Defending Nordic Children Against Disney. PSB Children's Channels in the Age of Globalization

Abstract

This article analyses the key strategies for serving children that were developed in Nordic public broadcasting during the first decade of 2000s, with reference to US and European parallels. The main goal is to investigate how PSB serve the children audience in an age of global competition and media convergence, and to what degree children’s content is regarded as a key to legitimacy for public broadcasters. Based on document analysis, qualitative interviews, and programme analysis, the article explores the launch Norwegian PSB niche channel for children NRK Super, both as institutional strategy and as implemented in programming. This study demonstrates that a key PSB strategy for children’s content is to reflect national culture, language, and identity, and thus represent an alternative to global niche channels such as Disney and Nickelodeon. In addition, the NRK’s children’s content is also highly influenced by the PSB strategy to reflect “cultural pluralism” (NRK 2007). A key argument in the article is that in order to be considered as relevant for children in the culturally changing Nordic societies, the pubic service broadcasters need to provide original programming, which reflect national identity and culture without ignoring the increased multiculturalism and global influences on culture.