The Kaiser Family Foundation and the American Center for Children and Media invite you to join us for a roundtable discussion titled January 2011: Anticipating Children’s Media Policy in the Obama Era. The event will be held on Wednesday, February 25, 2009, from 9:30 a.m. to noon (breakfast and registration at 9 a.m.) at the Barbara Jordan Conference Center in the Kaiser Foundation’s Washington, D.C. offices, at 1330 G Street, NW.

With the arrival of a new Presidential Administration and shifting leadership on Capitol Hill and at the FCC, what proposals, policies or practices are likely to emerge concerning children’s media content and delivery? We have invited leaders from the media industry, children’s advocacy groups, Congress, the FCC, and academia to apply their experience and expertise toward forecasting how children’s media policies will evolve over the next two years.

Confirmed panelists include:

Rick Chessen, acting chief of staff, Federal Communications Commission
Dennis Wharton, Executive Vice President, National Association of Broadcasters
Jill Luckett, Senior Vice President, National Cable and Telecommunications Association
Rob Lippincott, Senior Vice President, PBS
Stephen Balkam, Founder and CEO, Family Online Safety Institute
Tim Winter, President, Parents Television Council
Alan Simpson, Policy Director, Common Sense Media
Jeff McIntyre, National Policy Director, Children Now

The forum is not intended as a debate about what should happen, but rather as a chance for all involved to discuss what they believe will happen: Which issues will rise to the top of the agenda, and which will fall by the wayside? Where will we see legislative or regulatory action, and where will industry focus its self-regulatory efforts? Will the Obama White House work directly to foster a dialogue on these issues, or will they leave them to Congress and the FCC?

Topics to be explored include:

Media indecency
Violence in the media
TV, movie, music and video game ratings
Online safety and parental controls
Educational media for children
Public broadcasting
Public service obligations of broadcasters
Food advertising to children
Funding for research on children and media
Interactive advertising and children

We look forward to welcoming you on February 25.

American Center for Children and Media
The mission of the American Center for Children and Media is to sustain a vibrant children’s media industry by convening key constituencies to develop, implement and promote policies and practices that respect young people’s well being, and are sustainable. It is an ‘executive roundtable’ for TV and digital industry leaders, that anticipates, analyzes and acts regarding research findings, evolving technologies, social shifts and the volatile marketplace. The ACCM is also a creative professional development center, promoting the exchange of ideas, expertise, and information as a means for building quality and looking worldwide for best practices.

Kaiser Family Foundation
The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit private operating foundation, based in Menlo Park, California, dedicated to producing and communicating the best possible information, research and analysis on health issues.