Watchdog for Kids’ TV to Resign

Peggy Charren, who for more than two decades has been an influential crusader for better TV programs for youngsters, announced Wednesday that her well-known watchdog organization, Action for Children’s Television (ACT), will “cease operations” by the end of 1992.

A tireless conscience of children’s TV, a constant thorn in the side of the networks and a battler against commercialization of shows for young viewers, Charren, 63, said in an announcement in Cambridge, Mass.:

“For more than 20 years, ACT has tried to get the public-interest laws that govern broadcasting to apply to children. With the passage of the 1990 Children’s Television Act, this goal has been achieved; people who want better TV for kids now have Congress on their side. A federal law incorporating many of the ideas we have fought for is finally on the books.”

While there has hardly been a renaissance in children’s TV on commercial outlets--especially as well-connected broadcasters constantly seek ways to avoid regulatory maneuvers--Charren said in a telephone interview with The Times:

“We didn’t set out to make sure that everything on the air was gorgeous. We started out to enforce the law as it applies to children. What we got was a mandate: We got Congress to say to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), who said to the stations, ‘You have to provide programs specifically designed to meet the education and information needs of children as a condition of license renewal.’ When you think about it, that’s sort of a miracle.”

Asked if there was a specific reason for announcing an end to ACT at this time, Charren said:

“Yes. We think we’ve done what we set out to do. And now it’s up to the people to make it work. I’m not sick. I am not retiring. I am a working woman who is going to work until I drop dead.”

In fact, she said, she will be a consultant advising some of the groups that she expects to carry on her work. She expressed confidence that organizations such as the PTA, the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Center for Media Education “will continue to speak out for responsibility in children’s television.”

Charren’s formal announcement outlined her vision of the future battle for better children’s television: “Dramatic developments in the world of telecommunications have convinced us that it’s time for the focus to expand beyond the public-policy arena--where ACT’s impact has been substantial--to community-based initiatives led by professional groups concerned with TV’s effects on children and families.”

In the interview, she added: “ACT thinks that the time has come for these issues to be handled by, first of all, the national PTA, which has 7 million members who care about what their kids see on television.

“It’s up to the pediatricians of the country to educate their patients’ parents that children’s television is as important an issue to worry about as what you say to kids and the schools that they go to.”

The outspoken ACT leader blasted commercial children’s television as “ghastly.” The networks, she said, “couldn’t be worse. We used to try to help parents work their way through the swamp of Saturday morning to find the good programs in the swamp. Now, we just tell them, ‘Don’t bother with broadcasting. Tape public-television programs for children,’ which are some of the best stuff that’s ever been made for kids--and it’s not interrupted by those miserable commercials.’

“We tell them, ‘Tape what you like on cable. Use the home-video marketplace to the degree you can afford it--and skip commercial television.’ The VCR has been a tremendous boon to families who care about what their kids see.”

Charren recently praised NBC’s plan, in line with the Children’s Television Act, to develop a new Saturday morning show that may take the form of a news magazine. But more of her praise goes to cable for children’s programming on such outlets as Showtime, HBO, Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel.

In the gray, vague areas of public-interest standards, a high-profile firebrand such as a Charren or a Ralph Nader often is the difference in getting action. In that sense, activists for children’s programming are losing a symbolic leader--a woman who has often petitioned federal regulators and has gone to court over children’s TV issues.

And her achievements were acknowledged Wednesday by children’s experts in the Hollywood and educational fields, including companies that have been targeted by her.

Margaret Loesch, president of the Fox Children’s Network, said: “While I don’t always agree with Peggy, I’ve always respected her. We’re more sensitive to the issues because of her.”

Gordon Berry, professor of educational psychology and communications studies at UCLA, said: “Peggy has been a very, very important person in American society. She and her organization were very valuable in improving programs and bringing to adults the impact that television has on the developing child.”

John Michaeli, a former executive of the Hanna-Barbera animation firm and now spokesman for DIC Inc., a major producer of children’s TV entertainment, said: “Because of her pressure, shows had to eliminate villains and be sanitized. Producers had to produce shows according to guidelines laid out by the NAB (National Assn. of Broadcasters), and the networks were watching closely. Charren established herself as a media symbol. I respect her highly.”

Charren started ACT 23 years ago, “mostly because of lousy day care,” she said. “I was running children’s book fairs, and when my second daughter was born, I couldn’t get enough help to keep my little business going. So I thought, ‘Why don’t I close it for a while and get some books on television for children?’ It was wall-to-wall monster cartoons in those days, before public television was doing very much.”

She invited some friends to her home in a Boston suburb and said, “What can we do about kids’ TV without saying ‘Take it off the air--I don’t like it’? Because I believed then and I believe now that censorship is worse than any kind of junk on TV. I think that point is one of the reasons that ACT has survived.”

In 1970, Charren called the FCC. “I called the chairman. You start at the top. We said we want to come talk about children’s television. Three of us went down. We were nothing. We were a little bunch of nobodies. We didn’t even have a constituency. We didn’t have money. We met with the commission all afternoon.”

The FCC took notice of her petition aimed at getting the regulatory process to focus on children. Some public-interest advocates lent an important hand. And now it is two decades later--and, along with her triumphs, does she think she has failed in any way?

“I failed in doing this in a reasonable length of time,” said Charren. “If anybody told me it would take 23 years, I would have thought they were nuts.”