Jean Lotus

Jean Lotus, a mother of five children, has studied the effects of children's television and the TV industry for a decade. She founded the White Dot International Anti-Television Campaign in 1996.

Since then, Lotus has observed a shift in US parents' attitudes toward television; We grew up with TV, but we don't entirely trust our own children with it. Today's parents are concerned about television's relentless commercial messages, as well as studies implicating early TV watching in several US children's health crises: from obesity to ADHD. For the past 10 years Lotus has been sharing and collecting tips and tricks to help parents raise healthy, happy children in no-TV or low-TV households.

Previously Published:
Get A Life: the Little Red Book of the White Dot Anti-Television Movement with co-author David Burke (1998, Bloomsbury Publishing). From 1996 to 2000 she self-published the zine White Dot: Survival Guide for the TV-Free.  Over 4 years (12 issues) White Dot had close to 4,000 subscribers. White Dot organizes International TV-Turnoff Week ( April 23-29, 2007)  in Great Britain and Europe. 

Other Experience:
Lotus is a former Gannett journalist (Lafayette (Ind.) Journal and Courier)  She has appeared as guest columnist for TV trade magazine Electronic Media (Crain Communications, Chicago). She publishes parenting and opinion pieces in various on-line journals.

Public Speaking:
Lotus gives presentations about the No TV lifestyle to students, retirees, media education and civic groups including:  The American Farm Bureau Federation Leadership Conference,  Chapel Hill, NC, 1998; "Culture, Education and Media: Vital Solutions" 1998 Albuquerque, NM; University of Chicago, The Chicago Serra Club, 1999; Proviso West High School 2002, 2003, 2004. She also speaks at local Waldorf schools.

Television
She has appeared on TV and radio numerous times, including: CNN Today (twice) O'Reilly Report, WTTW Chicago Tonight and Channel 55 Chicago, BBC2 and Australian Broadcasting Television, BBC WorldService, and many other BBC affiliates as well as local radio stations in with shock jock Mancow in Chicago, and in Ohio, New York, Denver, Utah, Kentucky, South Africa and Argentina. 

Newspapers and Magazines
People OnLine, Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, USA Today, Reuters International,  New York Post, San Jose Mercury News, Atlanta Constitution, Arizona Republic, New Orleans Times-Picayune,  Folio, Your Health Magazine, Parents, Chicago Parent, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Scholastic Scope, Steubenville, OH, Valley Life, Fort Collins Coloradoan, Lafayette Journal and Courier, Chicago Reader, San Diego Union-Tribune British Press: The Times, The Sunday Times, Times Education Supplement, Sussex Today, Evening Standard, Daily Telegraph, Observer Review, Observer, Spectator, Sunday Mail, the Pulse, Sunday Post, Independent, the Scotsman  International Press: The Indian Express (Bombay), freundin (German magazine) OnsDag (Sweden) Toronto Globe and Mail, Pravda.ru, China Daily (Beijing)

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