Screen Media for Arab and European Children: Policy and Production Encounters in the Multiplatform Era

The rapid uptake of mobile technology worldwide (see Kemp 2020) has led to an unprecedented number of households owning and using a multitude of screen devices, both conventional (radio, television) and new (laptops, smartphones or tablets) to access media content. Being brought up in a media saturated society, children too have become accustomed to using multiple screens for a numerous activites, at home and at school. While it is true that some television programmes are still preferred by children, it also true that children's viewing habits are increasingly changing, with children largely watching and accessing media content on mobile devices (Ofcom 2019). As children’s media and viewing practices are changing, a burgeoning interest in understanding the practice of producing content that reaches younger audiences has emerged.

Sakr and Steemers’ ‘Screen Media for Arab and European Children: Policy and Production Encounters in the Multiplatform Era’ is one of a growing number of works, that explore children’s screen media production, distribution and policy. The unique nature of the book, however, lies in the fact that it offers a compelling synthesis of the cross-cultural connections in the process of sourcing, creating and disseminating screen content for children; examining screen productions from two parts of the world that are not typically addressed together, namely the Arab regions and Europe. In doing so, the book aims to raise awareness of the current challenges of producing screen media for children, whilst at the same time stimulate dialogue and enhance collaboration between Arab and European countries. Furthermore, as the authors put it:

‘The book focuses on sources of funding and ideas in the creation and delivery of content targeted at children and, by examining some examples of collaboration, seeks to understand whether and how finance and ideas interact across territories and cultures, and for whose benefits’ (3).

The book, divided into 6 chapters, is a companion to ‘Children and Screen Media in Changing Arab Contexts: An Ethnographic Perspective’ (Sabry and Mansour 2019) and uses data from two different research projects: Orientations in the Development of Pan-Arab Television for Children (2012–2016) and Collaborative Development of Children’s Screen Content in an Era of Forced Migration Flows: Facilitating Arab-European Dialogue (2017–2018). The authors strive against taking a country, regional or ethno-centric approach in their extensive analysing of screen content policy and production initiatives. Instead, they take a ‘children centric’ approach in their research endeavour, making astrong case for children’s involvement in the creative process.

One way to understand and navigate the book is by subdividing it into two parts. The first part, containing chapters one to four, explores the type of content available to children on multiple screens and platforms and ways of regulating screen media in Arab and European countries. The wider scope of this first part is to provide an outline for the book and a clear understanding of how children from these two regions are connected, through the content they are consuming. Moreover, in a very meticulous manner, the authors identify and analyse major regulatory bodies from both regions and a series of ‘collaborative initiatives between regulatory bodies aimed at reducing disparities in European and Arab regulatory approaches’ (45).

Though one may not anticipate this when start reading this book, there are many similarities in the screen content available to children in Arab and European countries. One potential surprising finding is that mainstream productions available to US and European children are also widely available to Arab children, with the largest proportion of this content still consisting of Euro- American animation, most of it produced in the US with only some French, British, Italian or Canadian productions (38).

The second part of the book, including chapters 5 and 6, looks at how children are represented on screen and how involved they are in the decision-making process. These two chapters are what distinguishes the book from all the other publications seeking to provide an insight into children’s media practices through media studies research. Chapter 5 explores how European media institutions deal with immigration, diversity and multiculturalism and makes a plea for broadcasters and producers to ensure children content is diverse and more inclussive. Chapter 6 further investigates the use of screen media to provide visibility for immigrant and refugee children, and powerfully demonstrates that certain groups of children remain invisible on screen. This extensive investigation into how best to manage diversity in children screen content concludes by advancing the idea that producers must ‘find the resources and insights to engage children as “stakeholders” more effectively’ (121) in order to ensure accurate representation and diversity on screen.

Sakr and Steemers’ book is a great example of international scholarship and should stand as an exemplar of good research for those who truly want to understand children’s screen media. The book convincingly demonstrates that research should always go beyond the national context in order to fully understand children’s media practices and consumption behaviours and get an insight into the real challenges of producing and distributing screen media for children. In fact, the question guiding the book ‘How do commissioners and producers of children’s screen content respond to populations flows that are changing the composition of child audiences (…)?’ (3) should be a question that any producer should ask in relation to their country. In an era of digital screen culture, this transnational comparative approach of the book is commendable and contributes to advancing the scholarship in the area of children’s media by showing how children’s use of screen media is interwoven in various contexts and how content restrictions initiatives and regulatory efforts should become global in order to achieve the desired effect.

‘Screen Media for Arab and European Children: Policy and Production Encounters in the Multiplatform Era’ is a engrossing read that would benefit any scholar and media practitioner interested in understanding diversity in children’s media production. At the same time, the book would be a good addition to the reading list of any graduate and postgraduate course on modern childhood, media studies or media production.