The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Effect On Our Children » (Reprint)

James P. Steyer is one of the nation's leading experts and entrepreneurs in the fields of media, education, and child advocacy. His work has been featured on Oprah, the Today show, and numerous national television programs, and in such publications as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and Newsweek. He is also an award-winning faculty member at Stanford University in California, where he lives with his wife and three children. For more information, visit www.theotherparent.com.

Kids must have special rules. It is more than naive to pretend that the market alone will protect them. We recognize this in virtually every sphere of life. Yet in the media, we have stripped away the very rules created to protect them, leaving them almost entirely to the profit-driven manipulations of the free market.

Library Journal

In this balanced and stimulating study, Steyer, a professor of education and political science at Stanford, CEO and chair of family media company JP Kids, and father of three, addresses the media's influential presence in kids' lives as "the other parent." Without demonizing the media, Steyer offers an in-depth look at the effects of TV, video games, and the Internet on today's kids and explains the lack of social responsibility in many media companies as they cater to stockholders over children. Backing up his convincing argument with dependable statistics, Steyer discusses the consequences of exposure to sex, coarseness, violence, and commercialism long before children are ready to understand them and offers real-world solutions that encourage a more active parental and citizen role. Also included are practical strategies for parents, educators, and even the government. This study successfully tackles a serious issue and as such deserves a place in all public, high school, and academic libraries. Leroy Hommerding, Fort Myers Beach P.L. Dist., FL Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Contents

Part One An Inside Look at the Media and Kids

One: At Home with The Other Parent

Two: It's All about Money

Three: Sex Sells

Four: Media Violence: In Harm's Way

Five: The Selling of Kids as Consumers

Six: The Politics of Media and Kids

Seven: The Power of Campaign Cash

Part Two Taking Back Control: Strategies for Change

Eight: It All Starts at Home

Nine: Calling the Media Industry to Account

Ten: Protecting the Public Interest

Eleven: The Challenge of Citizen Action

Afterword

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index