Newsround

2012-02-06T10:22:00.002Z

LGBT History Month is underway, though there's been no sign of any move towards inclusiveness on BBC children's TV. Audiences are still being treated to casual homophobia. Last Wednesday, for example, on Sadie J, Jake came up with a clever plan to help out his friend. Danny exclaimed " .. that's genius! ... in fact I could kiss you right now!" Then, after glimpsing a scowl on his friend's face, Danny adds ".. but I won't."

Thursday's news that all twenty Premier League teams were to sign a Charter against homophobia was largely ignored by the BBC, and certainly not mentioned by Newsround and MOTD Kickabout. Sky, on the other hand did give the item substantial coverage, including this extended interview with John Amaechi.

MOTD Kickabout couldn't resist this on Saturday's programme: "His goals for Newcastle bought him love from fans, players - maybe too much love there."

So what exactly is the BBC doing to promote lesbian and gay equality on children's TV? And to what extent does worldwide commercial pressure affect how the BBC deals with the issue?

Perhaps we, or at least some of us, are about to find out in the next day or two. Because, assuming they're not stranded at the airport, Joe Godwin and his two chief underlings, Damian Kavanagh and Kay Benbow are due to speak at a summit session in New York Hilton's lavish Trianon Ballroom.

UK licence payers will want to know if we're getting value for money. So it is to be hoped that the BBC delegates will be reporting back in detail. Newsround Blog will be maintaining an interest, particularly during LGBT History Month.

2012-02-01T10:12:00.004Z

It's that time of year again. February is the month for celebrating diversity - LGBT History Month in the UK, and Black History Month in the USA. February is also the month for celebrating love. Supermarkets are already stocking up with chocolates and champagne in preparation for Valentine's Day.

CBBC has always been happy to portray boy-girl attraction. The new series of Tracy Beaker Returns, which began last month with Frank dating Lizanne, is just one example. And I'd be surprised if we don't see even more romance-themed programmes than usual during February. So far, though, we've yet to witness any lesbian or gay couples on the channel.

Some people, including the Archbishop of York, want to deny same sex couples the right to marry - an insidious, but effective, way of intimating that gay people are second class citizens.

Similarly interracial marriage has, in the past, been banned in various countries and American States.

People might be less surprised at Archbishop Sentamu's stance if they look back to the time he was the Bishop of Stepney. For at that time John Sentamu was one of four bishops who declined support for the Cambridge Accord which denounced all acts of violence, oppression, and degradation against gay people. Rowan Williams, presently Archbishop of Canterbury, was amongst the signatories.

Perhaps bosses of BBC children's TV also think of gay people as second class citizens. That's the impression they continue to give.

LGBT History Month begins today. Tomorrow at 4.30pm BBC One is due to air yet another repeat in the Leonardo series - It Must Be Love - thereby doing less than nothing to combat prejudice against lesbian and gay people.

2012-01-29T21:28:00.000Z

Saturday's MOTD Kickabout included this supposedly funny item on the January transfer window. If the BBC News channel asked Michael McIntyre or Rhod Gilbert to read the news or present sports, I'd expect quite a lot of the audience to complain that it's difficult to take the channel seriously. So why is it okay to have a comedian presenting programmes for a children's audience?

Perhaps CBBC should stop treating people in such a juvenile way.

Instead of this time wasting, factual programmes should deal with real issues. For example, the fact the police have charged John Terry in connection with an allegation of racial abuse has never been reported by either Newsround or MOTD Kickabout. The jeering directed towards Patrice Evra yesterday was also ignored by Newsround.

On the plus side, CBBC has gone some way to make up for the axing of Sportsround. A new programme - Ultimate Sports Day - began yesterday. It is presented by Ore Oduba.

2012-01-25T13:03:00.001Z

The first series of Sadie J began about a year ago. Some viewers assumed that Kit was gay, but there was no proof for that assumption - it was based on stereotyping: Kit's mannerisms, interests, beauty products, fashion sense etc. succeeded in promoting that perception.

In this new series of Sadie J, as in Series 1, it's clear that Sadie still fancies boys, and now we will see Sadie has a crush on new boy Taylor Bell.

Will this second series take LGBT diversity any more seriously? The omens are not good.

LGBT History Month begins next Wednesday.

2012-01-22T13:05:00.000Z

Just when you thought gay teenager Ben Mitchell couldn't get any worse, the BBC proves you wrong. Seems the person who suggested there could still be hope for Ben Mitchell's redemption was mistaken - according to The Sun he will turn cold-blooded killer in a shock new EastEnders plot.

The commentator mentioned that EastEnders' executive producer is gay. I'm not sure why that is important. Too often, those in media and showbiz circles are more interested in their own self-advancement rather than the welfare of others.

The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner believes TV programmes, especially programmes watched by the young, should help promote positive images of LGBT people. But a quick glance at some of the Twitter comments last week demonstrates just how much hatred gay teen Ben Mitchell elicits.

With a dearth of role models on BBC TV, is it any wonder that homophobic bullying is so prevalent is UK schools?

2012-01-21T12:26:00.004Z

Three men were convicted yesterday of stirring up hatred against gay people. The news wasn't reported on Newsround, but it did make it to the BBC's national News at Six, though not to the BBC News at Ten:-

News at Six - Friday 20th January 2012

Mishal Husain: In the first prosecution of its kind, three men who handed out leaflets calling for gay people to face the death penalty have been convicted. Ihjaz Ali, Kabir Ahmed and Razwan Javed, were found guilty in a court in Derby of trying to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. Chris Buckler reports.

The leaflets - which were entitled "Death Penalty?" - were distributed in July 2010. Perhaps the inspiration for them was the BBC website which, in December 2009, asked the public a similar question: "Should homosexuals face execution?"

2012-01-16T09:37:00.000Z

The Good Childhood Report 2012

Last week The Good Childhood Report 2012 was published - the result of many years joint study into the well-being of young people by The Children's Society and the University of York. Newsround mentioned this on Thursday morning, and they asked kids for feedback on what made them happy and unhappy.

The Good Childhood report has a section on bullying. The Report states: ... the issue of bullying was tremendously important to children, and this importance is confirmed by our survey data. In 2008, we asked children how often they had been bullied in the past 12 months and .... we found a strong relationship between responses to this question and overall well-being. In fact, this single question had as much power to explain variations in well-being as all the individual and family characteristics included in the survey combined.

The survey found that around 19% of children in primary school (years 4 and 6) had been bullied more than three times in the previous three months compared to around 9% of those in secondary school (years 8 and 10). Half a million children in the UK could be unhappy.

Just two weeks to LGBT History Month, which is highlighting sport in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.

2012-01-12T14:17:00.000Z

Are foodbanks and charities the answer to child poverty? Yes they are. Or so it may have seemed to anyone watching Newsround on Tuesday.

Hayley spoke to two families affected by poverty. In the studio, Graham Whitham, from the End Child Poverty coalition, talked about the problems for some families, and summed up by saying there are lots of charities up and down the country helping people who are struggling to get by.

Newsround ended the story with a reply from the Government:

Leah: The BBC has spoken to the Government about the problem and they've said they are trying their best to tackle child poverty in Britain. Ore's got more details.

Ore: Yeah that's right, Leah. So they've promised to help those families who are struggling, by cutting or freezing some taxes and giving them more free childcare. They also say changes they're making to the benefits system will mean 3 million households will soon be better off. ...

Unfortunately Newsround did not report the views of the Office of the Children's Commissioner, nor those of the Children's Society regarding changes to the welfare system.

2012-01-04T11:50:00.003Z

Prejudice has been much in the news over the last few months, though Newsround is often late in reporting controversial stories. So far there's been no mention that John Terry is to be prosecuted for racism, and the Stephen Lawrence murder trial wasn't covered on Newsround until this morning.

The BBC itself would obviously clamp down against any staff using racist abuse. I'm pleased to say that the Corporation appears to oppose homophobic language as well. On 11 December 2011 I referred to two BBC employees who used the term 'pansy' on the Internet. The people concerned, who are both well known for their interest in sports, have now deleted those tweets.

2012-01-01T06:23:00.002Z

Happy Alan Turing Year

2011-12-31T15:39:00.005Z

Bearing in mind its own involvement, why was the BBC one of the media organisations not to mention the recent pandagate furore? Look on BBC web pages and you'll find nothing about the widespread anger.

Meanwhile hacks have lined up to make light of the whole issue. Richard Littlejohn, for example, simply couldn't resist a dig at women, especially if there's an opportunity to add in a bit of homophobia at the same time.

Women's groups recently provided evidence to the Leveson Inquiry about the harm done by the media. If you saw the BBC News channel reporting of the Royal Family's arrival at church at Christmas you would have noticed the emphasis on fashion and clothes worn by female members of the entourage.

Jeremy Paxman, Andrew Marr and others haven't always been too kind about blogs and bloggers. But, in reality, we frequently do a good job in holding big media organisations to account.

Without proper scrutiny, to give another instance, the BBC Press Office tweet about pandagate (see previous blog) might, at first sight, have seemed reasonable. There was, they said "Benson the carp on the 2009 male list." But the Corporation only needs read its own Magazine to know that the male "face" of August 2009 was, in fact, female.

2011-12-29T16:09:00.002Z

The BBC's sexist credentials were on show, once again, when the Corporation published Faces of the Year 2011. There's been considerable anger over the choice of a panda to represent the woman's face of December. The Guardian's Zoe Williams made her views known, last night, on Sky News' preview of today's papers.

The BBC's press office tried to play down the furore with this comment on Twitter:-

Sweetie isn't the first non-human on Faces of the year list, Peppa Pig last year and Benson the carp on the 2009 male list #pandagate

Sweetie (or Tian Tian) is the female giant panda which arrived at Edinburgh Zoo earlier this month, along with a male panda called Sunshine (Yang Guang)

So, reading the BBC's press comment, you could be forgiven for thinking the BBC wasn't sexist or misogynistic after all. If they chose a male carp in 2009 that proves the point, doesn't it?

No, actually.

Let's take a closer look at the evidence, to see why.

Newsround Blog has been able to trace BBC Magazine 'Faces of the Year' back to 2007. In that year and the following year the list was split into two, one for men and one for women. The were no non-human faces in either 2007 or 2008 -

Men 2007
Women 2007

Men 2008
Women 2008

However when we reach 2009, you will see that the lists are no longer titled "Faces of the year - the men" and "Faces of the year - the women" The titles are changed to "Faces of the year - part one" and "Faces of the year - part two" respectively

And if you check the two parts you will observe the wording of part 1 states: "Some of the males who have made the headlines in 2009 ... " whereas part 2 states: "Some of the women who have made the headlines in 2009 ... "

Take particular notice of the term "males" rather than "men" in part 1.

But now look what happens in 2010:-

Although the female list includes a pig, albeit a fictional pig, the BBC had no qualms about using the title "Faces of the year 2010 - the women"

Men 2010
Women 2010

And then in 2011 - when no women were shortlisted for BBC Sports Personality of the Year - a panda was chosen by the BBC as the "woman" best representing December 2011.

Men 2011
Women 2011

BBC misogyny?

Guilty as charged.

2011-12-28T14:30:00.002Z

Newsround Blog's review of 2011 - In a nutshell there were signs of progress, but prejudice has yet to be overcome.

