"Defective childhoods": television news and the social construction of the 'child in need'
Abstract
The modern media, particularly television news, produces and airs news reports and
special programs presenting social justice and human rights stories. Some of these news
reports feature children with identified emotional, financial, or other needs. Due to television
news' pervasiveness and influence in American society, the media entities which create the
news have significant power to shape Americans' understandings and beliefs on children's
lives, rights, and needs. In this thesis, I ask: how does the media, through television news
programs, maintain a specific discursive construction of 'children in need.' I have conducted
a qualitative content analysis based on transcripts from the national television programs NBC
Dateline, ABC Nightline, ABC 20/20, and CBS 60 Minutes between 2007 and 2012, looking
at episodes featuring groups of children in some identified need. I examine the ways in
which these television programs present certain childhoods as problematic. My findings
indicate that the news' collective construction of 'children in need' portrays them as hidden
from the rest of America, as courageous dreamers, and as living abnormal lives. Furthermore,
I compare and contrast the news programs' representation to the Progressive era child-saving
movement, revealing that the modern media's broadcasts on 'children in need' disfavor
lower class populations. Ultimately, I argue that the news media serves the function of deeming certain childhoods as less than ideal, or 'defective,' which therefore marks them as
deviant from what is considered a universal proper childhood.
Table of Contents
Introduction -- Literature review -- Methods -- Findings -- Discussion -- Conclusion -- Appendix
Degree
M.A.