A number of tenets were reinforced during the recent Japan Prize held under the auspices of NHK broadcasting.

The week-long gathering of children’s media producers, educators and fans of animation, kiddie programs and games made the pilgrimage to Tokyo and was, as usual, fully satiated with the offerings.

What re-emerged as hallmarks of educational television were universal appeal and global utility. If a program bore these two essential ingredients, it had a generally good amount of chance to be noticed.

Not all educational programs have to be didactic, pedagogical or blatantly instructional, it was emphasized. Consequently, not all cooking shows have to show recipes and step by step cooking. They can sometimes just feature tips on how to prolong the freshness of vegetables during hot summers or show the origins of barbecue skewers, for instance.

This year, the number of entries had grown considerably and competition was even fiercer than before. Countries, rich and poor, tried to outdo not only the traditional winners but even themselves.
The Philippines gave a fair showing this year, chalking up two semi-final slots out of six entries.

PINOY PROGRAMS MADE IT

Knowledge Channel’s entries, Negosyo Ko, Asenso Ko and Salam: Basketball did not pass the initial screenings as did ABS-CBN’s Sineskwela. (Of this last entry in the continuing series competition, someone tipped us that it was a format “too overused and therefore lacked originality.”)

The Jesuit Communication Foundation’s solo entry “Ang Pinakamagandang Pasko” also did not merit approval and was quickly waylaid in the eliminations.

Only two Filipino made program reached the finals and enjoyed a public screening. They were GMA Network’s Ka-Blog Peeps Special and ABS-CBN’s rehash of a Karen Davila documentary titled “Ang Hirap Matuto”.

Davila’s work was praised for its profundity but seemed to have been ill-entered. It was all about an adult dealing with problems besetting children but somehow did not pass the criteria set for the Primary Education level. Had it been entered in either the Welfare or Issues categories, it may have fared better. The program’s content was familiar to the Thai, Nepali and Chinese delegates who said it could have been a story from their own countries since they shared the same problems.

KA-BLOG SAVES THE DAY

One could say that Ka-Blog saved the day for the Philippines because of an engaging, visually
rich and fast paced entry.

The production team from GMA chose to select the best snippets from a number of episodes and strung them together as a special. Being familiar with the program format and the issues featured in the show, it was easy for us to track down the development and ride along with the style.

It was difficult to say the same for the rest who were unfamiliar with the program’s intent. Viewers felt they were being jarred by the confusing segues into unrelated clips. Ka-Blog’s producers obviously wanted to present a smorgasbord of issues in an entertaining fashion but failed to take into account that it was a motley international audience and jury unfamiliar with the show that was to view it with a critical eye.

Once again, the Philippines did not win a single award and the dearth had been felt for many years now. Two programs making it to the finals this year is a promising turn of events, however.

Perhaps next year, one proud Pinoy producer will come upstage and be honored by Japan’s Crown Prince?

(If interested in the advocacy for family-friendly television, visit anaktvweb.com or email the foundation at anaktv_seal@yahoo.com)