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Research of Infotainment in the Children's Segment of Television

Eleonora O. Tsurinaa1*, Valentyna V. Kuryliakb2

1Department of Journalism at the V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine.

2Department of Philosophy, Theology and History of the Church Ukrainian Institute of Arts and Science Doctoral student of the Faculty of History, Education Program Ukraine

*Corresponding Author:
Eleonora O. Tsurinaa
Department of Journalism at the V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine
E-mail: v.kuryliak@ugi.edu.ua

Received: 01-Jun-2022, Manuscript No. gmj-22-65561; Editor assigned: 03-Jun-2022, PreQC No. gmj-22-65561; Reviewed: 17-Jun-2022, QC No. gmj-22-65561; Revised: 22-Jun-2022, Manuscript No. gmj-22-65561 (R); Published: 30-Jun-2022, DOI: 10.36648/1550-7521.20.52.311

Citation: Tsurinaa EO, Kuryliakb VV (2022) Research of Infotainment in the Children's Segment of Television. Global Media Journal, 20:52.

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Abstract

The article examines the impact of the popular media trend of infotainment on the television segment designed for children. It was found that the issue can be considered in two variations. In a broader sense, infotainment in children's television products is synonymous with the phenomenon of edutainment. Examples of such programs are Sesame Street, Die Sendung mit der Maus, Clyde Frog Show, Doc McStuffins, Odd Squad, Zoboomafoo, etc. In a narrower sense, the impact of the concept of merging information and entertainment is manifested in the involvement of television programs for children infotainment techniques and signs from the adult segment of television, namely irony, guidelines for play, person centrism, and changes in thematic content. This is illustrated by examples of programs such as Jackanory, Newsround, Blue Peter, Horrible Histories, and others. It is stated that the content created with the borrowing of infotainment tools mostly has high ratings and long life on the air because it combines informational (and/or educational) and entertainment functions. The analysis found that the share of educational programs for children increases at the same time as the concept of merging information and entertainment appears on adult television. The article also proposes its definition of the phenomenon of infotainment on children's television. The practical part of the article presents the results of a survey of 29 experts in the field of pedagogy and psychology, 24 of whom are teachers and 5 – practicing psychologists. Based on the conducted research the table of signs of useful and harmful children's infotainment is formed. The characteristics of children's infotainment from the point of view of psychologists and teachers are also presented and the functions of multi-therapy of children's TV products created based on the concept of merging information and entertainment are highlighted. It is stated that infotainment is a necessary component in modern realities, but without proper evaluation by psychologists and teachers, children's TV content can become oversaturated with destructive elements, which will prevent the formation of a holistic psychological portrait of children. It is concluded that the impact of infotainment on the children's segment of television cannot be considered unambiguously positive or negative, because it depends on the specific context and intentions of media creators, so the concept of merging information and entertainment can serve as creativity in presenting useful and interesting information given the long-term effects on the worldview of young viewers.

Keywords

Infotainment; Children's Television; Edutainment; Educational Content

Introduction

Children's television has almost as long a history as television in general. The popularity of content for children has led not only to the creation of individual programs, but also entire channels for the younger audience. The same BBC includes a whole division - BBC Children's and Education, which deals with media production for children, and not even one, but two channels that broadcast only children's programs - CBBC (for audiences from 7 to 17 years) and CBeebies (for the very young). As of 2019, Disney Channels Worldwide included 118 children's channels available in 164 countries in 34 languages (“Disney Channels Worldwide Fact Sheet” 2019). Due to the demand for children's content, the world's most popular video hosting YouTube in 2015 was forced to create a separate application for children - YouTube Kids.

Among the most rated media products aimed at the younger part of the audience, a large amount of content that we can attribute to children's infotainment because such programs and series are designed not only to entertain but also to inform and educate viewers. In the former Soviet Union, this is demonstrated by the example of the animated film "Fixies". The series has more than 6.5 million subscribers and more than 6 billion total views on YouTube (the most popular video on the YouTube channel has been watched 88 million times). The net worth of the YouTube channel alone is estimated at up to $ 14 million. With the demand for this content, this media layer remains out of sight of scientists involved in the study of infotainment. Thus, it becomes clear the relevance of such a study.