The first series of Sadie J began in January and, although gender traditional roles were challenged, the comedy stopped short at portrayal of even a single lesbian, gay or bisexual character. I suspect the second series will be no better.

Ballet Boys was a documentary about three brothers from Liverpool. The boys didn't identify as gay, but this documentary stood out for acknowledging and affirming children who are LGB. The programme was an exception, as no other CBBC programme of 2011 dealt with the issue.

If Ballet Boys was a high point of the year, in May we had one its lowest points - the CBBC drama Leonardo. The BBC has now confirmed that it is signed up to all four sections of the Creative Diversity Pledge (blog 11 December 2011) and Kindle Entertainment has confirmed it is signed up to two of the sections of the CDN Pledge, including "Encouraging diversity in output." So exactly why Leonardo da Vinci's sexual orientation was misrepresented is something of a mystery. Unless, of course, it was simply down to prejudice.

It seems that promises BBC children's TV would improve in terms of diversity have come to nothing. But what about programmes which, though not specifically targeted for children, are nevertheless popular with young audiences?

After years of doubt and occasional misdirection it is now known that Ben Mitchell from Eastenders identifies as gay. In September we saw him having to come to terms with it. On 29 September 2011 a greatly distressed Ben broke down in tears. Almost invariably, when the BBC screens a powerful story on Eastenders, there's a message during the closing credits with a BBC Action Helpline number to call for viewers "affected by any of the issues." But on that occasion there was nothing.

Despite the absence of young lesbian and gay role models on TV the BBC has no qualms in portraying Ben as an obnoxious, evil teenager. Perhaps it's because BBC producers accept the Vatican's teaching that "homosexual persons" have a tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil.

BBC bosses ought to read the recently published Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (A/HRC/19/41) which makes clear that the media have a role to play by eliminating negative stereotyping of LGBT people in television programmes popular among young people.

2011-12-21T22:24:00.001Z

BBC Sports Personality and Young Sports Personality (Part 2)

Generally speaking the BBC is not noted as being a politically correct organisation - in fact the current Director-General, Mark Thompson, has sometimes been forthright in his support for anti-politically correct voices such as Jeremy Clarkson. And perhaps Clarkson, with his unashamed male chauvinistic message, has served to encourage the Corporation's disdain for women.

In September 2006 I blogged about misogyny on children's TV. Things have been slow to change, with boys dressing up as girls still good for a laugh, but never the other way round. Mark told Sam to "run like the girl that you are."

Three years later, on 8th October 2009 (3.55pm) CBBC continuity presenter Iain Stirling was similarly addressed by a CBBC colleague: "Iain you run like a girl, scream like a girl, are you a girl?" And a few minutes later: "Iain, I still can't get over the fact that you run like a girl. What's with you man? Sort it out."

Iain has frequently been a target at the BBC, and was referred to as a "pansy" during a continuity break on 23rd September 2010.

It's only been a year since solicitors for the Corporation were doing their best - with licence payers' money - to defeat Miriam O'Reilly in an Employment Tribunal after she'd been brave enough to stand up to the discrimination. Since then Miriam has been offered a few morsels of work at the BBC, but hardly enough to demonstrate any real degree of contriteness for what happened.

The BBC needs to improve its diversity credentials.

Surprising as it may seem, from the 1960's onwards the proportion of female winners of Sports Personality of the Year declined over each decade of the 20th century. And boys have outnumbered girls by more than two to one in the Young Sports Personality category, since its inception in 2001.

This year the shortlist for the Young Sports Personality was decided on 21st November. The panel reconvened on 6th December, and narrowed the shortlist to the top three - Lucy Garner, Lauren Taylor & Eleanor Simmonds. Maybe the panel thought this would help paper over the controversy about the main award. But only a complete culture change at the BBC, especially amongst its sports commentators, will subvert long-standing sexism and homophobia.

Following today's announcement that John Terry is to be charged over alleged racial abuse, Lord Ouseley from Kick It Out told BBC News at 4.09pm : ".. It's a very sad day for football, but it's also a day where hopefully the authorities are making it clear that racism, homophobia, sexism and other forms of unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated. People will not be allowed to get away with it, however difficult it is to establish the facts ..."

2011-12-16T01:45:00.003Z

BBC Sports Personality and Young Sports Personality (Part 1)

It's 2011. Not that you'd guess that from a quick look at the names on the shortlist for BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Many, including the British Olympic Association, are furious about the fact that there isn't a single woman on the list.

So how did this unfortunate situation come about?

There is a problem at the BBC. On the face of it, the Corporation is modern and forward-thinking. But look a little deeper and you soon see the old-fashioned male-dominated macho culture which led to women being sidelined in this year's list.

The BBC says that a range of sports experts from newspapers and magazines across the UK were asked to send in their top 10 selections. But, really, what on earth are magazines like Nuts and Zoo doing there?!

Now, it is true that women occupy senior positions at the BBC, with nearly half the current BBC Executive Board being women, and even a female Head of Sport. Nevertheless the old macho culture prevails.

Newsround is quite good on gender equality issues, and reported the SPOTY controversy on 29th November. Their 5pm bulletin that day included an interview with Peter Spencer of the Manchester Evening News, and a sofa chat with BBC sports reporter Matt Slater. But perhaps they could have asked some women on too. Clare Balding, for example, has been outspoken about the issue.

Hayley read out a short comment by Rebecca Adlington: "I think there have been some great women in sport this year, including my best friend Keri-Anne Payne. I'm sad they haven't been recognised."

On Thursday 8th December Ore told Newsround viewers that the final three nominees for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year had been announced. He said it's an all-girls shortlist, and that "the decision will be made by sporting experts, including me."

2011-12-13T11:55:00.004Z

Cerrie Burnell is a presenter for CBeebies, so it was a surprise to see her answering questions on Sunday's CBBC Newsround, in what Leah called "a festive" When I Was 10, as questions put to Cerrie were mainly about Christmas. Cerrie has most of her right arm missing and, perhaps coincidentally, it is currently UK Disability History Month (22nd November - 22nd December)

When Cerrie first appeared on CBeebies some parents complained that their kids were frightened by her. In fact, young children are usually more curious than frightened, and responsible parents would have taken the opportunity to carefully explain that not all people are the same, but that we are all entitled to equal respect.

Considering the theme of this year's UKDHM is Celebrating Our Struggle for Equality, it was a pity that Cerrie wasn't asked what it was like for her at school with a disability, and how she was treated by other kids.

2011-12-11T16:35:00.004Z

The Creative Diversity Network, or Cultural Diversity Network as it was known until September 2011, held its award ceremony last Tuesday.

When I contacted CDN in 2010 I was told by the Secretariat's Nick Sammons that the CDN dealt with issues around ethnic diversity, not sexual orientation. However, since then, the CDN claims "a broader remit than previously, to include all aspects of diversity." I have asked the BBC which aspects of the Diversity Pledge it has signed up to, and am awaiting a reply.

Tony Marchant's new drama Postcode is about the interaction between a number of teenagers living in the same part of town, but from very different backgrounds and cultures. The first episode was broadcast on the same day as the CDN Awards.

Jamal, a refugee from Somalia, and Zac, who is white and attends a posh school, first meet whilst browsing through an Arsenal FC magazine in a shop owned by Sheela's dad.

Jamal is about to steal the magazine, but Zac warns him about the CCTV camera. Zac gets hassled by gang leader Anthony outside the shop, but Jamal speaks up for Zac. We see the ups and downs of a developing friendship between the two, and how that ultimately helps to secure Jamal and his family's refugee status in the UK.

Postcode portrayed characters from diverse backgrounds, but as I feared it was one further demonstration that BBC children's TV is still failing to address the portrayal of LGB people. In fact the short series took us no further along that route than did the Sadie J comedy series broadcast earlier this year.

A Newsround Special: Welcome to My World was about two boys from Lewisham, Sachen and Patric, who agreed to live with each other's families for a few days. It was first broadcast immediately after Postcode.

This week there'll be a new documentary series about the working lives of kids from other countries: Show Me What You're Made Of. Also this week Ricky will present a special series of reports from the USA. He's been on a road trip, to find out what Americans think about Barack Obama three years after he became President. I'd say it's a pretty safe bet we'll hear absolutely nothing about LGBT rights, even though that's been a major area of political interest in the States.

At least two BBC employees have recently used the term 'pansy' in a pejorative sense on a social networking site, contrary to this part of BBC Editorial Guidelines. Will the Corporation treat these incidents seriously, as it undoubtedly would had racist terms been used instead?

2011-12-06T09:54:00.020Z

The theme of Anti-Bullying Week 2011 was "Stop and think – words can hurt." But condemning hurtful words alone isn't always enough. Some words such as "gay" need to be used - and used in a positive way. Black History Month, LGBT History Month and UK Disability History Month are helpful reminders, but they're not an excuse to ignore diversity at other times. Inclusive children's TV all year, with affirmative portrayal of minorities, has the potential to get the message across a lot more effectively.

In December 2010 I was told by Joe Godwin, Director of BBC Children's that, in 2011, I could expect to see more programmes on CBBC that "portray encouraging role models" as well as a diverse range of families and programming that tackles issues.

So how has BBC children's TV measured up to the claim?

As far as I'm aware only one kids' programme in 2011 said anything positive about being gay. That was the Bafta-nominated Ballet Boys documentary. I've blogged several times already about CBBC's Leonardo, which could have been a perfect opportunity to counter homophobia. And there were literally dozens of other kids' programmes toeing the heteronormative line.

School for Stars, for example, has just finished its run on CBBC. It's a reality series about the lives of pupils attending the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. In episode 1 the narrator, Reggie Yates, said "Like any school, who's going out with who matters." The words "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" were heard a total of 29 times throughout the series, but never once in the context of a same-sex friendship.

A new children's drama series, Postcode, will be screened over the next three evenings on the CBBC Channel at 5.45pm. According to this press release, Postcode is "a contemporary, urban drama reflecting the realities of life for young people in Britain today. ... [it] will follow the friendships and frustrations among a group of young people – from backgrounds as diverse as Somalian, Polish, Pakistani and Irish – who share a postcode but very little else."

I don't know much else about this production, but I'd be very surprised, in a pleasant way, if this drama actually included even one LGBT character. Not holding my breath though.

2011-12-02T23:08:00.002Z

My previous blog on Wednesday ended with the hope that Newsround would take human rights more seriously. And to be fair, it has recently been doing quite a lot to enlighten viewers about women's equality. Tuesday's Newsround led with a report on the controversy surrounding the BBC Sports Personality of the Year nominations - all of which were for men, for the first time in 5 years. The BBC has since said it will review the procedures by which nominees are chosen.

Thursday's Newsround at 5pm began with another women's equality story - this time a report by Nel Hedayat, who used to live in Afghanistan.

Ore: First to Afghanistan. Improving women's rights there was a key target of British and American troops after they overthrew the Taliban 10 years ago.

Hayley: The Taliban had been ruling the country, and under their strict regime women weren't allowed to do basic things like go to school.

Ore: But international troops are now getting ready to leave Afghanistan, and women there are really worried that things will go back to how they used to be. Here's Nel with more.

Nel's video report.

