In light of "Mr. Bubbles," a case of a preschool operator who was accused and vindicated of sexually assaulting children, this study examined the public image of child care in western Sydney, Australia. Prime time television was reviewed for 1 week, with all channels monitored at least 5 hours per day, concentrating on prime time day and evening time slots. Video stores were searched for films portraying child care situations. From newspapers and tabloids, 100 articles referring to care and education of preschool children were analyzed. Also, 100 persons were surveyed regarding their image of child care. Findings revealed that child care use portrayed on television was nonexistent, whimsical, or misleading. Videos reflected anti-professional, negative, and evil images (e.g., Kindergarten Cop, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle). In the print media, negative images of child care outweighed positive images, with child care most frequently portrayed as an employment-related issue connected to economic rationalism. Slightly over half the respondents in the survey had a negative impression of child care and only 10 percent had positive comments about it. A large majority (80 percent) did not see a need for child care providers having a professional status, thought that child care was not well represented in the media (98 percent), and mentioned that abuse is the area that they hear about most (68 percent). (Contains eight references.) (KDFB)