Key research terminology

Infotainment originated in the 1960s in the United States and gradually became a global media trend that encompassed all types of media and a variety of genres. And even more - the concept of merging information and entertainment has given rise to its genre varieties. For example, Stephen Stockwell's Review of the Fourth Power: Functions of Infotainment considers infotainment as a group of genres, including talk shows, lifestyle shows, tabloid news, docu-soaps, docu-games, mockumentary, and news sit-coms (Stockwell 2004). While in the dissertation research "Journalists in the Netherlands" by Mark Doise, media creators working in the genre of infotainment are separated into a separate group called "infotainment journalists [1]. Focusing on the etymology of the word (information + entertainment = infotainment), each researcher offers his definition of the concept. In the case of adult-oriented content, the emphasis in the interpretations is on the first component of the word. For example, the following definition of the concept is given in the Oxford Dictionary of Media and Communication: «The presentation of factual information in an entertaining manner, normally in broadcast media and especially on television [2].

Thus, most researchers present infotainment as information in an entertaining wrapper. If we adapt the interpretation for infotainment on television for children, we can offer a logical shift of emphasis to the second part of the word - entertainment. In our opinion, infotainment in the children's media segment can be defined as entertainment with information. A more broad definition may be children's entertainment content, which also performs informational and/or educational functions.

Review of the source base (on the research topic)

Over the decades of existence, infotainment has constantly become the object of scientific research: articles, textbooks, dissertations. Among the latter are the collective authors' works by Otto L., Glogger I. & Boukes M., where scientists focus on five phenomena: soft news, sensationalism infotainment, tabloidization and eroding of boundaries of journalism.

Researchers analyzed more than 600 papers mentioning these terms, with more than 25% of the papers were published after 2010 (the entire sample since 1960). With such an impressive number of diverse scientific publications, the term "infotainment" is hardly mentioned in the context of the children's television segment. And the available single mentions are satisfied only by defining the concept of merging information and entertainment. Thus, in the results of the review of works on infotainment, we state that the issue of infotainment in the context of its place and impact on children's television remains deeply unexplored.

Presentation of the main research materials

Children's television, like any other content created for children's perception, is always presented in an entertaining wrapper or through a game, which is a fundamental component of infotainment, because it allows the audience to participate in the action shown on the screen. In the case of children's perception, play becomes not only an ideal option for presenting information but is also a prerequisite for the child's development, performing such functions as learning to communicate, socialize, educate, enjoy, relax, compensate [3]. Well-known psychologist and educator Jerome Bruner described an experiment in which children were divided into two groups. The first group had the opportunity to play with the material, which was then offered to them for educational work, and the other group did not. As a result, the children from the first group coped with the task faster, as well as offered more original answers, were more confident, better perceived explanations and suggestions of teachers [4]. Thus, play and entertainment are logically included in the educational process, part of which in modern reality is television.

Infotainment in the context of children's television can be considered in two variations: wider and narrower. In a broad sense, there is a merger of two concepts: edutainment and infotainment. For example, they are presented as synonymous in Zuhal Okan's article in the Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. There is also a simple definition of the term edutainment - a hybrid genre combining learning and fun and although the concept itself came to the attention of researchers in the 1990s, learning through play and entertainment dates back to antiquity. Examples are religious parables and folk tales. In ancient Greece, competitions in gymnastics, music, and verbal disputes were part of the educational process of children and adolescents. With the advent of children's television, another way of learning through entertainment has opened up. For example, from 1948 to 1960, Walt Disney Studios made fourteen series of documentaries about the wildlife True-life adventure, which won eight Academy Awards. In 1952, one of the first well-known educational programs for children appeared on NBC - Ding Dong School, which quickly gained recognition in the audience, so those producers had to quickly make it daily. Interestingly, the creators of the show were already actively using artificial interactivity. Host Frances Harwich began each program with the question: "How are you this morning?", Then paused as if she were in a real classroom and could hear the audience's answers.