Hayley: Well Nel has come to speak to us now. Is it right that you used to live in Afghanistan?

Nel: Yes, yep.

Hayley: And you've recently gone over there to make a documentary about what it's like.

Nel: Yes.

Hayley: How do you feel girls and women - how is their life over there?

Nel: Well under the Taliban it was really, really strict. And women suffered immensely. My auntie, for example, she used to be a teacher. And under the Taliban she was forced to do it secretly. And my cousin had to attend a secret school just to be able to learn to read. With the troops there it was safe for her.

Ore: So would you say that it's fair to say when the troops were there it changed young girls' lives hugely?

Nel: Absolutely. Absolutely, it just meant that girls were able to go outside and play. They were able to go to school. That they were able to eventually get a job. And the worry is now that the girls that were able to do this - you know they're not going to be able to do it once the troops leave.

Hayley: So it's quite risky. What's the biggest risk they've got?

Nel: The biggest risk they've got is that they could be punished for doing the very things that they enjoy doing. Otherwise they'll be forced to stay at home and just completely be ignored.

Hayley: Thank you Nel.

Ore: Right, cheers for that.

Today's Newsround included a short Q & A section with the Archbishop of York answering questions put to him by pupils from York Minster School. The Archbishop was keen to promote it on Twitter - here and here.

Ore: ... This is the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu - the second most important man in the Church of England. Over the years he's chopped up his dog collar on TV and lived for a week in a tent to protest against human rights abuse around the world. And he's hiked 280 miles for charity ...

Unfortunately the Archbishop of York has a poor record on some human rights issues. Here is a case where Sentamu, quite disgracefully, invokes the name of William Wilberforce to support discrimination against gay people.

So Newsround does cover human rights, and as we've seen, it's particularly good on gender equality. But, like the Archbishop, the programme still hasn't demonstrated any interest in lesbian rights and equality.

2011-11-30T14:09:00.000Z

Newsround frequently includes stories about Lady Gaga, though her estimable efforts to end bullying have never been acknowledged on their TV bulletins.

Lady Gaga has been very supportive of lesbian, gay, bi and trans kids, but regular readers of this blog will know that children's TV badly fails this group. So when news came out that Lady Gaga had sent a video message to a school pupil in Canada, I was reasonably sure Newsround wouldn't report the story. And, indeed, it hasn't been mentioned on air. However - and to my surprise - the story did at least appear on their website yesterday.

Lady Gaga's message of support for Jacques St Pierre's anti-bullying campaign work was screened at a school assembly. Jacques, now 17, had been bullied with homophobic taunts at primary school.

The term 'gay' is often used as an insult at school, and the fact that the word is almost never heard in an affirmative context on BBC children's TV only adds to the widely-held but mistaken belief that being gay is something to be ashamed of. The BBC could help change things by treating all people fairly, by making inclusive kids' dramas.

Newsround has always been happy to report on animal rights issues. It's time they took human rights seriously as well.

2011-11-28T13:50:00.001Z

Kindle Entertainment has been receiving plaudits for, once again, winning the Independent Production Company Of The Year BAFTA. Kindle was the company behind Leonardo, shown on BBC children's TV this year.

Although Leonardo itself won nothing, any company prepared to censor LGBT people from history should not be rewarded in the way Kindle was last night. If a company were to treat racial groups in a similar way it would not be tolerated.

BAFTA should stand for the very best of British film and television, and in that respect the award to Kindle Entertainment was a serious mistake.

2011-11-27T00:10:00.026Z

CBBC Newsround receives a Children's BAFTA award later today. It's to celebrate the programme turning 40 in April next year.

Newsround was originally broadcast twice a week but, says BAFTA, "over the past 40 years it has grown and grown and now over 800,000 of you watch it." That claim is somewhat misleading because audience figures peaked years ago, and the number of people watching has been declining since then.

Celebs and others have been sending or tweeting their good wishes to Newsround, but not everyone has been quite so generous. Andrew Brown, writing for The Telegraph, called it "the programme all children want to switch off." Mr Brown suggests that the only award Newsround deserves is one for surviving such a long time.

There's no doubting that Newsround is, on occasion, outstanding children's TV - especially the investigative reports such as school funding cutbacks. And then there are the excellent Newsround Specials, the most recent of which helps nurture a spirit of understanding and acceptance for people with autism.

However in one particular respect Newsround has failed to move with the times and is still stuck in the 1970's when it was presented by John Craven. I wrote to John in January 2005 via the BBC Countryfile email address, to let him know that Newsround had not been inclusive, and that it failed to tackle homophobia and homophobic bullying. Unfortunately John did not reply, and since then there's been no improvement.

Showbiz is too insensitive to care about such details. In fact the industry prefers to hide these issues out of the way.

2011-11-22T13:52:00.001Z

I hope that anyone who's never heard of Alan Turing had a chance to see last night's Channel 4 docudrama: Britain's Greatest Codebreaker. The programme highlighted Turing's codebreaking skills which helped win WW2. It also covered his post-war work on computing carried out at Manchester University, and his persecution as a result of being gay.

The person in charge of BBC children's TV, Joe Godwin, has an honours degree in History from the same University. I contacted Mr Godwin in January 2011 to suggest that the BBC might be interested in a children's drama about Alan Turing:

Excerpt from email to Mr Godwin dated 5th Jan 2011:

.. Might I suggest a drama on the life and work of Alan Turing would be a good idea? It could be done in time for the Turing centenary next year, and I hope would be a sensitive and nuanced portrayal, including Alan's affection for schoolfriend Christopher Morcom. ..

As far as I'm aware the idea has not been taken up. And regrettably, BBC children's TV chose to misrepresent another LGBT genius and hero.

I fleshed out my idea in an email to Joe Godwin on 10th Jan 2011 (excerpt):

.. I was thinking of a dramatisation of Turing's life for children's TV. I watched the remake of Just William over the holiday period, and noticed that romance and relationships were quite prominent. We see William's brother and sister dating, and William's teacher saying that "our society is founded on a man and a woman wanting to be together." By the fourth episode William's antipathy towards girls has gone, and he wants to be friends with Dorinda.

Of course kids have crushes at the age of 11, or sometimes at an earlier age. CBBC recognised that fact with programmes like Eliot Kid and Little Howard's Big Question, but I doubt that those stories turned any gay children straight. Using the same reasoning, a children's drama about an LGB person is not going to alter the sexual orientation of straight kids. However making children's TV inclusive is likely to encourage tolerance, as was recognised in past storylines in CBBC programmes such as Byker Grove and Grange Hill.

Alan Turing is an apposite subject for a British children's drama for 2012, which is the centenary of his birth and the year of the London Olympics. Alan was a top class runner as well as mathematician, codebreaker, gay rights pioneer and a senior figure in the development of the computer. He succumbed to the prejudices of a bygone age.

Turing's teenage crush on Christopher Morcom was no different to, say, six-year-old Eliot Kid's crush on Loretta or Little Howard's feelings towards Little Susan. And if the BBC is to represent everyone, with no group underserved, it needs to deliver for LGBT children and teenagers. What better luminary could there be for the CBBC to celebrate in 2012? ...

2011-11-21T13:11:00.004Z

Highfurlong School update

Looks like I need to eat my words.

My blog dated 6 October 2010 effectively accused Newsround of putting the government's side and ignoring the plight of schools like Highfurlong which hadn't received the cash they really need for improvements.

But this morning Newsround did follow up Hayley's original report with this one by Leah. And it seems Michael Gove was indeed disingenuous when, in July 2010, he told Sonali every school that needs the funding will get it.

The BBC can be trusted, after all - well sometimes, at any rate.

2011-11-19T18:26:00.002Z

When asked whether the BBC has a duty to promote an ethical message, newsreader Jane Hill replied that the duty is not to promote a message but to reflect society. Our duty, says Jane, is to represent the UK in all its forms. Class religion, colour, disability and so on.

So I wonder how Jane's view squares with what appears very much to be a "help children in need" message that the BBC has been putting out recently.

Oddly enough the BBC children's TV news programme Newsround didn't mention Anti-Bullying Week on any of its bulletins, although there is something about it on this web page.

How does the Corporation decide which children are the ones in need? Because I still get the impression that gay kids are the ones losing out. Challenging gender stereotypes alone is not a substitute for directly challenging homophobic prejudice.

When David Bond interviewed Sepp Blatter yesterday, he didn't ask Blatter a single question about homophobia.

2011-11-17T23:40:00.001Z

Surely the main purpose of a news programme ought to be to keep the audience up to date with current events. And Newsround often does that very well, for example with Leah's report on the financial problems in Greece. Her report was intended for kids, but I'm sure Leah also helped a lot of adults understand what's been going on.

Sometimes, though, Newsround is far too slow to respond. The occupation at St Paul's wasn't mentioned until five days after it began. And there's been nothing today about the escalating protests in New York.

Newsround has, for a while now, played down the issue of racism in sport, and has completely failed to acknowledge the existence of homophobia.

The John Terry/Anton Ferdinand racism controversy wasn't mentioned by Newsround until 2nd November - some ten days after the incident. And it took them over a month, until today, for any mention of the Luis Suarez/Patrice Evra controversy.

At 8.15am on CBBC we had:-

Joe: Hi guys. Joe here with all the stories you'll be talking about with your mates at school today. First up - there's been an angry reaction to Sepp Blatter's claim that football doesn't have a problem with racism. During a TV interview, the international footie chief also said he thought racist incidents could be solved between players with a simple handshake. Well Rio Ferdinand says his comments were laughable, but Blatter says he's been misunderstood. Several former players have called for Blatter to resign, but current Premier League striker Jason Roberts wants more done.

Jason Roberts: He can resign - certainly. But if the relevant authorities don't act differently with the issues that are prevalent in football, then I think we will be in danger of telling society that it's not an issue we care about.

And at 5pm:-

Ricky: First tonight. A massive row over .. a handshake. According to the most powerful man in the footballing world, it's the best way to sort out racist abuse on the pitch. But lots of the game's biggest stars are furious with FIFA boss Sepp Blatter. They say they want him to quit, saying his comments send out totally the wrong message.

(video) Ricky: Racism in football is big news right now. England captain John Terry is being investigated for apparently making a racist comment towards QPR's Anton Ferdinand during a match - he denies it. And just last night the FA charged Liverpool star Luis Suarez with racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra. But Suarez says he's innocent. Now famous footballers have been queuing up to slam Sepp Blatter's idea to just shake hands over racist abuse. Rio Ferdinand tweeted the man himself. He said "I am astonished. I feel stupid for thinking that football was taking a leading role against racism." Blackburn's striker Jason Roberts said "I am absolutely disgusted - lost for words. I am absolutely fuming." Strictly Come Dancing star and ex-player Robbie Savage called for his head: "What planet is this guy on. That's a shocking statement from the leader of world football. For me Blatter should go. Blatter out."

Ricky: Strong stuff. And with me on the sofa is former Premier League star Mark Bright. Now Mark, he's saying he's been misquoted. But what do you think about this?

Mark: Well he hasn't been misquoted. I think we all saw the interview and we've heard it as well. He said that during 90 minutes players can say what they want to each other as long as at the end they shake hands and everything's good. That's not the case - you can't racially abuse someone on the football field.

