Newsround often asks viewers to email their comments on issues. A few kids get their emails read out on the programme, along with their age, and after a while it is clear that the majority of emails read out are from kids aged 12 and over. Similar results can be seen on Newsround's website feedback.
A study of the ages of 160 people replying to three different issues indicates that most are from 13 year olds - ie older than than the "target audience." The chart shows the percentage of replies at the ages on the horizontal axis. The data were taken from pages about the Muslim dress ban, the Grand National and JK Rowling's comments.
Feedback is not necessarily representative of the age breakdown of Newsround's viewers, but it does confirm that younger children are much less likely to contact the programme. This calls into question the idea of reliance on feedback from viewers as a means of setting editorial policy. Also the CBBC Newsround feedback forum, as with all CBBC forums, is censored and this prevents kids from reading what others have to say about certain issues relevant to them.
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