The infotainment concept is associated with the launch in 1968 of the weekly television program "60 Minutes" on CBS. At the same time, we can observe the strengthening of the educational function among children's programs. The aforementioned series True-life adventure is edited and released in the form of educational short films from 1968 to 1975. November 10, 1969, on the American public broadcaster PBS launched one of the world's most famous programs for children - Sesame Street. From the beginning, the creators of the program actively collaborated with experts in education and developmental psychology, so each episode of Sesame Street was planned with specific learning objectives in mind. The program focuses on the development of literacy, vocabulary, knowledge of mathematics and science. According to Rosemarie Truglio, a developmental psychologist and senior vice president of curriculum and content at Sesame Workshop, «the Sesame mission is to help children grow smarter, stronger and kinder» (Geddes 2019). At the time of the program's 50th anniversary, 4,500 episodes have been released; it has won 11 Grammys and 189 Emmy Awards, and in the previous two years alone has received two grants of $ 100 million. The program's website states that it is watched by about 200 million children from 150 countries, so it is broadcast in about 70 languages. There is also a report on the achievements of Sesame Street in terms of the educational development of its viewers. Among other things, it is stated that «Bangladeshi children who watch the local version of Sesame Street, Sisimpur, show faster attainment of academic skills such as literacy and math, with literacy scores of 4-year-old viewers 67% higher than those who don’t watch [5]. Melissa S. Kearney and Phillip B. Levine in the study „Early Childhood Education by Television: Lessons from Sesame Street wrote that showing this television program significantly increased the success of U.S. students who watched it and made them more prone to it. Teaching [6]. Interestingly, the program also focuses on the needs of society. For example, it takes into account the subjects that American students lag and tries to arouse interest in them.

On March 7, 1971, the German television channel Das Erste aired a program for children, Die Sendung mit der Maus, which later became known as "the school of the nation". With purely entertaining content, a significant part of the program - educational sections, for which the creators of the show attract scientists, buy a lot of props or even "send" the protagonist of the show - a mouse on various journeys, including into outer space. The topics covered in the programs are striking in their variety, from how holes appear in cheese or strips of toothpaste, to images of life in Germany after World War II, or stories about the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. On the site, you can watch videos about the juvenile court, as well as find answers about the coronavirus COVID-19. To explain complex things or phenomena, the authors of Die Sendung mit der Maus resort to analogies and objects from everyday life that are already known to children. And questions for transfer are taken from letters which hundreds come to edition every week.

The popularity of children's programs that combine education and entertainment components is confirmed by the fact that the two above-mentioned programs Sesame Street and Die Sendung mit der Maus continue to exist, ie for more than 50 years has held high positions in the air network, they write books and dissertation research. In addition, there are a steady number of similar shows for children, which are in great demand among children and cover a wide variety of areas. For example, the Clyde Frog Show (PBS), produced by the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television, was popular in the 1970s. The purpose of the program was primarily to implement an educational mission and help children understand their feelings and views learn selfesteem by showing everyday events familiar to every child. In 1999, Zoboomafoo aired on the same broadcaster, telling young viewers about wildlife. Its creators were brothers-biologists Martin and Chris Kratt. Later, the program released several video games that help children learn the alphabet and animals. After that, the Kratt brothers created several more projects, including the TV series Wild Kratts, the main purpose of which is called «to educate children about biology, zoology, and ecology, and teach kids small ways to make big impacts». The animated TV show Doc McStuffins on Disney Channel and Disney Junior has been covering health for five seasons since 2012, providing useful information on how to preserve it from childhood. And the series Odd Squad, which has been on TV since 2014, promotes mathematics because the main characters solve the problems of their city with the help of knowledge in this field of science.

But the impact of infotainment on the segment of children's television can be considered in a narrower sense - as a direct implementation of the features and techniques characteristic of the concept of merging information and entertainment. The author of Children's Learning From Educational Television: Sesame Street and Beyond distinguishes between infotainment and edutainment. Shalom M. Fisch writes that «numerous terms have been used to refer to television programs that are intended to educate of benefits children: educational television, instructional television, curriculum-based programming, educational/informational programming, infotainment, edutainment, and entertainment-education». But, as the author notes, all these terms have nuances in meaning, and sometimes even denote different phenomena.

To analyse the impact of infotainment on individual children's TV programs, it is necessary to identify the main components of the concept:

1) The already mentioned game, which in the postmodern era has replaced the intention or goal. Based on the concept of merging information and entertainment, it manifested itself in the active use of editing and filming effects, various inserts (info graphics, 3D animations, quotes from cartoons and movies), ie everything that due to the wide emotional mosaic of included elements provides ease of perception and understanding of the material. In addition, it fully realizes the emphasis on the visual side of the message. It is also becoming popular to play the situation, ie modelling, and experimenting.

2) Irony - a technique also inherent in postmodernism. As a component of infotainment, it is manifested at all levels of journalistic work: from language techniques and individual editing effects to the general pathos of the program.