Ricky: So you think he's sending out the wrong message - not just to us but to children too?

Mark: Absolutely. It starts at the top. He's at the top of the pyramid, the head of FIFA, the world governing body. And what he's saying to kids on a Saturday and Sunday morning: You can go out and you can say what you want to the other child while the games going on. But at the end of the game just shake hands. That's not right - no. In this country it's an offence to racially abuse someone on the pitch.

Ricky: And have you ever had any abuse on the pitch?

Mark: Everyone of my era who played had abuse. We had it every other week when we played away from home , from the fans from opponents. And I'm glad to say that all that has nearly been eradicated. We rarely get it from players. The fans are so much better now. And we've all embraced the Kick Racism Out of Football campaign. That's why it's so much better.

Ricky: Alright Mark. Thanks so much for joining us on the sofa today. Thank you for coming in.

2011-11-14T00:20:00.003Z

The latest Newsround Special is called My Autism and Me. It was presented by Rosie King, who wanted to show viewers what it means to be autistic. Rosie said that although it can be a problem she wouldn't swap her autism for anything: "It makes me who I am. I just wouldn't be the same without it."

My Autism and Me featured a number of different kids besides Rosie.

Rosie: Because it's not always obvious that people have autism, some people think we're just mad or being naughty. This lack of understanding is one of the worst things about being autistic.

Ben: ... I was bullied at school because people didn't understand the fact that I had autism. ....... People figured I had an anger problem. They continuously taunted me, going at me. Most called me a bear. I was feared, I was hated. It wasn't fun. It wasn't fun at all. ...

Rosie's introduction to autism was easy to understand and very informative - another example of Newsround at its best. Lady Gaga's iconic Born This Way accompanied the closing title sequence.

Paparazzi is another song by Lady Gaga, and was chosen for the X Factor's Craig Colton on Saturday. Although it's been widely reported that Craig is gay and proud, it seems programme bosses wanted the words of the Lady Gaga song altered so that he was singing about fancying a girl. Many viewers expressed their dismay about this on Twitter.

In 2009 Dannii Minogue quite rightly drew attention to the X Factor's unnecessary changing of song lyrics. But unfortunately anti-gay prejudice is still frequently encountered in the showbiz industry, as well as in society at large.

Today is the start of Anti-Bullying Week, and the theme this year is Stop and think – words can hurt

The Anti-Bullying Alliance website says that derogatory language – words and expressions that are homophobic, racist, sexist or disabilist, that seek to demean particular groups and individuals - are far too common in our schools, colleges and communities." The website suggests some aims for the week:-

challenge the casual use of derogatory language in our schools, colleges and communities

raise awareness of the consequences of using demeaning and harassing language through technology

encourage schools, colleges and other settings to create language charters that makes it clear what is and isn't acceptable

give children and young people the tools to challenge others when they use derogatory language, to find new ways of expressing how they feel if they are angry or upset, and to make a conscious effort to speak positively and to compliment others

encourage adults to consider how they model the use of language with children and young people (this includes all practitioners working with children and young people but also celebrities and people in positions of power)

2011-11-11T08:45:00.002Z

Anti-Bullying Week 2011 begins in three days, on 14th November. The theme this year is Stop and think – words can hurt

A major exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings opened this week at the National Gallery in London. The exhibition runs until early February which, in the UK, is LGBT History Month.

Perhaps the London exhibition is one of the reasons why the BBC decided to repeat its fantasy adventure series about the life of the young da Vinci. The first episode will be broadcast on the CBBC Channel this afternoon at 1.40pm - though exactly why BBC is still using licence payers' money to broadcast children's programmes during the day in school term-time escapes me. How many are actually watching, I wonder.

The BBC Mission is to enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain. There's no denying that CBBC's Leonardo is entertainment - and to be fair it is often quite enjoyable entertainment. But as for the mission aim to inform and educate, I'm afraid the Corporation fails badly. The drama is packed with misinformation about the painter, inventor and all-round genius.

Here is an example. Leonardo is set in 1467 when the eponymous hero would have been 15 years old. But in one episode he's seen in competition with Michelangelo. The fact that Michelangelo wasn't even born until 1475 doesn't seem to bother the writers of this drama series. Incidentally Michelangelo, unlike Leonardo himself, is portrayed as somewhat effeminate. And this brings me to the last point - BBC Values.

One of the BBC's Values is to "respect each other and celebrate our diversity." But if that really is a BBC Value, I think we need to know why the BBC decided to have Leonardo fancying the opposite sex. This distortion of the truth doesn't sound much like a celebration of diversity to me. In fact it seems to be a very good example of disrespect. See blog on 28 July 2011.

If I worked at the BBC I'd ask for an apology.

2011-11-03T16:45:00.001Z

Newsround wants to know whose face should be on banknotes.

A clue to my own preferred person can be seen on the right hand side of this blog. But my guess is that if any kids suggest Alan Turing they will not get their messages put up on this feedback page.

Next year being Turing's centenary makes him a particularly apt choice.

2011-11-02T11:56:00.000Z

It was very foolish of Newsround to try and pretend that prejudice doesn't exist. But presumably that's the reason why they've only now decided to cover the John Terry / Anton Ferdinand racism controversy.

Newsround at 7.41am today

Nel: First - the England captain, John Terry's been investigated by the police after he was accused of calling another footballer a racist name. It's believed a fan complained about a word the Chelsea defender used in an argument with QPR's Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League game last month. Terry says he did not use racist language, and has welcomed an FA investigation. That's now been put on hold while the police look into it. But if he's found guilty, he could be stripped of the England arm band for a second time. ...

The Newsround report went on to give details of last night's Champions League match in Genk, but there was no mention of the chants from some Chelsea supporters.

2011-11-01T13:04:00.001Z

BBC editorial judgement is often questionable, and last night children's TV seemed to lose any sense of proportion. Blue Peter centred on a Hallowe'en quiz hosted by Ore Oduba. The contestants were Blue Peter presenters Helen Skelton and Barney Harwood. The scoremaster was Richard Quincey from the London Dungeon. Before the quiz began we found out about Helen's worst fear:

Helen: Oh everybody knows that I hate rats.

Barney: You don't like rats?!

Helen: It's not that I don't like them - I know some people have them as pets and think they're cute. But I genuinely feel a little bit sick whenever I even see them.

Barney: Well then, you're gonna hate this. This is what's known as the rat coffin! Yes it's an ordinary coffin that we're going to lie in - well one of us is - and then they're gonna fill it with rats.

We never did get to find out what Barney feared most, although he said he didn't mind rats at all.

It turned out that Helen picked up fewer points in the quiz, and then got carried off over Quincey's shoulder to undergo her ordeal.

2011-10-30T11:11:00.001Z

Newsround at 8.55am this morning -

Leah: First to the St Paul's Cathedral demonstration. We've heard this morning that the Bishop of London will meet with the protesters to ask them to leave. The protests have nothing to do with St Paul's itself; protesters are there because it's near the London Stock Exchange, where banks and money organisations are based. Protesters are angry about how banks and governments around the world are using money.

2011-10-26T13:00:00.000+01:00

It seems I'm not alone in criticising of the BBC's poor coverage of minority sports. In January Newsround Blog questioned why they took the decision to do away with Sportsround, and replace it with MOTD Kickabout.

To add insult to injury, MOTD Kickabout lingered on through the summer, filling its time with pointless nonsense such as spoof holiday postcards from famous footy players. MOTD Kickabout is dire, and should make way for a return of Sportsround, or a similar programme responsibly dealing with a variety of sports.

Football is a favourite topic for Newsround. This morning, for example, there was the news about Carlos Tevez's intention to sue boss Mancini. But Newsround is, once again, late with controversial news involving John Terry - so far there has been no mention of the racism row involving the England captain and Anton Ferdinand. And the other footy racism row between Suarez and Evra has also been given a miss.

2011-10-24T13:09:00.001+01:00

Eagle-eyed viewers of CBBC's Sarah Jane Adventures who watched The Curse of Clyde Langer story might have noticed a name above the counter where food was served to homeless people. The charity was called Steven's Point.

Steven's Point
Unlike Centrepoint, Steven's Point appeared to promote the Christian religion. First we saw a crucifix on the wall from a distance:-

and then, twenty seconds later, it was shown in a much closer shot:-

I wonder whether homeless people with different beliefs might have felt unwelcome, or at least a little uncomfortable, going to Steven's Point for food. Also, what about all those gay daughters and sons who are thrown out by parents on account of old-fashioned religious attitudes. That's the reason why organisations such as Samaritans do not allow their volunteers to wear religious jewellery when talking to people who've come to them for help.

Unfortunately CBBC's Homelessness season avoided mentioning any LGBT-related issues, but compare this with my blog on 15 October 2011.

2011-10-21T01:37:00.000+01:00

By the time kids start primary school many have picked up signals that 'gay' is a bad thing to be, and use the word as a term of abuse. Lack of gay characters on kids TV only serves to condone prejudice, and thus make the homophobic bullying worse.

Earlier this year the BBC's Director of Children's visited a group called Families Together London which represents families with LGBT children. The purpose of his visit was to talk about making children's TV inclusive, in order that all youngsters grow up being accepted and valued.

So what, if anything, is the BBC doing to challenge homophobia?

On 20th December 2010 the Director of Children's wrote in an email to me: "The pace of change is undoubtedly slower than you would like, but I would ask again that you accept my genuine and heartfelt intention is to improve things." And the message of 'It Gets Better' is that kids being bullied at school should be aware that things will be better when they get older.

FTL say they were told that nothing is going to happen 'tomorrow' - but as I mentioned in June for some kids ‘tomorrow’ is already too late.

Five months ago Jamey Rodemeyer made his own YouTube video with that very message - that it gets better. Tragically Jamey killed himself last month. And then just last week another boy, Jamie Hubley, killed himself. He was homophobically bullied at school and, with reference to the 'It Gets Better' campaign, had blogged "I don’t want to wait three more years, this hurts too much. How do you even know it will get better? It’s not."

This year Anti-Bullying Week begins on 14th November 2011, and hopefully CBBC's Newsround will not shy away from addressing the specific problem of homophobic bullying. In previous years they have failed.

2011-10-15T23:28:00.000+01:00

Over the last week Newsround looked at the issue of Homelessness. Hayley began her series of reports by trying to experience for herself what it's like to be homeless on the streets of London. Hayley pointed out at the start, as part of a live report from Piccadilly Circus, that the reality would be much more difficult top cope with:-

Hayley: ... what I will always be aware of throughout this is that, while it might be tricky for me - I mean I might get a little bit cold and a little bit scared at some points - it's nothing compared to what actually homeless people are going through. Because I know that tomorrow night it's all going to be over, and I'm going to get to go to my nice warm bed. But for them, they don't know when it's going to end. And that must be really scary. ....

A summary of Hayley's homeless experience was broadcast on Tuesday at 5pm.

Newsround timed their coverage of homelessness to coincide with a story in the 'Sarah Jane Adventures' series on the CBBC Channel: The Curse of Clyde Langer.

In the story Clyde receives the curse from a totem pole whilst on a museum visit. His friends and family all turn against him, and Clyde finds himself forced onto the streets where he meets another homeless teen called Ellie Faber.

