Joshua Meyrowitz has made one interesting point here. But, he says, these studies tend to stop at a confirmation that children find it difficult to explain or understand what they are watching. But further research suggests that children are naturally inquisitive and are constantly engaged in attempts to understand and make some kind of sense out of their viewing. Even though they could not actually explain the differences verbally. The suggestion is that young children can be surprisingly sophisticated in such matters.
Television allows the young a window on the adult world.
It provides them with the impetus to ask their elders for explanations of what they are seeing. This is particularly the case with news programmes. During my researches I came across a curious survey carried out by Cedric Cullingford on this subject matter. This was an analysis of some 215 school children aged between 7 and 11 in a selection of, both state and private schools throughout England. They were also across the spectrum of ethnic and social backgrounds and a general mix of boys and girls.