Press Releases

From the Children Now Newsroom

Reports & Research

California Report Card, 2010

The Impact of Industry Self-Regulation on the Nutritional Quality of Foods Advertised on Television to Children, 2009

California County Scorecard of Children’s Well-Being, 2008

California County Data Book, 2007

Educationally/Insufficient? An Analysis of the Availability & Educational Quality of Children’s E/I Programming, 2008

Big Media, Little Kids 2, 2007

The Promise of Preschool, 2006

An estimated 137,000 positions are available within the afterschool workforce in California. While mostly part-time and seasonal employees, the number of afterschool workers comprise nearly 75% of the elementary teacher workforce or more than all police and firefighters in California combined.

Between 2001 and 2007, California’s rates of childhood asthma have increased from 14% to 16%.

In 2007, approximately 11% of California’s adolescents reported having tried drugs. This represents a 3% decline since 2003.

Obesity rates among California adolescents, ages 12-17, have remained relatively flat since 2001.

California’s Nurse-Family Partnership program improves pregnancy outcomes, boosts children’s health and developmental outcomes, and increases parents’ economic self-sufficiency.

53% of the state’s public school children participate in the Free and Reduced Price Meals Program.

A new study of children found that watching TV was more harmful to children’s health than other sedentary activities like using a computer. In the study, the more TV children watched, the higher their blood pressure rose, regardless of their weight.

Maternal depression has adverse affects on children’s development. Children whose mothers are depressed when they are young are likely to experience persistent depression themselves. Consequently, screening for maternal depression at well-child clinics and other locations visited by at-risk women is needed.

For infants, maintaining good oral health is important, because primary teeth enable them to eat solid food, aid in speech development and serve as placeholders for permanent teeth.

Children Now to Speak at Oakland Media Ownership Forum

Oct 27, 2006

Today, FCC commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps will take part in a community forum at Oakland Marriott City Center to hear from the public about potential changes to regulations governing the number of media outlets a single company may own.

Children Now, a leading nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to assuring all children thrive, and author of a landmark 2003 study on the impact of media consolidation on children’s programming, will speak at the forum.

In brief, Children Now’s “Big Media, Little Kids” found that, from 1998 to 2003:

after media consolidation was allowed in Los Angeles, the number of hours each week devoted to children’s programming in that market decreased by more than 50 percent;
the largest decreases in these programming hours were on stations that are part of media duopolies (where one company owns two television stations in the same market);
most repurposing—when series air on more than one channel or network—occurred between outlets that were owned by the same media companies.

“Media consolidation diminishes the availability and diversity of programming for children,” said Children Now Vice President Patti Miller, who will speak at today’s forum. “The FCC must prioritize children’s needs before the commercial interests of broadcasters.”

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