3) Changing the thematic content of programs, which isnot only to reduce the significant share in favor of informational materials in social and cultural spheres but also the introduction, according to researchers Robert Kaiser and Leonard Downey, so-called "top topics of infotainment" - criminal history and news about the stars. At the same time, even serious topics are presented in a simplified form with a great deal of irony.

4) Person centrism can also be called a global trend that is present in almost all spheres of public life. At the level of manifestations of the concept of infotainment in television materials, it is implemented in two ways: in presenting information through the stories of specific people, and strengthening the role of journalists themselves, because viewers prefer not real facts but real stories, not faceless media product, but unique author content. Contact of the audience in relatively real-time with a journalist or other people represented in the TV story creates the effect of psychological authenticity of the audio-visual message. This feature of television communication turns viewers into active participants in the journalistic story.

Swiss media researcher Kurt Schauby in his article "Infotainment" also singles out the strengthening of the role of the journalist among other key features of this phenomenon, describing it as a process in which the author's image for the viewer gives the impression of not mass but interpersonal communication: "Eventually, it also affects the recipient's feelings, which then encourages him to discuss the program after the broadcast". This feature of infotainment programs is manifested in a large number of stands, the constant presence of the journalist in the frame, the author's behind-the-scenes text.

Some features of infotainment are difficult to see in the context of children's television, as it is initially characterized by guidelines for the game, emphasis on the visual component, and "light" topics, but still some manifestations or techniques are influenced by the concept of merging information and entertainment. For example, the authors of the program appeal to the stars. Most of the creators of children's programs resort to this technique. The same Sesame Street show was attended by more than 650 celebrities: from famous athletes, actors, and musicians to the first ladies of the United States (the program was once attended by Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama). Another long-lived children's program, Blue Peter, has been published by CBBC since 1958, and interviews with stars are not uncommon. A striking example is the BBC's Jackanory, which appeared on the screens in 1965 and was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The authors of the program invited celebrities to read a literary work. Most of them were famous actors, such as Ben Kingsley, Patrick Stewart, Alan Rickman, but not only: among the readers of the show were writer H. E. Todd, and Scottish artist who fought for Scottish independence, Wendy Wood, and even Prince Charles.

Infotainment researchers often focus on the entertainment component of the concept, forgetting about information. While the dichotomy of the phenomenon gave rise to a kind of "infotainment scale", at one end of which - serious, more classic programs on social, economic, political topics with appropriate use of pictorial and expressive means, and the other - purely entertaining media products in its issues information component. With this in mind, the global concept of merging information and entertainment could have affected the children's segment of TV in such a way that some programs have increased the share of information or even copied infotainment programs - the same news. In this, we can see reproduction, "a game of adult journalism."

An example of such a program is Newsround (CBBC), the emergence of which in 1972 coincided with a period of active dissemination of infotainment on television. It is considered one of the first news magazines on TV, created specifically for children. The program covers a wide range of topics, from global environmental issues to toilets in schools. Newsround was several times ahead of the "adult" news and was the first to inform the audience about such important events as an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II (1981), the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger (1986), the Windsor Castle fire (1992). Newsround Specials, a 15-minute documentary, is also periodically released on major topics such as the Holocaust, life in the war zone, mental health issues, the COVID-19 coronavirus, and more. Interestingly, the attempt of the creators of the program to make a "lighter" application to the program was not successful. Newsround Showbiz (originally Newsround Lite) aired from 2002 to 2005 and was filmed due to low ratings. The main program Newsround is still broadcast, although it has transformed due to the rapid development of the Internet. From 2020, it was decided to leave only the morning 8-minute issue.

Recalling the conditional "infotainment scale", the following example of the impact of the concept of merging information and entertainment is on its opposite side and tends to entertain content. Horrible History is a program that was launched at CBBC in 2009 and continues to be released today (it had production breaks, only 9 seasons). The stated audience is children from 6 to 12 years old, although the show quickly gained popularity among the older generation. Based on the books of the same name by Terry Deary, Peter Hepplewhite, and Neil Tonge. The literary original, like the TV version, was intended to arouse the interest of young viewers in studying history with humor and highlighting facts that are not usually included in traditional educational sources: details of monarchs' personal lives, strange traditions, details of famous deaths. For example, a humorous scene made the story of the Roman emperor Caligula about how and why he killed many people. The whole clip is dedicated to the fact that George IV could not stand his wife. A sketch in the form of a lesson at school is dedicated to "silly victorian names".

