Newsround's claim to be child-led, in-touch and relevant is doubtful. The programme does sometimes seek expert advice, but only to questions about their own reporting agenda - whether it be Iraq war coverage or concerns about the spread of bird flu. Furthermore, the claim that Newsround empowers children is false.

The reality of 21st century Britain, including an understanding of diversity, equality and inclusiveness has eluded Newsround's editor, who still seems stuck some time in the last century. Newsround does not empower kids - it patronises them and accedes to the wishes of a small number of prudish or prejudiced parents.

Ian Prince says that the programme prefers to take less account of adults, and that it's more likely to respond to emails from an eight year old - the target audience being aged 8-12.

But a study of responses to the programme and its website indicates that eight year olds are much less likely to contact the programme than older kids. In fact the chances of a distressed eight year old being brave enough to email Newsround about homophobic language at school, or anything else, will be small. Bullying surveys show that "gay" is very commonly used as an insult in primary schools, and Mr Prince is foolish to say that it's best to wait before this kind of bullying is combatted. His attitude indicates a disregard of the evidence and expert opinion.

If Newsround is to truly empower kids it must commit itself to fair reporting, and that means it must deal with all kinds of discrimination.