Ellie: I've been through bad stuff in my life. Maybe it doesn't matter now.

Clyde: I don't understand.

Ellie: Two years I've been telling myself I'll get off the street - I'll get on some sort of scheme. Get a job. Get a flat. Get my life back. Meet a nice boy. That was my dream. Now it's starting to come true.

Two scenes from The Curse of Clyde Langer

2011-10-09T12:37:00.001+01:00

Very sad to learn of the news about Harry Moseley, who died of brain cancer last night. Harry's work on behalf of others was inspirational.

http://helpharryhelpothers.com/

2011-10-04T12:22:00.000+01:00

The first item on Newsround at 5pm last night was about the Rugby World Cup. They began with a brief summary of the weekend matches. And then this:-

Sonali: .. When it comes to England, what's been going on off the pitch has been creating more of a stir than what they've been doing on it.

Sonali: Ever since the England team touched down in New Zealand they've been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Within hours of playing their first game vice-captain Mike Tindall got into trouble for having a big night out in a bar. Then two coaches were suspended for illegally trying to switch balls during the game, before a Jonny Wilkinson kick. And now James Haskell, Dylan Hartley and Chris Ashton have been told off for being rude to hotel staff. It's something that's got the England manager very angry. He wants his players to be better role models. ...

Towards the end of her report, Sonali commented: "Playing for your country is such an honour, you'd think teams wouldn't dare do anything wrong."

2011-10-02T14:44:00.001+01:00

The Royal Charter details six BBC public purposes. One of those purposes is "Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities." Amongst other things, the BBC is supposed to cater for the different nations, regions and communities of the UK, and to represent each of them to the rest of the UK.

Newsround on Friday evening had quite a lot to say about the Rugby World Cup:

Leah: .. It's a big weekend for rugby fans in England and Scotland. That's because the two sides are taking each other on in the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand tomorrow. Both teams will be going all out for victory, for a place in the quarter finals. And because it's such an important match we got England star, and World Cup winner, Jason Robinson to give us the lowdown. (75 second video, with Jason giving his views on what would be needed to win)

There was no mention of either the Wales v Fiji match or the Ireland v Italy match, both of which took place this morning. Neither were the matches mentioned on Saturday's Newsround bulletins. Today was a different matter. This morning at 8.55am Joe began with the Wales result:

Joe: Hi guys. You are in the right place to find out what's going on in the world today, so stay right there. First up, while most of you have been sleeping Wales have been hard at work in the Rugby World Cup this morning, thrashing Fiji 66 - nil. They scored a whopping nine tries, including this one from Sam Warburton. It means they're now through to the quarter finals. But elsewhere it's bad news for Scotland - they're out of the competition after Argentina overtook them in their group, winning with 25-7 over Georgia. And, right now, Ireland are in action against Italy. If they win they could face Wales in the quarter finals. Right now they're winning 6 -3.

And then at 10.55am this morning:

Joe: Hi guys. Joe here, with loads of fresh stories to tell you about. First up, it's all go in the Rugby World Cup. So far this morning Scotland have been booted out of the competition. Wales have hammered Fiji 66 - nil. And in the past hour Ireland beat Italy 36 - 6. It was a great 24th birthday present for winger Keith Earls, who scored this - his second try - in the closing minutes of the match. Ireland and Wales will now face each other in the quarter finals.

Gareth Thomas on ITV RWC2011 commentary team

2011-09-30T12:12:00.002+01:00

BBC Statements of Programme Policy 2011/12

If you've been desperately searching for the BBC Statements of Programme Policy 2011/2012 don't worry because the Statements do actually exist. Despite the best efforts of Lord de Mauley to repeal Section 266 of the Communications Act 2003 at the start of 2010, Section 266 is still in place.

For the years between 2005 and 2010 inclusive, SoPPs can be found at URL http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/statements20xx/ with the xx replaced by the year in question (05 to 10)

However the current BBC's Statements are no longer at that URL, but are instead buried away in another document called "BBC Executive priorities and summary workplan for 2011/12"

One interesting thing to note about the Statements of Programme Policy 2011/2012 is that the 'Accountability' section, which appeared in all but the very first (2003/2004) SoPP, has now been taken out. The removed wording:-

The BBC, as an open and transparent organisation which is trusted by the public it serves, seeks to engage its audiences in dialogue, to learn from them and to respond honestly to what they have to say.

2011-09-28T11:59:00.002+01:00

EastEnders has won yet more awards. The BBC soap scooped five gongs at this year's Inside Soap Awards in London

One long-standing theme on EastEnders has been about the sexuality of Ben Mitchell. Is he gay or straight? Forget bi - this is a soap, after all.

In the latest episodes it seems that Ben does have feelings for another boy called Duncan whom he met in the gym whilst attempting to man-up and keep his dad happy.

Patrick saw Ben kissing Duncan, and afterwards Ben glimpsed Patrick speaking to his dad. Without having heard the conversation, Ben wrongly assumed Patrick had told Phil about himself and Duncan kissing. Later Ben threw a rock through Patrick's window.

Ben is a truly unlikeable character, but as there are no LGB characters in BBC children's dramas, he's the only gay role model many kids will see on TV. This soap will not make things easier for kids struggling with their sexuality - and although Phil may possibly accept Ben in the future, it's what's happening now that's important. And toying with the issues of sexuality and homophobia for entertainment is distasteful.

Here - as an example - is what happened right near the start of yesterday's EastEnders:-

Phil approached his son in Albert Square and asked him what happened there - referring to the broken window in Patrick's house which is being replaced.

Ben: Dunno - kids probably

Phil: You was out early this morning. What - you off to the gym?

Ben: Yeah, thought I'd get an hour and a half in before school

Phil: What, with Duncan?

(Ben looks away)

Phil: Listen Ben, er ...

(long pause)

Phil: .... I know

(another long pause)

Phil: ...know about yesterday

(another pause)

Phil: You can't keep skipping school like this

(Ben breathes huge sigh of relief)

2011-09-27T12:40:00.001+01:00

Joe McElderry took part in the Great North Run a few days ago. Like last year it was to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. This year he chatted to Sue Barker before the start of the race, which was broadcast on BBC One.

In a welcome change to last year, this time Newsround reported that Joe had taken part. Sunday 18 Sept 2011 at 1.55pm on CBBC:-

John: ... Elsewhere then today to Newcastle where X Factor star Joe McElderry joined 1000's of people taking part in the Great North Run this morning. Joe was running the race to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The course is 13 miles in total....

Joe also appeared as a celebrity guest on Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind Up, where he was introduced as quite possibly the nicest man in the world of entertainment.

2011-09-19T08:55:00.001+01:00

The UK Government has just announced an intention to legislate in favour of allowing same-sex couples to marry. News items about LGBT equality never make it to Newsround, but it's quite refreshing to see some teens happy to chat about diversity and equality on YouTube. Here, for example, TheRealJazzBertie gives her views on religion, marriage and civil partnerships:-

TheRealJazzBertie - A future BBC news reporter?
Every year the BBC holds a journalism-fest called School Report. Schools from around the country are invited to participate by asking kids to make their own news report on something of interest. Of course there's one topic to be especially wary of - that is gay rights. So if any schools are thinking of signing up to this venture, that is the one topic to push for. Here are a few of my suggestions -

(1) School children might be able to make use of projects carried out during February - LGBT History Month - as the starting point of a BBC School Report.

(2) The government consultation on marriage equality is supposed to begin in March - the same month as BBC School Report. So that's a subject schools could look at.

(3) Next year, 2012, is Alan Turing Year - the centenary of Turing's birth. Think about the impact of computers in all our lives. What is being done to celebrate Turing's life and achievements?

(4) Kids could talk to sports personalities, such as Ben Cohen and Gareth Thomas, who are trying to stamp out homophobia and homophobic bullying. Their work has never been mentioned on Newsround.

(5) Lastly, what about an interview with the BBC Director-General? The BBC is in need of a bit of scrutiny because it's practically exempt from large swathes of the Equality Act 2010, as well as the the Freedom of Information Act 2000. What better excuse could there be for asking Director-General, Mark Thompson, for a few minutes of his time? The interviewers could perhaps begin by asking Mark - reputedly a devout Roman Catholic - whether or not he accepts the Vatican's teaching on homosexuality, and what he thinks about the prospect of gay people being allowed to marry.

BBC trailer to publicise The School Report

2011-09-14T14:01:00.001+01:00

Haven't seen any recent Newsround gossip about Simon Cowell's engagement (see previous blog)

But today The Mirror - which is owned by the same newspaper group as The People - has more evidence that Mezhgan Hussainy is history. Apparently Simon's been flirting with Paula Abdul, the American Idol judge who felt the need to vilify a contestant who had suggested Simon might be gay.

Newsround Blog has often pointed to homophobia being pretty much endemic in the showbiz/media world. Recall, for example, the way Joe McElderry was treated by Simon Cowell and by CBBC. And then there's also the example of Simon's indignation over Dannii Minogue's LGBT-friendly comment to Danyl Johnson on the X Factor in 2009. Cowell's reaction embodies exactly what is wrong with the industry, and the way it continues to invisibilise bisexual, lesbian and gay people.

It looks like Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul are made for each other.

2011-09-12T12:27:00.002+01:00

Eighteen months ago Newsround reported that things just keep on getting better for Simon Cowell. The news item was about Simon finding a girlfriend who had agreed to marry him. This was something of a shock to some in the media. For example, Sonali was surprised anyone would agree to marry a man who wears his trousers so high up. Others had different reasons for scepticism, as this clip from a BBC documentary in 2002 demonstrates. But Max is undeterred by it all.

So it looks like Simon's engagement is off. His fiancée will, no doubt, get a huge payout in line with the other big love of his life, whose name escaped him when he appeared on This Is Your Life.

It's very unusual to see BBC news presenters in commercials. But apparently they are allowed to appear providing their promotional activities don't constitute a conflict of interest, or undermine the editorial integrity of the BBC or the programmes they present. The relevant Head of Department has to give permission. So here is the finished commercial for Mizz magazine, with Leah and Ricky - neither of whom actually features in the current (1st-14th Sept) edition.

Leah & Ricky in YouTube commercial for Mizz Mag
Ricky was the presenter of Newsround yesterday. One of the items on the 2.15pm bulletin was rapper Elliot John Gleave aka Example, answering When I Was 10 questions. Apparently he fancied loads of people at school, but "didn't find love till later in life." His favourite subject at school was drama, and his least favourite, oddly enough, was music.

The next story on yesterday's Newsround was also about showbiz. As usual CBBC toed the heteronomative celebrity line.

Ricky: Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez might be an item, but the Biebster doesn't take any fashion tips from his girlfriend. The popstar was talking at a big fashion party in New York where he also revealed that he likes Kanye West's style ....

Now if Ricky had taken a few minutes to read though his copy of Mizz magazine, he'd know that the magazine is sceptical about the sincerity of Justin and Selena's relationship. Ricky called them an item, but Mizz questions whether the PDAs just indicate a fauxmance. Mizz suggests that, after eight months together, the couple ought to be a bit more laid back. The continuing public display of affection "smacks of trying too hard to convince us they're an item"

Mizz verdict on Justin & Selena

2011-09-10T15:38:00.001+01:00

Is former England rugby union international, Ben Cohen, another victim of BBC homophobia? A strange question, you might think - all the more so because Ben is straight and has a wife and young family.