Horrible Histories fits perfectly into the format of infotainment programs: the ironic (and sometimes satirical) pathos of the program as a whole, the preference for stories through individuals, serious topics (such as women's struggle for the right to vote) on a par with the lungs are presented entertainingly. At the concept level, there is also an emphasis on infotainmentthemed topics - the life of "stars", ie famous historical figures (even if such a word was not used in their time), and stories related to crime or death in general. So, the spin-off program was called Gory Games, and the constant Chatty Deaths section tastes the details of the deaths of individuals who act as guests on the program in the genre of conversation. In addition, the themes of death, violence, toilet humor, and privacy are pervasive for the broadcast as a whole.

We can focus on the implementation of the game component in Horrible Histories. This is manifested not only in the obvious level of play of professional comedians but also in all other elements. We can focus on the implementation of the game component in Horrible Histories. This is manifested not only in the obvious level of play of professional comedians but also in all other elements. So, there is a synthesis of genre forms. The most commonly used genre is music video. Historical figures sing, read rap, dance, play musical instruments, there is a constant change of locations, there are attributes characteristic of this genre - spotlights, stage smoke, and more.

Very often the creators of Horrible Histories resort to parodies of journalistic genres. For example, the story of Napoleon is revealed through a talk show where his relatives are invited, Queen Victoria's story begins with an imitation of a sports show, where instead of sounding exercises sounds looped phrase: "Sit and rule" with a hint of her long reign. There are also parodies of reports from the scene, culinary shows, documentaries, and more. At the same time, they sometimes present modern interiors, presenters, and journalists with microphones and modern clothes. So you can see another game - at the level of the time category. The past intertwines with the present, resulting in unusual combinations: Cleopatra orders killers online, Queen Elizabeth I checks e-mails, has a page on a dating site, talks to potential candidates for the role of a man through a video call, and checks messages on social media. This guide to the game is supported at all levels of visual expression: ironic texts, music and noise inserts, animation, filming and editing techniques (black and white inserts, slow motion, the effect of online shooting, foreshortening, etc.).

If we talk about the other side of infotainment - the information component, the creators of the program scrupulously approach the historical facts. A historical consultant Greg Jenner said he found only 8 errors among more than 4,000 facts presented on the show. At the same time, according to journalistic standards, when errors were detected, the authors of the program tried to correct them and prevent repetitions of issues with inaccuracies. In some series, the most dissimilar facts are confirmed by the appearance of plaques with inscriptions. For example, "Saxons cleaned their clothes in wee!", "Toilets were really built on a bridge in London!". Creativity in presenting information is really impressive. So, the names of all British monarchs are collected in a rhythmic counter that is easy to remember.

The show has consistently high ratings and brought its creators many awards, including two British Comedy Awards and several BAFTA Children's Awards. Criticism of the program was largely positive, including that it was "educators as well as entertains [7] v. But some perceived the transfer ambiguously. Simon Hoggart in The Spectator wrote: «where the books make a rudimentary attempt to teach history as a series of interconnected events, the television show basically gags, chiefly about defecation, gluttony, murder, and torture. It's quite amusing, though whether it will pique an interest in the subject, or as some say merely encourage children to learn more about defecation, gluttony, murder, and torture, we cannot know [8]. We believe that the show still needs to be studied in detail to assess the impact on children's audiences given the constant violence and deaths in each of the issues because these things are shown as commonplace, which can have negative consequences in the future [9].

Thus, concluding the theoretical review of the concept and place of infotainment in the children's segment of television, we state the following: Infotainment is present in the children's segment of television since its inception. Those projects that consciously or not involve the concept of merging information and entertainment, have consistently high ratings and long life on the air, as well as consistently attract the attention of media critics and scholars; The directors of children's programs are based on the global trend of merging information and entertainment, as well as certain infotainment features, steel and use in journalism for adult audiences - instruction on the game, irony, changing the content of programs, person centrism, which in turn apply to all levels of pictorial and expressive means of the screen. From the point of view of psychologists, the aspect of how the involvement of techniques from genres for adult audiences (violence and death, contemptuous pathos, etc.) affects the still unstable children's worldview remains unexplored. Therefore, we offer you a practical study on the impact of infotainment on the children's segment of television, namely to determine the level of influence of the characteristics of children's infotainment on the formation of the psychological portrait of children [10].

