ABSTRACT
For years, the children's beat was the Rodney Dangerfield of American newsrooms - it got no respect. Covering politics or City Hall was the journalist's dream job, and few wanted to get sidetracked into the low-status, soft-news backwater of kids. After decades of neglect, the media are finally beginning to cover children and families as serious topics, pushed by audience interest and growing national concern about the welfare of children. New print and broadcast projects focusing on children are popping up everywhere, in media markets both big and small. The kidsbeat is on the front lines of pivotal national issues and on the front pages. The good news is that editors are increasingly recognizing that the complex forces shaping children's lives today are front-burner issues for their readers, viewers and listeners, and they are critical links to America's future as a competitive nation.