So how could he be a victim of homophobia?

The answer is quite simply that, unlike CBBC bosses, Ben recognises the prejudice against young LGBT people and is prepared to stand up against it. Gareth Thomas is another rugby player who wants to help, but he too was given the Newsround cold shoulder, as this blog has previously documented.

Yesterday Newsround included substantial coverage of the Rugby World Cup. And there was a lot more today. Their website shows photos of the opening ceremony, how to dance the Haka and there's a guide to the rules.

Lawrence Dallaglio -
"England hard man" on Newsround yesterday

Whose Side Are You On?

The people in charge of CBBC refuse to acknowledge that homophobia is a serious problem for kids in primary and secondary schools. In fact, when it comes to homophobia and homophobic bullying there's hardly a shred of evidence to suggest that CBBC is on the side of the victims.

This morning Ben Cohen was off to Bolton to help Bully Free Zone which is in danger of closing through lack of funding.

Anti-Bullying Week begins on 14th November 2011 - the theme this year is 'Stop and think – words can hurt'

2011-09-04T12:48:00.001+01:00

With his ITV1 programme last night Jonathan Ross proved that it's quite possible for him to make an entertaining show without the need for the weekly homophobic jokes which were unfortunately a permanent fixture on his BBC One Friday night show. His old house band will not be missed by this blogger, or indeed anyone who fully appreciates the principles of diversity and equality. Nevertheless Jonathan's new chat show would benefit from a talented house band akin to the one on David Letterman's show in the United States.

An ironic scene from Friday Night With Jonathan Ross (BBC One - 24/7/2009)

2011-08-29T10:59:00.003+01:00

Watching Dragons' Den last night on BBC Two, I wasn't entirely sure why the last, very successful, entrepreneurs wanted the comparatively modest sum of £50,000 they were asking for. Then after a few moments it all seemed to click. Perhaps they were primarily interested in getting valuable free publicity for their, already lucrative, junk mail business. The two businessmen were obviously very experienced at marketing, and no doubt knew exactly what strings to pull to get producers interested in giving them the slot on Dragons' Den.

Every month BBC One broadcasts a charity appeal, and on 21 August 2011 the Lifeline appeal was presented by Olly Murs, whose single Heart Skips A Beat was released the same day (see blog on 25 August)

It's not clear whether the coincidence of the Lifeline appeal date and the release date of Olly's Single is down to chance. The appeal had originally been scheduled to air on 24th July, but was put back a month to 21st August. What is known is that Heart Skips A Beat topped the charts last night, and the publicity the Single received at the start of the appeal would not have hindered Olly's chart success. No money from sales of Heart Skips A Beat was specifically allocated to the charity.

Video clip - Olly Murs speaks about making the Lifeline appeal

2011-08-28T16:19:00.002+01:00

BBC Chief Operating Officer, Caroline Thomson, delivered a speech in 2007 to the Television from the Nations and Regions conference in Salford, Greater Manchester.

Caroline said it's important to remember the move to Salford was the BBC's idea, stemming from the Building Public Value vision of a BBC which was more diverse, less London-centric, better represented the country and clearly embraced its role as a creative catalyst in the nation's economy. It is not something we have to be forced into. It's something we want to do because we think it's the right thing to do to serve audiences better. ...

Towards the end of Friday's Newsround on BBC One, Ricky sent good wishes for the bank holiday weekend, "especially if you're off to the Notting Hill Carnival in London." And yesterday the programme broadcast Ricky's report about preparations for the Carnival.

Two Newsround bulletins today (9.08am and 1.59pm) reported on the London event.

If you'd listened to Caroline Thomson's speech, you might think BBC national TV, including Newsround, would be only too willing to give a nod to Manchester Pride, which is taking place this weekend. Not so.

Some audience groups, whether from London, Manchester, or any other part of the United Kingdom, continue to be underserved despite the BBC's public service broadcaster obligations, as re-stated by the BBC Trust last year (pdf page 27)

2011-08-25T10:03:00.000+01:00

Usually TV companies have to pay to publicise their programmes, either on hoardings or on other TV channels. Not so, it seems, with ITV's The X Factor. The show gets thousands of pounds' worth of free publicity, courtesy of BBC Newsround. Here, for instance.

How the BBC decides who and what to promote or ignore is anyone's guess - it's all part of the BBC's "editorial independence" - and that means the BBC isn't answerable to the public. Don't bother with Freedom of Information requests as the BBC has special exemptions from that law - and anyway, as I've discovered, the BBC's Information Policy and Compliance Department isn't above attempting to deceive the public - and then attempting to cover up the deception.

Mark Thompson, writing for The Guardian, says that The only reliable, durable and perpetual guarantor of independence is not profit, nor who you know. It is integrity - a reference, of course, to the infamous last words in a lecture delivered by James Murdoch at the Edinburgh International Television Festival in 2009. I will be returning to this later.

One of the BBC's favoured celebrities is Olly Murs, who has a new single out this week, heading for Number 1 in the charts. The single, Heart Skips A Beat, was released last Sunday - the same day Olly appeared in a BBC Lifeline appeal for a charity of which Mr Murs is a patron. The Lifeline appeal began with a clip from the video of Olly's new single.

The full BBC Lifeline appeal can be viewed on the iPlayer for a few more days.

2011-08-23T12:14:00.001+01:00

The Slammer is a BBC children's programme set in a prison. Four variety acts compete for applause at the end of the show, and the act which gets the loudest acclamation from the audience of kids is allowed to go free. The other three acts have to remain in prison and dine on regular meals of sloppy-ploppy porridge.

The last act on yesterday's programme (first shown in 2008) was a boyband called 3 Pin Socket. Following their performance of Lost in Misery, one of the prison officers, Mr Burgess, asked kids if they enjoyed it. Here's what happened when Mr Burgess questioned a young girl in the audience. Note: the girl's face was mostly shown in close-up.

Mr Burgess: Lost in Misery. I know I was - listening to that. What about you, miss?

Girl: I really liked the drum player, cos he's really cool.

Mr Burgess: Have you got a bit of a crush on him, miss?

Girl smiles, looking embarrassed

Mr Burgess: Did you like him?

Girl giggles

Mr Burgess: Did you think he was a bit nice?

Girl laughs slightly

Mr Burgess: Did you, miss? You can tell me. There's nobody else listening you know.

Girl smiles, embarrassed and lost for words

Mr Burgess: Did you, miss?

Girl: I really liked the music

Mr Burgess: Would you like to release him?

Girl: I'd like to release him

Mr Burgess: Yes, then you could meet him and have a cup of tea.

2011-08-20T17:25:00.003+01:00

Government Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone sent a message of support to UK Black Pride, which is taking place in London today.

Lynne said that "Equality sits firmly at the heart of this Government."

Lynne Featherstone: "While we celebrate that real progress has been made towards equality in recent years, we must not be complacent and we are working hard to achieve more. We must celebrate the diverse nature of Britain – our race, our sexual orientation, our gender and we must celebrate that we are all these things and many more."

One way to help "achieve more" would be to cease the ongoing discrimination on BBC children's TV. It would be nice, at least once in a while, to see Newsround report from a Pride event, or perhaps cover LGBT support from celebs like Alexandra Burke, Lady Gaga, Daniel Radcliffe and Miley Cyrus.

Ore Oduba has explained to Newsround viewers what is was like to be black under apartheid in South Africa. In the circumstances it's quite unfortunate that MOTD Kickabout hasn't mentioned the footballing career of Justin Fashanu, and the discrimination he encountered. Even the programme on Saturday 19th February (International Football v Homophobia Day) which, this year, would have been Justin's 50th birthday.

Perhaps Ore could make amends with a report from UK Black Pride.

Because, as Lynne Featherstone says, "We have seen real progress over the last 20 years when it comes to tackling racism in sport and I firmly believe we should work to remove all forms of discrimination from all sport, including homophobia and transphobia."

2011-08-16T13:20:00.002+01:00

For the record, the webpage referred to in my blog of 20 April 2011 has been altered. Below is the entire page as downloaded from the same web address at 10am this morning.^*

Note the previous wording, under the heading "Expenses" - and contrast with the current wording under "Expenses and central bookings"

Previous wording:-

Expenses are costs incurred by BBC staff on behalf of the BBC and claimed through the BBC's expenses system (e-expenses) or booked through the BBC's central booking system.

Expense reports from April 2009 are published quarterly.

Details of expenses for each current Executive Board member are available on the biography pages. To see the biography and expenses of each Board member, click on their names below.

Current wording:-

Expenses are costs incurred by BBC staff on behalf of the BBC and claimed through the BBC's expenses system (e-expenses). Central bookings are costs incurred on behalf of the BBC and booked through the BBC's central bookings system.

Expense reports and central booking reports from April 2009 are published quarterly.

Details of expenses and central bookings for each current Executive Board member are available on the biography pages. To see the biography, expenses and central bookings of each Board member, click on their names below.

Also of note is the fact that the Executive Board list on that particular webpage is somewhat out-of- date. The correct list is, I believe, available here.

---
* Edit note (20 August 2011): The image referred to has been removed but is available on request.

2011-08-11T11:14:00.001+01:00

There is probably no single cause for the riots in England. But it would be naïve to overlook the role the BBC, with its Creative Future policy, has played in alienating the younger generation.

Creative Future has been, in almost every respect, a failure and waste of resources. At one time the BBC was, indeed, creative. But you only need compare recent live news coverage on the BBC News channel with that of its main competitor, Sky News, to see how the BBC has declined. So much for the BBC Vision of being "the most creative organisation in the world."

Amongst Creative Future's proposals was the narrowing of the target age for CBBC programmes. And even though the BBC knew full-well that teens were already being poorly served, as confirmed at the time by a Newsround interview with Richard Deverell, the BBC continued implementing the ill-judged plan, and thus further disenfranchised young audiences.

Within weeks of Mark Thompson's unveiling of Creative Future, Newsround began a covert policy of discrimination against older children. I drew this discrimination policy to the attention of Ofcom (pdf) and the BBC Trust.

The BBC has continued to alienate older kids by removing gritty realistic drama programmes from the schedules, most notably, axing Grange Hill. Anne Gilchrist said "Part of CBBC's reputation for reflecting contemporary Britain back to UK children has been built upon Phil Redmond's brilliantly realised idea, and of course it's sad to say goodbye to such a much-loved institution."

A claim by Anne Gilchrist that the decision to axe Grange Hill had the support of CBBC's audience was investigated by myself and found to be untrue (pdf). That was far from the only time the public has been misled by the BBC, yet unfortunately the organisation rarely admits its faults.

Other evidence of the BBC's complete betrayal of young people includes removal of the Your Life web section. Nothing better illustrates the BBC's disrespect for children than the way they handled message board closures in December 2008, describing the extremely unpopular move as "improvements."

Ask Aaron, the expert help message board was shut down a month later.

In March last year the director-general, Mark Thompson, said that he wanted to cut teen services, suggesting that teens instead rely on Channel 4 and other broadcasters. His reason? I speculate on Mr Thompson's reluctance to serve all young people fairly (see blog 3 August 2011) Presumably that explains why, years ago, control of Diversity was wrested by BBC management from the specialist BBC Diversity Centre.

