[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 116 (Tuesday, July 18, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10256-S10257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              PUBLIC BROADCASTING AND TELEVISION VIOLENCE

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, today, I would like to draw my 
colleagues' attention to two recent articles from Current magazine 
about public television.
  One story details the positive contributions of public television in 
the important area of children's programming. Many have long argued 
that in addition to its entertainment value, television can be used as 
a powerful educational resource, particularly for children. Public 
television has consistently set the standard for putting television to 
use for this purpose.
  ``Sesame Street,'' one of public television's most successful shows, 
is a favorite for many American children, and indeed for children 
around the world. Its goals, however, are much loftier than merely 
entertaining, or marketing to, children. ``Sesame Street'' works to 
teach children and prepare them for school. And it is succeeding. In 
fact, a 4-year study of more than 250 low-income households conducted 
by the Center for Research on the Influence of Television on Children 
at the University of Kansas concluded that preschoolers who watch 
``Sesame Street'' regularly score higher on school readiness tests as 
long as 3 years later.
  I am also pleased to report that the American people recognize the 
value of public television as a public resource. The second Current 
article examines the high level of public support that public 
broadcasting enjoys across the country. According to the article, a 
Roper poll taken in March revealed that Americans ranked public 
television and radio among the services that provide the best value for 
the tax dollars. In fact, over 50 percent of those polled rated public 
television and radio as either excellent or good value.
  In this age of television's appeal to the lowest common denominator, 
public broadcasting generally succeeds in broadening, edifying, and 
challenging its viewers, and influencing the television medium for the 
good. Most importantly, public television reaches 99 percent of 
American households--for free.
  I ask that these two articles be printed in the Record.
  The articles follow:
                     [From Current, June 19, 1995]

            Public Ranks Pubcasting High in Value Per Dollar

       In a Roper Poll taken in March, Americans ranked public TV 
     and public radio among the services that provide the best 
     value for the tax dollar.
       Only military defense of the country and the police had 
     higher percentages of the sample calling them an ``excellent 
     value'' or a ``good value.'' Highways, public schools, 
     environmental protection and the court system ranked lower.
       ``Quite frankly, I was really surprised,'' said CPB 
     researcher Janice Jones. ``I know that people value public 
     television, but there are a lot of core services on that 
     list.''
       CPB received the poll results as a regular subscriber to 
     the Roper Poll last month, but the survey firm had added 
     pubcasting to the annual question without CPB asking it to do 
     so, Jones said.
       Other tax-supported services had been rated in the poll for 
     many years. The biggest changes between 1986 and 1995 showed 
     environmental protection up 14 points, public transportation 
     up 12, roads and bridges up 11, the police up 9 and military 
     defense up 8 points. Even social welfare programs rose 4 
     points during that period.
       In the poll, public TV was scored an ``excellent value'' by 
     13 percent, ``good'' by 44 percent, ``fair'' by 24 percent 
     and ``poor'' by just 10 percent. Eight percent said ``don't 
     know.''
       Public radio got similar scores: ``excellent value,'' 10 
     percent; ``good,'' 43 percent; ``fair,'' 28 percent; 
     ``poor,'' 10 percent, and ``don't know,'' 10 percent.
       Public TV's ``excellent value'' rating (13 percent) was 
     exceeded only by military defense (17 percent) and the space 
     program (14 percent).
       The percentage of respondents who rated public TV and radio 
     as a ``poor value'' for the tax dollar, 10 percent, was lower 
     than all other services except defense and international 
     intelligence gathering.
                        value for the tax dollar

       Here is a list of some different services that the 
     government provides using tax dollars it collects from the 
     public. Thinking of what you get for what you pay in taxes, 
     would you read down that list and for each one tell me 
     whether you feel you get excellent value for the dollar, or 
     good value, or only fair value for the dollar, or poor value 
     for the dollar?

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Percent 
                                                               excellent
         Rank and services provided with tax dollars            or good 
                                                                 value  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Military defense of the country...........................         60
2. Police and law enforcement agencies.......................         59
3. Public TV broadcasting....................................         57
4. Public radio broadcasting.................................         53
5. Medical, technological and other research.................         52
6. Overseeing the safety of food products....................         50
7. The space program.........................................         49
8. Overseeing the safety of prescription drugs...............         49
9. Highways, roads and bridges...............................         45
10. Public schools...........................................         41
11. Environmental protection.................................         41
12. Public transportation....................................         40
13. Sponsorship of the arts..................................         39
14. Overseeing soundness of financial institutions...........         35
15. The courts...............................................         33
16. International intelligence gathering.....................         31
17. Contributions to the United Nations......................         30
18. Social welfare programs..................................         28
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Roper Poll, March 18-25, 1995, courtesy of CPB.                 


                                                                    ____
             Study Detects ``Sesame Street'' Impact on Kids

       Sesame Street, probably the most-studied children's program 
     on TV, has another accolade for its collection: A major study 
     concludes preschoolers who watch the show regularly score 
     higher on school readiness tests as long as three years 
     later.
       The four-year study of more than 250 low-income families 
     was conducted by John C. Wright and Aletha C. Huston of the 
     Center for Research on the Influence of Television on 
     Children (CRITC) at the University of Kansas.
       Wright and Huston's report, released May 31, was meant to 
     provide the first overall evaluation of Sesame Street since 
     the groundbreaking program's second season, in 1971.
       The children studied were either two or four years old at 
     the beginning and five or seven at the study's end. About 40 
     percent were African-American, 40 percent were European-
     American, and 20 percent were Hispanic.
       Key findings from the report:
       As early as age two, preschoolers who watched Sesame Street 
     and other educational programming scored higher on 
     standardized tests of verbal and math abilities. The more 
     they watched the show, the better they did on the tests, even 
     two to three years later.
       The younger the child was when viewing, the stronger Sesame 
     Street's positive influence on school readiness.
       Children who watch Sesame Street spent more time reading 
     and pursuing other educational activities than non-viewers.
       Children who regularly watched adult and children's non-
     educational programming performed less well on school 
     readiness tests and spent less time reading or pursuing other 
     educational activities.
       The findings held true even after researchers used 
     statistical controls to account for effects of income level, 
     parental education, English-speaking ability, and other 
     factors on the scores.
       ``Television is a marvelous medium for education that is 
     vastly untapped. . . . The more you watch good programming, 
     the better you do when you get to school. That's news; that's 
     important,'' said Wright.
       Although the study looked at all educational children's 
     programming--not just Sesame Street--the Children's 
     Television Workshop production so dominated preschoolers' 
     viewing it was analyzed separately in Wright and Huston's 
     report.
       Because the period studied was 1989-93, newer programs like 
     Barney and Friends and Lamb Chop's Play-Along hadn't been 
     around long enough to make the most-viewed list, and PBS had 
     not yet initiated its PTV Ready to Learn service.
       Wright and Huston's report reinforced the findings of a 
     less detailed study with a much larger sample size (10,000 
     children) released in April.
       The CPB--commissioned study, prepared by Westat Inc., found 
     that four-year-old preschoolers who watched one or more PBS 
     programs were more likely to be able to identify colors, 
     count to 20, recognize letters of the 

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     alphabet, and tell connected stories when pretending to read.
     

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