Latest News on Children and the Media

Professor Sonia Livingstone to visit Sydney August 29, 2017

International expert on children's and young people's digital practice, Professor Sonia Livingstone from the London School of Economics, will be visiting Sydney from 6-8 September. Events planned include: Public lecture: Children's rights in the digital age.Thursday 7 September 4pm-5.30pm, Parramatta City. Research symposium: Thinking the read more »

Children's Book Week 19-26 August 2017 August 21, 2017

Each year at this time across Australia, the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) brings children and books together to celebrate CBCA Children’s Book Week. During this time schools, libraries, booksellers, authors, illustrators and children celebrate Australian children's literature. This year's theme is Escape to everywhere. More information, including the read more »

Celebrate Studio Ghibli August 21, 2017

From August 24, Australians will have a chance to view a month-long showcase of the best of this renowned Japanese animation studio. Headed by  Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli has carved itself a name as one of the giants of animation, creating international favourites including Ponyo, My Neighbour Totoro (1988), read more »

Read the latest E-Bulletin August 17, 2017

The ACCM E-Bulletin 17 August 2017 is now available. Read it here Sign up to receive the fortnightly E-Bulletin on Facebook or with the form on our Contact page read more »

Australian and Children’s Screen Content Review: Consultation paper released August 14, 2017

The Australian and Children’s Content Review is inviting responses to a discussion paper which was released last week. Responses are due by Wednesday 20 September. The Consultation Paper can be accessed here. read more »

Australian children’s television viewing and multi-screen behaviour - new ACMA report August 7, 2017

A new Australian Communications and Media Authority research report, Children’s television viewing and multi-screen behaviour, examines the viewing habits of Australian children in the context of a multi-screen environment. A TV set is the device most frequently used to view children’s programs for those aged 0–14. YouTube, Netflix and free-to-air television read more »

Study backs claims re the effects of TV series about suicide August 3, 2017

Following its release earlier this year, the series 13 Reasons Why was blamed for an increased number of calls to helplines in Australia. Now a study published in the American Medical Association's journal, JAMA Internal Medicine, reports a large increase in suicide-related searches in the days after the show's release. read more »

A monster calls - a great film, but not for children! August 3, 2017

Parents are warned that the PG rating, with the consumer guidelines Mild themes and violence, some scenes may scare children, given by the Australian Classification Board to the film A monster calls could be deceptive.  The "mild themes" include a young boy with a mother dying of cancer, while the scenes that are likely read more »

US study finds 50% of apps for children fail to protect their data. August 1, 2017

Researchers from the US based Usable Security & Privacy group at the International Computer Science Institute tested more than 5,000 of the most popular apps aimed at children under 13 and found that half of them were failing to protect data. They report that the apps they examined appeared to read more »

Read the latest E-Bulletin July 27, 2017

The ACCM E-Bulletin 27 July 2017 is now available. Read it here Sign up to receive the fortnightly E-Bulletin on Facebook or with the form on our Contact page read more »

Are our TV & film classifications adequate? And what about Netflix? July 13, 2017

Professor Elizabeth Handsley, President of ACCM, was interviewed on this topic by Dee Dee Dunleavy and Peter Stubbs on the Talking Lifestyle Breakfast show on 12 July 2017. Listen to the interview here She also spoke to Ali Clarke on the same topic on the Morning Show on ABC local read more »

Read the latest E-Bulletin July 6, 2017

The ACCM E-Bulletin 6 July 2017 is now available. Read it here Sign up to receive the fortnightly E-Bulletin on Facebook or with the form on our Contact page read more »

ACCM Helpline closing: other contact options more effective June 29, 2017

ACCM’s national freecall Helpline has been phased out from June 30, as most customers prefer to contact us by email or social media. If you have any feedback, questions or requests for help, please go to the Contact us page on this website or find us on Facebook. read more »

Screen time: What's happening in our homes? June 21, 2017

The latest Australian Child Health Poll Screen time: what's happening in our homes? was released today. The poll found that almost all Australian teenagers, two-thirds of primary school-aged children and one-third of preschoolers own their own tablet or smartphone. Many children also have their own social media accounts and read more »

Violence in the Media - a selection of video recordings from our conference in 2016 June 15, 2017

On Monday 18th July, 2016, the Australian Council on Children and the Media partnered with the Children and Families Research Centre at Macquarie University to present a one day conference in Sydney on Violence in the Media. Generation Next produced the following video recording of a selection of the presentations including: read more »