A's professor.

(LAUGHTER)

ZAHN: Oh, he won't reveal that to us this morning.

Jim Steyer, thanks for your time. Good luck with the book, "The Other Parent."

STEYER: Thanks, Paula.

ZAHN: I couldn't take my eyes off of it last night. I think it's really fascinating. But you know, the best control all of us parents have is the little remote. Sitting there with your kids, you control what they watch. That's one thing that we should all learn from your segment today. I think that's the most important point. Thanks again.

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