Books are `Littler' Than TV: American and German Children Talk About Different Media

American and German children were asked to reflect and talk about picture books, television and radio. Three findings of this research are noteworthy. Firstly, media awareness, which is influenced by developmental mechanisms, could already be observed in three- and four-year-olds. Secondly, there were significant differences between American and German children in their judgement of, and knowledge about, media. These results can be explained by differences in the media presentations of the two countries. Thirdly, `heavy' viewers judged TV better than `light' viewers but knew less about it.