However, leaving aside the speculation on Thompson's motivation, there's no getting away from a likelihood that the BBC's cavalier attitude towards children and young people is at least a contributory factor in the present unrest.

2011-08-08T10:16:00.000+01:00

The second night of trouble on London streets made the lede story on Newsround this morning at 7.38am. Oddly, though, Newsround deceived viewers on the reported ages of some of those involved.

Ricky: One hundred people were arrested last night. It's been reported that children as young as ten years old took part in the violence.

In fact it had been reported some hours earlier by Rhodri Phillips in The Sun that children aged seven had been involved. David Akinsanya, a well-known journalist, was a witness at the scene of the rioting in Tottenham.

Apparently Cher Lloyd topped the music charts last night.

Ricky: Cher Lloyd has proved to the nation that she's still got a bit of Swagger Jagger almost a year after finishing fourth in The X Factor. The 18 year old has scored her first Number 1 with this tune. Yeah - it is Swagger Jagger. It knocked JLS off the top spot. Cher celebrated with fans outside Radio 1's headquarters in London.

So, no mention of her earlier celebrations at G.A.Y then.

2011-08-07T09:23:00.001+01:00

President of the English Chess Federation, Connagh-Joseph de Mooi, was criticised yesterday for wearing a Stonewall 'Some people are gay - Get over it!' T-shirt.

CJ de Mooi, President of the English Chess Federation
CJ wrote afterwards about what happened.

Apparently the 'problem' was that he would be presenting prizes for the championships, and some of the awards were for junior players. It was, some people were suggesting, inappropriate for him to wear something mentioning "sexuality" in the vicinity of children.

CJ de Mooi: Personally, I was incensed. No matter how I try to drag chess into the 21st century, I seem to continually face "antediluvian" attitudes.

Made me think - has he, I wonder, ever encountered similar attitudes at the BBC? Has he ever worn one of those 'Some People Are Gay' T-shirts when he appeared on Eggheads?

Seems to me the most sensitive measure of institutional prejudice is evidenced by a desire to prevent children from finding out that it's OK to be gay.

Some people are gay. Get over it!

2011-08-06T16:31:00.000+01:00

Olympic champion sprinter, Shelly-Ann Fraser was the guest celebrity on Newsround's When I was 10. Shelly-Ann was running against other top athletes, including Carmelita Jeter, in London this afternoon.

Presenter Joe Tidy told Newsround viewers that Shelly-Ann had popped into Caribbean food company, Grace Foods, to talk about what she was like at the age of 10.

Shelly-Ann talks to Newsround
One of the questions which often used be put to guests, but is now only very rarely asked, was Did you fancy anyone at school?

Shelly-Ann: Ah yes I did.(laughs) I fancied this guy in my class. I was like nine, and he was my height. And I wanted to march with him at our graduation and I was actually asking people to go behind me so I could be next to him.

2011-08-03T13:55:00.001+01:00

A few days ago Miley Cyrus tweeted a picture of a tattoo on her finger. The equals sign on her ring finger is to signify that Miley believes that lesbian and gay people should be entitled to marry.

Although Newsround reports a great deal of celebrity news, it has never, ever (well since 2002, at any rate) reported on gestures of support for LGBT people in the battle for equality, and against homophobic prejudice. So kids won't have learnt about the good work done by Daniel Radcliffe, Lady Gaga and several others.

It's three years since the brutal homophobic murder of Michael Causer. The trial which followed was a stain on the British judicial system, as the prime culprit for Michael's death, Gavin Alker, walked free in February 2009.

The BBC, as the main UK public service broadcaster and therefore a major public opinion former was, and still is, in a position to help prevent hate crimes like that.

Director-General, Mark Thompson, is a devout Roman Catholic who clearly recognises the authority of the Pope. Amongst the teachings of the Catholic Church is that homosexuality is a "tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder."

So how much is BBC policy being shaped by Catholic doctrine. Mark Thompson has often lectured about the place of religion in broadcasting. Here, for example, he begins with a quote from the Gospel according to Mark. A few months later he lectured to Theos on his conviction that religion is back.

Perhaps Mr Thompson would now care to address the controversy directly.

Does Mark agree with Vatican teaching on LGB people? Is he and BBC management acting as a kind of self-appointed Curia?

Recall that, only a year after Mark Thompson took the helm of the BBC, the following advice was removed from programme makers' guidance -

Gay and lesbian people, and those who are bisexual, make up a significant minority entitled to be served and treated fairly by the BBC.

Have BBC children's programmes since 2005 been tailored to comply with Catholic doctrine, even though it undoubtedly fosters homophobic prejudice?

2011-08-01T11:17:00.000+01:00

Miriam O'Reilly did well in her legal case to highlight the BBC's ageist policy, but I fear Miriam was unwise to accept the BBC's offer to present Crimewatch Roadshow. Truth is that the BBC is a very crafty organisation - and that's not going to change any time soon.

Last night Dragons' Den broke with tradition by featuring two women on the team rather than the usual one - and, like Miriam O'Reilly, neither of them was in the first flush of youth. So the BBC has, quite properly, taken Miriam's legal victory on board. I have a feeling, though, that Miriam herself is unlikely to be offered much more work by the Corporation. As far as BBC management is concerned, there's nothing worse than others getting the upper hand. Of course, I'd be happy to be proved wrong.

Mysterious goings-on were evident on the BBC News channel at 1am this morning, presumably to do with a one day strike by journalists. Just as Chris Rogers was about to start reading the news headlines from the London studio the feed switched instead to Rico Hizon in Singapore. If you blink you'll miss it.

A campaign has been launched to hold to account Britain's 'feral' elite for the series of crises which have scarred the country. Although the BBC isn't mentioned explicitly, I think it is telling that former Director-General Greg Dyke is the first signature on the list.

2011-07-28T12:22:00.000+01:00

As a rule I never put through official complaints about BBC programmes, but earlier this month I decided to break with habit and complained about CBBC's Leonardo series.

If you don't know what's wrong with Leonardo you're obviously not an avid Newsround Blog reader. Never mind, you can catch up on the essentials by checking out this blog entry on 6 May 2011.

My complaint drew upon the consensus amongst art historians that Leonardo da Vinci wasn't heterosexual, and I argued that deliberate misrepresentation of him in the TV series was part of a much wider problem on BBC children's TV. Quoting from the complaint:

Until 2005 the BBC was prepared to regularly portray lesbian and gay characters in kids' dramas. However since then I believe that not one single new CBBC drama has included LGBT characters or role models. Factual output is barely any better. For example the kids' news programme Newsround ignores virtually all news where LGBT issues are involved, and there has never been any specific mention of efforts to combat homophobia and homophobic bullying.

My complaint also quoted from BBC Producers' Guidelines which were withdrawn in 2005:

Gay and lesbian people, and those who are bisexual, make up a significant minority entitled to be served and treated fairly by the BBC.

The BBC responded:

Thanks for contacting us regarding CBBC's 'Leonardo'.

I understand that you're unhappy as you feel that this programme and many others are biased against homosexuality.

As you have mentioned gay and lesbian people make up a significant minority of the BBC’s audience. As a Public Service Broadcaster dedicated to reflect society, the BBC rightfully shows that homosexuals play a full range of roles within society and have the same right as other people to see that range truthfully explored in our programmes. Our dramas have a long-standing reputation for dealing with all subjects in a responsible way and by handling the issue carefully, people gain more understanding and tolerance of gay and lesbian people. We must make it clear that we show a range of programmes which is expected of us by the wide and diverse audience we serve but I'm sorry that you feel 'Leonardo' did not reflect this but I welcome your feedback on the programme.

We’re guided by the feedback that we receive and to that end I'd like to assure you that I've registered your complaint on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that's made available to all BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, programme makers, channel controllers and other senior managers.

The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.

Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.

Notice the BBC's response: ".. Our dramas have a long-standing reputation for dealing with all subjects in a responsible way and by handling the issue carefully, people gain more understanding and tolerance of gay and lesbian people. ..."

Had the BBC forgotten that my complaint was about BBC Children's?

And what does the BBC mean by this bit?: ".. We must make it clear that we show a range of programmes which is expected of us by the wide and diverse audience we serve .."

I'd suggest it means they take account of homophobic bigots, who don't want kids to see any LGBT portrayal or issues on children's TV.

In keeping with discriminatory practices on CBBC and Newsround, there wasn't a single mention of the happy news about same-sex marriages in New York at the weekend. That could have made a break from all the sombre news we've had recently.

2011-07-23T13:51:00.001+01:00

Nowadays Newsround's web presence is rarely, if ever, updated at the weekend. The current tragic news from Norway has, so far, only been reported on the TV bulletins.

Newsround's revamped website launched at the end of June (blog 29 June 2011.) You'd expect them to have asked for feedback from viewers. However, keen Newsround watchers would have noticed that the BBC seemed to take little interest what people actually thought of the changes. On the 30th June, Ore said rather unconvincingly I think: You guys obviously loving our brand new website right now.

Why was Newsround so indifferent to kids' opinions on the site? Why didn't they ask for feedback - perhaps on this webpage?

The answer is probably quite simple. CBBC suspected kids would be unhappy with the dumbed down site, and given the chance they would make their views known. A few kids might have had a bookmark to the old chat page and some managed to find their way to the message board via the A-Z link. But now the A-Z directory has been updated with a new-style page which doesn't link to Chat or to the Message boards.

Part of Newsround's A-Z index web page (screenshot)

It seems that the BBC is slowly strangling the remnants of children's message boards. Is this just to save money, or is there another reason?

2011-07-18T13:47:00.000+01:00

With all the fuss about Murdoch's media empire showing no sign of abating, more people are, like Tom Watson, also starting to question the role of the BBC.

At a press conference today Tom McTague from the Daily Mirror asked Ed Miliband if he feels the BBC is part of the establishment, and whether it has too much power.

2011-07-13T12:54:00.000+01:00

I'll be returning to CBBC's attitude to Joe McElderry in due course. But, as everyone knows, the story of the moment is about Rupert Murdoch and the phone hacking scandal. Tom Watson MP spoke to Simon McCoy on the BBC News channel this morning, and it was clear that like Newsround Blog Tom has concerns not only about Murdoch, but about the whole British media including the BBC. (see blog on 10 July 2011)

Simon McCoy interviewing Tom Watson this morning said "... the problem is as soon as you start to single out individual organisations the claim is that they all have their own agendas. And perhaps on this that draws away from the central argument here is: one man's power over a particular organisation and what that organisation did while he was in power ..."

2011-07-12T22:35:00.001+01:00

One of the stories on this morning's Newsround was about Nick Jonas participating in an American softball game. The rather baffling report included a short clip from an interview with Nick whose softball team, it seems, lost to a team with an American Idol winner called Jordin Sparks.

Below is the complete list of stories from all nine of yesterday's Newsround TV bulletins. There was no mention of Britain's Joe McElderry, who won ITV's Popstar to Operastar on Sunday evening. Former Bucks Fizz star Cheryl Baker was the runner-up.