Research methodology

Teachers of the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology of the Ukrainian Institute of Arts and Science were invited to study the impact of infotainment content on the children's television segment. A total of 24 teachers were involved, of which 16 are people with a degree in psychology and 8 people who have a degree in pedagogy, specializing in primary education. In addition to research and teaching staff, 5 psychologists were involved in the study. Using the method of expert survey, which provided a careful selection of experts involved in the topic of "formation of child psychology", as well as meet the criteria: competence (experience of at least 5 years), professionalism (at least two articles on the research topic) and practical activity (psychological work with children) an individual survey was conducted individually. As a result of the oral interview, the results of the research were summed up and the following graphic and written generalizations were made on the topic of the impact of infotainment on the children's segment of television. First, the features of children's infotainment, which makes it interesting for different age groups of children (Figure 1).

globalmediajournal-Characteristics

Figure 1: Characteristics of children's infotainment from the point of view of experts: psychologists and teachers.

As a result, we have key factors that due to these characteristics (Figure 1) significantly affect the young viewer, namely due to the holistic presentation of information on the content and form. Due to the plot, which is based on a close connection with the problems of childhood? However, it should be borne in mind that the importance of children's infotainment, ie the level of importance of information and emotional component has a key impact on children's audience from a psychological point of view. Table 1 was constructed for clarity of information presentation after an oral interview of experts (Table 1).

Signs of harmful children's infotainment Signs of useful children's infotainment
Saturated or bright color. The use of this technique exploits the ability of the child's psyche to respond to the brighter, that is, the main character with a bright color constantly leads the viewer without allowing distracting and thinking about the plot. The main character or characters are colored in such a way that children have the opportunity to comprehend the plot while watching, in other words, included an analytical center for the perception of information not only illustratively but also intellectually.
The main characters show signs of aggression, they intentionally or unintentionally harm the surrounding living beings or objects, while the heroes themselves are not responsible for the actions committed, moreover, do not care about the damage. Such stories motivate children not to think about the nature of their actions. The storyline is structured in such a way that it explains through the behavior of the characters, which actions lead to human injury, and which can harm not only living beings but also material objects. Through the demonstration of wrongdoing and the consequences after it, children develop a line of responsibility for wrongdoing.
The face of the main characters or heroines is the same, ie has the same shape. That is, due to the high frequency of impressions of the same type on the screen, it becomes an aesthetic and ethical stereotype. In this way, boys and girls will strive to look like they do not. The same goes for clothes and things that the main characters use. When in the storyline, the main characters change their hair, clothes, appearance, have pronounced emotional changes on the face during various situations - this lays the foundation for young viewers to the fact that life is changeable, fluid, there are no permanent or unchanging ideal forms. Therefore, the plot should not contain the ideality of one character with a constant facial expression, but the appearance of real life.
A vivid demonstration of life-threatening forms of child behavior that cannot be repeated in real life. Constantly watching such scenes motivates children to imitate the behavior of fearless heroes, lowers the threshold of sensitivity to dangerous acts, and leads to potential trauma. A clear division in the storyline into what is dangerous and potentially threatens the viewer's life. In other words, a vivid demonstration of what to follow and a verbal discussion in the story of what is dangerous to health. When the dangerous behavior of the hero does not have bright and interesting content, it loses its appeal to the viewer.

Table 1. Signs of harmful and useful children's infotainment.

Signs of harmful children's infotainment Signs of useful children's infotainment

Saturated or bright color. The use of this technique exploits the ability of the child's psyche to respond to the brighter, that is, the main character with a bright color constantly leads the viewer without allowing distracting and thinking about the plot. The main character or characters are colored in such a way that children have the opportunity to comprehend the plot while watching, in other words, included an analytical centre for the perception of information not only illustratively but also intellectually.

The main characters show signs of aggression, they intentionally or unintentionally harm the surrounding living beings or objects, while the heroes themselves are not responsible for the actions committed, moreover, do not care about the damage. Such stories motivate children not to think about the nature of their actions. The storyline is structured in such a way that it explains through the behavior of the characters, which actions lead to human injury, and which can harm not only living beings but also material objects. Through the demonstration of wrongdoing and the consequences after it, children develop a line of responsibility for wrongdoing.

