This article examines children's television production discourses. It first contextualises how regulations in New Zealand shape the children's broadcasting environment, then it asks producers of children's programs to describe how they go about creating public service programs for children within a complex media political economy. Several questions are addressed, with a key one examining how producers imagine their audiences and construct appropriate public spaces for them within the current constraints of funding and advertising regulation. The field research is based on extended face-to-face interviews conducted in 2009 with producers, a free-to-air television programmer and the television managers for the two funding agencies, New Zealand On Air (NZOA) and Te Māngai Pāho (Māori language media funding).
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HoeyNicole, executive producer of Pukana, Saturday 4.00 p.m. on the Māori Television Service, Sunday 9.00 a.m. TV3 with subtitles, Māori language show funded by Te Māngai Pāho. English subtitles funded by New Zealand On Air, www.pukana.co.nz/Kainga.aspx
MorrellJanine, executive producer of What Now? Shown on Sunday, 8.00–10.00 a.m. This is the longest running children's show in New Zealand. It began in the early 1980s, www.whatnow.tv. Also executive producer of The Erin Simpson Show on TV2 at 4.30–5.00 p.m. on weekdays, www.erinsimpsonshow.tv
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A spokesperson for Sport and Recreation New Zealand'sHealthy Eating, Healthy Action social marketing program.
