The reasoning of Ian Prince, Editor of Newsround

Someone else received an almost identical email last February and posted it on a web forum.

Ian Prince says that Newsround is aimed specifically at primary school children, the same audience as Blue Peter, and that they have a responsibility to make a programme which is accessible for viewers who may be as young as five or six.

He goes on: "Dealing with any subject which is of a sexual nature - irrespective of orientation - is a particular challenge for us or any other children's programme due to the different age range and levels of comprehension among the CBBC audience."

Mr Prince has made the mistake of seeing gay and lesbian people in sexual terms, a common thing to do (see Elizabeth Atkinson's article), but it indicates homophobic prejudice, especially so when you look at Newsround's relaxed reporting of heterosexual adult relationships. For example, on 2 November 2005 viewers heard Lizo talk about the next Harry Potter film where "things get pretty steamy" between Harry and his "love interest" Cho Chang.

According to Mr Prince, same sex relationships are not taught as part of Sex Education until secondary school, which is not their target audience. I'm not certain about this but I don't think that the Iraq War is taught in primary schools, nor the rudiments of elephant polo but that doesn't prevent the items from being reported.

Ian Prince goes on to say that they receive many emails from adults and pressure groups who want Newsround to reflect a different agenda, however they are more likely to respond to emails from an eight year old who is in their target audience.

More from the email soon.