Edutainment in Children’s Television Programming: a Content Analysis of ‘big Minds Childrens Programme’ on Kbc Channel 1

Abstract

Media plays a critical role in forming and influencing people’s attitudes and behaviour. Media is essentially relevant in increasing society’s awareness and response to social calls. This is mainly because mass media has the capacity to simultaneously reach many people who are not related to the sender. The Mass media, therefore, presents the opportunity to communicate to a large number of people and particular target groups. The media can therefore positively influence public, professional and political responses to the circumstances in which children and young people find themselves. This study therefore sought to examine how edutainment is represented by television programmes. Specifically, the study focused on KBC premier magazine programme Big Minds.The study sought to assess how the Big Minds program has ensured the key objectives of media of educating, entertaining and informing have been captured by the programme. The study utilized a mixed methods research design. The study population is the Big Minds programme. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to select 13 episodes of Big Minds Childrens’Programme of two hours each per episode. Quantitative data was collected using tabulation sheets while qualitative data was obtained using interview guides. Quantitative data obtained was analyzed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data obtained was analyzed thematically by coding of the various items in the programme. The target population for this study constituted previewing and analysing edutainment content in the ‘Big Minds’ Children’s programme. Approval to carry out the study was sought from University of Nairobi’s School of Journalism. The researcher obtained informed consent from the study participants before the interview commenced. The findings of this study are significant in addressing the current needs in children’s media content and programming and interrogate the relevance of Big Minds programme