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Amy Jordan, Ph.D.

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Amy Jordan on Children and Electronic Media

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Amy Jordan, director of the Media and the Developing Child sector of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, has authored “Children’s Media Policy,” the final article in the latest issue of the journal The Future of Children, which is devoted exclusively to children and electronic media.

The journal is a collaboration of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and The Brookings Institution in Washington.

In her article, Dr. Jordan addresses the philosophical tension between constitutional protections and government regulation of content and delivery systems for children’s media.

"On the one hand, Americans highly value the First Amendment, which guarantees media makers’ right to free speech,” writes Jordan. “On the other hand, Americans recognize that exposure to much of this protected speech – for example, graphic sex or gratuitous violence – can be detrimental to children’s psychological, social, and physical well-being.”

Other subjects explored by scholars in the Future of Children issue include online communication, social marketing campaigns, media and children’s aggression, fear and altruism, and media and risky behaviors.

On April 23, The Brookings Institution hosted a public event on Children and the Electronic Media in Washington. Jordan participated in a panel discussion on the role of government and policy. A second panel focused on positive media campaigns.