The television world is an abnormal one

From the Young Minds annual lecture given by Jon Snow, presenter of Channel 4 News at the Institute of Child Health, London

One of the most telling things about working in TV is becoming a parent and seeing what happens to your own children. My one-year-old started with the conviction that I was in some way in there, and she would hunt about behind the box when I appeared in an attempt to communicate with me. That started a trail worth exploring: what very young children make of images appearing in the box.

One of the most telling things about working in TV is becoming a parent and seeing what happens to your own children. My one-year-old started with the conviction that I was in some way in there, and she would hunt about behind the box when I appeared in an attempt to communicate with me. That started a trail worth exploring: what very young children make of images appearing in the box.

The people who are involved in constructing what goes into the box really never think about children, other than those who make children's programmes. The child is exposed to much more than just children's TV, over and above what is tailored for them. Yet there is no discussion about children. When you sit round the commissioning table, the effect on children never forms any part of the discussion.

The watershed is a moment that everyone is trying to break. It is never referred to as a safeguard, but as a moment that places constraints on the programme-makers, sent down from some regulatory authority and nothing whatever to do with what might be helpful or constructive. The discussion is always "can we get away with it?" This is a most extraordinary thing.

Because their working hours are so antisocial, very few television operatives are connected to the wider community. They are caught up in a view of society that is unconnected with the reality of how people live the rest of their lives. And they are the people who, more than anybody, need to be connected to the community.

It's an abnormal world. They are relatively socially dysfunctional - and the most dysfunctional are the ones highest up the pyramid. They have only got there by dedicating more hours than the next man (and they are mostly men). Most live a single life, or a partnered one that has no contact with children, and that makes for very little sympathy with - or for how the product may affect - the child.

It is rare that children of the operative ever play a part in the discussion - it would be dangerous to volunteer a thought about how something might affect a child.

I was a reporter with News at Ten. I found that having children began to impact on my being able to cover wars. You began to see the suffering you were reporting in your own children - you pictured your own children. People who had no connection with children could make jokes about a dead child as a defence mechanism.

You're not going through that struggle in a corporate sense when you determine what a child may be subject to when they switch on the TV.

However, there are some really good moments in TV that are made to to connect with children. Both the BBC and Channel 4 produce wonderful schools programmes. I'm involved in a children's news programme. It's a very interesting way to see what is important to a child. I am always uplifted by the way that children are very connected to what's going on. We often underestimate how much theymake of the world around them.Though they are regarded as old fashioned, programmes such as Blue Peter and Newsround are seen by children as a major source of news information. They don't like to admit it - but they just happen to come on immediately before something else that they want to see. And Newsround has very likeable figures.

We know that children are watching TV on a massive scale - 28 hours per week minimum. I wonder what the child makes of the exploitation of nakedness. I'm fully in favour of transparency. The trouble is, having a debate means that you are accused of being a prude. I would just like to know what impact it is having on children.

What effect did Big Brother have on children? That was not a question that was asked, but children made up a vast proportion of those who watched it. Yet it was a weird and eerie thing. It doesn't matter what time it goes out.