This study intends to examine why the Swedish children’s programme Bolibompa is produced the way it is during a larger catastrophe. Our intention was to find out how the editorial staff, in the children’s department in the public service television of Sweden (SVT),was handling the Estonia disaster, the September 11 attacks and the Asian Tsunami. To accomplish that, we first had to find out how the children’s programme looked during these catastrophes and also understand how the editorial staff was working with children’s programme during ordinary days. To achieve our purpose we have been interviewing five persons from SVT, who was involved in producing the children’s programme during these three catastrophes. The method we used was qualitative research interview and theories of socialisation, media effects, social responsibility and theories of rhetoric mass media guided our study. We found out that the editorial staff was producing the children’s programme differently during each catastrophe. When the Estonia disaster occurred, the children’s programme was delayed because of extended news. Next to the children’s programme a host was talking directly to the children trying to explain the accident. The day after the September 11 attacks the host of the children’s programme was discussing the catastrophe with invited guests in the TV studio. The editorial staff thought that many children were frightened at the time and that explains why they decided to keep a conversation. During the Asian Tsunami, SVT was broadcasting a Christmas special, and the children’s programmes weren’t changed at all,mostly because a break in the Christmas series would cause a lot of problems.

<p>This study intends to examine why the Swedish children’s programme Bolibompa is produced the way it is during a larger catastrophe. Our intention was to find out how the editorial staff, in the children’s department in the public service television of Sweden (SVT),was handling the Estonia disaster, the September 11 attacks and the Asian Tsunami. To accomplish that, we first had to find out how the children’s programme looked during these catastrophes and also understand how the editorial staff was working with children’s programme during ordinary days.</p><p>To achieve our purpose we have been interviewing five persons from SVT, who was involved in producing the children’s programme during these three catastrophes. The method we used was qualitative research interview and theories of socialisation, media effects, social responsibility and theories of rhetoric mass media guided our study.</p><p>We found out that the editorial staff was producing the children’s programme differently during each catastrophe. When the Estonia disaster occurred, the children’s programme was delayed because of extended news. Next to the children’s programme a host was talking directly to the children trying to explain the accident. The day after the September 11 attacks the host of the children’s programme was discussing the catastrophe with invited guests in the TV studio. The editorial staff thought that many children were frightened at the time and that explains why they decided to keep a conversation. During the Asian Tsunami, SVT was broadcasting a Christmas special, and the children’s programmes weren’t changed at all,mostly because a break in the Christmas series would cause a lot of problems.</p>