The face of the main characters or heroines is the same, ie has the same shape. That is, due to the high frequency of impressions of the same type on the screen, it becomes an aesthetic and ethical stereotype. In this way, boys and girls will strive to look like they do not. The same goes for clothes and things that the main characters use. When in the storyline, the main characters change their hair, clothes, appearance, have pronounced emotional changes on the face during various situations - this lays the foundation for young viewers to the fact that life is changeable, fluid, there are no permanent or unchanging ideal forms. Therefore, the plot should not contain the ideality of one character with a constant facial expression, but the appearance of real life.

A vivid demonstration of life-threatening forms of child behavior that cannot be repeated in real life. Constantly watching such scenes motivates children to imitate the behavior of fearless heroes, lowers the threshold of sensitivity to dangerous acts,and leads to potential trauma. A clear division in the storyline into what is dangerous and potentially threatens the viewer's life. In other words, a vivid demonstration of what to follow and a verbal discussion in the story of what is dangerous to health. When the dangerous behavior of the hero does not have bright and interesting content, it loses its appeal to the viewer.

In addition to Table 1, namely the content of useful children's infotainment, experts noted the following recommendations: for pre-schoolers is useful content in which the child can answer a question, because in this case starts the thought process, works logic, eyes rest and moisturize, there is a development of speech. If we are talking about primary school children (grades 1-4), then for them effective infotainment is called "problem stories". Such stories teach how to do to children in a given situation. However, another equally useful tip is to watch TV content without words or only accompanied by music. For children who already speak well, it will help to model and understand the situations in which the main characters find themselves. For children who have not yet learned to speak well, they need to show content in clear and understandable language, but this language must be ethically accepted and suitable for everyday use. It should also be added that multi-therapy performs several important functions for children (Figure 2).

globalmediajournal-Functions

Figure 2: Functions of multi-therapy with the content of children's infotainment (Alieksieienko 2020).

children had the opportunity to play with it, they in 90% of cases transferred behavior from the screen and behaved aggressively while playing with the doll, but those children who did not watch the TV show with the doll played with it without the use of cruelty, but rather according to the model of the behavior of mother and child (dressed, wrapped, fed, etc.). In other words, the positive impact on the development of child content with useful content of infotainment is objectively necessary for the digital age, but the regulation of infotainment by professionals and parents will save the child's psychology from the destructive effects of destructive factors.

Conclusions

Thus, in our study, we attempted to assess the impact of the global infotainment trend on the children's television segment. In our opinion, this issue can be considered in a broader and narrower sense. In the first case, infotainment is synonymous with edutainment. The increase in the share of children's educational programs coincides with the emergence of the concept of merging information and entertainment. Like infotainment programs aimed at adults, children's TV shows with a strong educational function are in great demand among viewers. The examples of long-lived programs Sesame Street and Die Sendung mit der Maus confirm this. A narrower understanding of the impact of infotainment on the children's segment of television products is to borrow the basic features and techniques of the concept, both those that contribute to the entertainment of the audience, and those that contribute to the information function.

Regarding the assessment of the impact of infotainment content on the children's segment of television, we can draw the following conclusions based on a survey of experts. First, children's infotainment is useful, accessible, and necessary in today's realities due to the meaningful and comprehensive content, especially illustrative animation of objects. Secondly, the lack of pedagogical and psychological elaboration of the content of infotainment before showing it to children leads to oversaturation with destructive elements of children's TV content, which destroys the child's personality rather than forming a holistic psychological portrait. Therefore, according to the recommendations of psychologists and educators, the lack of focus and bright colors on the destructive and illogical actions of the protagonists, while the emphasis on colors and positive, logical, formative, ethical, etc. actions of the protagonists will help young viewers keep their identity from negative influences and make the most of all the possibilities of useful children's infotainment through TV shows, cartoons, animations, etc. The imagery and color of children's infotainment are the leading means of forming a child's picture of the world around him, based on which an indicative model of behavior in society is built. With the help of TV content, the child understands the problems and difficulties of the protagonist, their causes, and consequences. Learns to analyze their behavior in similar situations. Trying to comment and discuss with adults the seen stories and so on.

Thus, we believe that the topic of the impact of infotainment on children's television programs needs further study. The techniques of the concept are in themselves neutral shells and do not have a fixed model, which is their appeal to the inexhaustibility of creative potential. But in a specific context, given the author's content, they can become both the right tools for creative and easy presentation of information and dangerous tools to influence the unformed children's worldview.

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