Zig Zag radio: the foundations of a public Internet radio for children in Portugal

Authors

Abstract

Children and media are today a reasonably developed research field. However, little research has been conducted on children and radio. This paper aims to contribute to the debate on radio for children in the digital age by analysing Zig Zag, a Portuguese public Internet radio for a child audience aged 5 to 9, launched in 2016. It seeks to answer the question: what are the principles and objectives that guide the creation and development of a public radio for children? Based on interviews with the professionals who make this radio, plus the former director, is analysed how it is produced, its principal goals, the criteria that guide its programming, and the values to which it aspires as a public service broadcaster. The results show an effort to produce programmes aligned with the public service mission. Zig Zag team is committed with children, concerned with empowering them and fostering their citizenship.

Author Biographies

Sara Pereira, Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho, Portugal

SARA PEREIRA is an Associate Professor with habilitation at the Department of Communication Sciences and researcher at the Communication and Society Research Centre at the University of Minho. She teaches Curricular Units on Media Education/Media Literacy, Children and Media, and Media Audiences in graduate and postgraduate courses. She has been coordinating several research projects on media literacy and on young people and media. She co-coordinates the Media and Information Literacy Observatory (MILObs) and she is co-author of “Ouvido Crítico”, a weekly Media Literacy radio programme. Currently, she is chair of the Media Education Research section at IAMCR – International Association for Media and Communication Research.

Marisa Mourão

MARISA MOURÃO is a PhD student at the University of Minho, Portugal (doctoral program in Communication Sciences) and holds a master’s degree in Communication Sciences from the University of Minho, with a dissertation on the potential of radio in promoting media literacy in school. She is a member of the Communication and Society Research Centre (CECS) at the University of Minho, and her main areas of research are related to media and citizenship, particularly, media education/media literacy and children and media. She is also a member of the Think Tank of CECS, Communitas, and was directly involved in its conception and development. She is also a member of the Media and Information Literacy Observatory (MILObs).

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Published

2024-12-31

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 39 (2024): Estudos em Comunicação

Section

Artigos

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