Denne antologi beskæftiger sig fra forskellige tilgangsvinkler med forholdet mellem børn, unge og medier. Antologien udspringer af det nordiske forskernætverk Børn, unge og medier, (BUM). De enkelte artikler præsenterer aspekter af de faglige diskussioner, som er foregået i netværkets regi, hvorfor antologien kan betragtes som en erfaringsopsamling på det nordiske samarbejde. Bidragene beskæftiger sig med forholdet mellem børn, unge og medier, set ud fra et grønlandsk, et islandsk, et norsk, et svensk og et dansk perspektiv.

This chapter studies the perceptions of children among the commissioning editors responsible for children’s television at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, DR. Taking as a starting point the historical evolvement of Danish children’s television, the chapter provides a framework to understand commissioners’ perceptions of children as an audience within the transforming logic of public broadcasting. Empirically, the study relies on interviews with commissioners of children’s television at DR. The analysis illustrates how increased competition, media professionalism, and digitalisation influence how the young audience is perceived. Before the turn of the century, children were considered as representatives of informed future citizens; the current view primarily perceives children as media users whom media professionals in public service companies consider as competent partners, in order to stay relevant and attract and keep as many young viewers and users as possible.

Scandinavian children and adolescents’ media consumption has changed dramatically in the past decade. Films, series, and social media content on global platforms like Netflix, Disney+, and YouTube are now a major part of young people’s media diet, while encounters with domestic films, series, and platforms are in decline, severely challenging the ways domestic players think about young audiences. The contributions in this book explore these recent developments in the production, distribution, as well as reception of fictional content for children and adolescent audiences in the thoroughly digitalised and transnationalised Scandinavian countries. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, such as interviews, case studies, textual analyses, and surveys, the contributors present recent studies on how commissioners and producers develop children’s content in the highly competitive, professionalised, and digitalised media environment, and on how children think about Scandinavian vis-à-vis global content. Collectively, the book offers readers new knowledge on how Scandinavian media distributors, producers, and creatives – and their young audiences – act in the face of this new reality. This book is relevant for scholars, students, and industry professionals with an interest in children and adolescents, culture, and media.

This chapter outlines some of the many recent changes and pressing issues to consider when studying the production, distribution, and reception of audiovisual content for children and adolescents in the current Scandinavian media industries. Building on the work of media scholars Anthony Smith and Roberta Pearson, the chapter addresses five main specificities to consider: medium, national, institutional, technological, and audience specificities, the last being particularly important when thinking about content for a quite specific audience, such as children and young people. The chapter ends by introducing the individual chapters of the book.