Does anyone seriously believe that CBBC would not have reported the result had, say, Olly Murs taken part and won? (see blog on 6 June 2011)

CBBC - 7.40am

[0'30"] Atlantis shuttle and Space Station
[0'18"] Duke & Duchess of Cambridge on way home
[0'19"] Tour de France crash
[1'56"] first elk born in the UK in over 1000 years
[0'19"] fans in tears after JLS pull out of T4 on the Beach
[0'15"] David & Victoria Beckham - baby girl

BBC2 - 7.58am

[0'16"] Atlantis
[0'16"] Tour de France
[0'17"] Beckham baby girl Harper Seven

CBBC - 08.10am

[0'17"] Atlantis shuttle
[0'32"] Duke & Duchess of Cambridge
[0'19"] Tour de France
[0'21"] dog brought to UK from Afghanistan
[0'18"] JLS pull out of festival

CBBC - 3.30pm

[0'40"] fishing rules to change - no discarding
[0'18"] more and younger runaway kids according to new report
[0'18"] Atlantis and space station
[0'15"] England women's football (Hope Powell comment)
[0'11"] robot football

CBBC - 4.00pm

[0'16"] fishing rules
[0'16"] Hope Powell comment
[0'13"] Beckham baby

CBBC - 4.25pm

[0'17"] air show crash
[0'17"] space station
[0'15"] very old football, 'Rules, Regulations & Laws' book (owned by Sheffield FC) up for sale

BBC One - 5pm (main bulletin)

[1'56"] new fishing rules
[0'26"] air display plane crash
[1'30"] Atlantis shuttle/ Space station
[0'30"] comments made by England women's footie coach Hope Powell
[2'00"] elk introduced in Scotland
[0'18"] Beckham baby "big congratulations"

CBBC - 6.10pm

[0'08"] fishing rules
[0'07"] space station
[0'05"] robot footie

CBBC - 6.50pm

[1'56"] fishing rules to change
[0'15"] airshow plane crash
[1'25"] Atlantis and space station
[0'17"] women's football - remark by Hope Powell
[0'12"] robot football

Notes:
(i) times as shown on CBBC schedule - sometimes out by a few minutes
(ii) approx durations of each item in mins and secs

2011-07-10T11:12:00.001+01:00

No-one could say that the last few days haven't been important in media-terms ... and we're not just talking about the Children's Media Conference in Sheffield, nor even the Premiere in London of the final Harry Potter film. Phone hacking made Newsround's lead story at 5pm on Wednesday:

Sonali: First - a huge scandal involving spying on phones, the police and one of Britain's biggest newspapers.

Ore: Journalists at the News of the World paper have already been caught out secretly listening to the voicemail of celebs to get juicy stories. But now it seems they may have gone further by listening in on the victims of serious crimes. (Ore's video report)

On Thursday the programme reported that the News of the World was to close, and on Friday Ricky told viewers about the 168-year-old history of the paper.

Newsround Blog has criticised the Murdoch empire on a number of occasions. This is from a blog on 30 September 2009:

However many the BBC's faults - and there are many - this country needs no lectures from the would-be monopolist Murdoch clan. Robust plurality and diversity should be the way forward. Judging from recent opinion polls there will likely be a Conservative government by next summer. Conservatives would be unwise to make the same mistake as Labour by grovelling to the Murdochs and further debasing UK politics. The omens, however, do not look good.

With everyone's attention on Murdoch's News Corp right now, we should not forget nor be complacent about that other media giant, the BBC, which does its level best to shut down scrutiny from those who have an inkling of its improper goings-on. In contrast to commercial interests the BBC is supposed to be a public service broadcaster.

Why care about inflated salaries when there are bigger fish to fry?

2011-07-04T13:38:00.001+01:00

Pride London was held over the weekend but the BBC's lack of national television coverage of the celebration has caused dismay amongst the LGBT community. ITV1's London Tonight bulletin did broadcast a positive report, which included an interview with former England rugby star Ben Cohen, talking about his Stand Up Foundation and efforts to combat homophobic bullying:-

Now the Children's Media Conference 2011 begins on Wednesday. This year David Puttnam is to give the opening keynote speech on the theme of Thinking Differently. Lord Puttnam believes the UK is well placed to develop into a world powerhouse in "new ways of approaching learning for young people."

The BBC Mission is to "enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain," and of course the Corporation is already making some excellent educational kids' programmes which meet that remit. Horrible Histories is one award-winning example, but CBBC is also very good with nature and wildlife programmes. Other BBC children's programmes have somewhat less merit. MI High, for example, might have some 'pass-the-time' value but otherwise has very little going for it.

CBBC's dramatisation of the life of the young Leonardo da Vinci ends this evening. Few wouldn't have got its message that women were treated badly in the past. Racial equality was dealt with by making the programme colour-blind - in particular Niccolo Machiavelli was portrayed by a black actor. But when it comes to sexual orientation, Leonardo was a golden opportunity missed, and in that regard at least, it badly failed the BBC's audience.

Leonardo was filmed in South Africa - the country which overcame the evil of apartheid and last month co-sponsored a United Nations resolution on human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. How much will the Children's Media Conference theme of 'Thinking Differently' involve discussions to make children's TV inclusive for LGBT kids? Let's hope that delegates are bold enough to think differently and start tackling homophobic prejudice which, in recent times, has become rife in the showbiz/media world.

Pride London 2011

2011-06-30T15:25:00.000+01:00

Newsround launches its new-look website - continued

The Newsround website search engine is now working after a fashion.

These days CBBC rarely has much to say to the public about its editorial thinking. But yesterday, Newsround's deputy editor, Daniel Clarke, broke a long-standing silence and proffered an explanation for the changes made to their website.

Daniel says that Newsround as a programme was set up nearly 40 years ago with the admirable purpose of informing children about the world in a way that's relevant to them. If it's going to continue to do this, it needs to have the agility and boldness to follow the audience where they're going now.

How the site has changed? Last Friday the website reported that Max from 'The Wanted' had become engaged to Michelle Keegan (Tina on Coronation Street) This is how it looked before, but after the revamp the same story now looks like this. One of the disappointing things about the change is that timestamps are now absent.

When the CBBC site completed a makeover in April 2011 Phil Buckley, Product Manager for the BBC Children's portfolio, blogged about the relaunch, prefacing his reasoning with examples of kids who were very upset following changes made to CBeebies website in 2007.

All very well to get used to a website style, and be unhappy when things change superficially. But what about the case where things have clearly been spoilt and valuable content excised, yet it's described as an improvement? As I said in my previous blog entry, such happened with CBBC's Internet presence in December 2008. Check Newsround Blog entries around the end of 2008 for the lowdown.

Ricky shows off his iPad 2 this morning

2011-06-29T12:46:00.002+01:00

Newsround launches its new-look website

Newsround's website has been given a "makeover" according to Ricky on this morning's 7.40am bulletin. He drew attention to bigger picture galleries, new puzzles, plus "all the best stories" - the latest news, sport and showbiz. He told viewers to "get online and check it out."

And at 8.15am -

Ricky: "If you log on to the Newsround website this morning you might notice a few changes. Yep, we've given the brand new site a new look. It's still got loads of the best stories, but now has bigger galleries, more games and puzzles, loads of new functions, and it's probably one of the best websites on planet Earth. Then again I am a wee bit biased. Right, check it out - BBC dot co dot uk forward-slash newsround."

Newsround Blog has checked out the new site, First impressions -

Yes - the pictures are bigger

Navigation is poorer, and at the time of writing the 'Search BBC Newsround' facility at the top-right of the page is broken

Is CBBC once again seeking to hoodwink kids by portraying what is, in reality, dumbing down as an improvement? Recall this more serious example from December 2008 .... a month later the Ask Aaron help for kids section was shut down completely. I'd be extremely surprised if Aaron Balick wasn't mortified by the betrayal of kids when that happened.

More in a few days.

2011-06-28T11:16:00.000+01:00

My last blog included an extract from the current Oasis Community Learning Sex and Relationships Education Policy. If the relevance of the Oasis document wasn't clear, it is because Oasis is a large faith-based organisation working in the UK and around the world, founded by Christian minister Steve Chalke.

Oasis Community Learning was formed in the context of Tony Blair's enthusiastic support for faith schools and academies.

Oasis Academy MediaCityUK enjoys close links with the BBC.

As to the Oasis SRE policy, the current wording continues as follows:

However, avoiding sensitive or controversial issues does not make them go away and leaves children and young people confused and at risk. It is important to recognise the power of confusion caused by "informal" learning - from television, internet, DVDs, radio, magazines, newspapers, gossip, jokes, and various other sources. Education within the curriculum can do much to dispel myths, reduce fear and anxiety, clear up misunderstanding and counteract prejudice. All official documentation is in favour of the discussion of topics such as contraception, abortion, pornography, homosexuality, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.

It is important that our students develop understanding and attitudes based on values which prepare them to view relationships in a responsible and healthy manner. SRE will be part of the curriculum and will not be taken out of context or overemphasised in any way. ...

Linked - Steve Chalke’s ‘faith academies’ – the claims and the reality (National Secular Society - November 2008)

2011-06-26T13:48:00.001+01:00

Last September, during reports about Lady Gaga's meat dress, Sonali mentioned that Lady Gaga was a vegan.

A remark to that effect was repeated by Sonali the following day, Tuesday 14 September 2010, at 6.25pm -

"Well, as Gaga's a vegan herself, I had a think about something perhaps a bit more appropriate for next time."

I emailed Sonali afterwards to ask what evidence there was about Stefani Germanotta being a vegan, as I hadn't seen anything about it on the Internet. Unfortunately the email went unanswered.

Last Friday 24 June 2011 at 5pm (BBC Two) Newsround reported Lady Gaga's fundraising work in Japan. However Newsround has never mentioned her campaign efforts for gay rights, including marriage equality.

Here's an extract from the current Oasis Community Learning Sex and Relationships Education Policy:-

It is natural for caring adults to want to protect children and young people from information, attitudes and lifestyles which they themselves find distasteful.

So has BBC Children's been taking on the role of these 'caring adults' by protecting kids from information, attitudes and lifestyles which Director-General, Mark Thompson, finds distasteful?

Anyone might reasonably conclude that the Corporation doesn't fully support equality.

More on this in a day or two

2011-06-25T21:30:00.000+01:00

From this evening's Channel 4 News -

Krishnan: Same-sex couples will be able to get married in New York after it became the sixth and largest US state to vote it into law. (video clip) Celebrations continued well into the early hours after four Republicans joined Democratic senators to pass the measure to the delight of Governor Andrew Cuomo, who made it one of his top political priorities.

Governor Cuomo: New York made a powerful statement, not just for the people of New York, but the people all across this nation. We reached a new level of social justice this evening.

A cycling banner on the My Hero Project home page links to LGBT heroes as part of the US LGBT Pride Month celebrations

2011-06-18T14:41:00.001+01:00

The football season has ended but instead of taking the opportunity to bring back a general sports programme like Sportsround, CBBC has taken the decision to plough on with Match of the Day Kickabout. With just over a year to the London Olympics and Paralympics it seems a rather bizarre decision. There might have been some point had MOTD Kickabout kept its original promise to cover all things footie.

This week new legislation was introduced in the Scottish Parliament intended to reduce prejudice-based hooliganism at football matches. But rather than report this important football news the programme seems more at home with vacuous banter. The lookie-likie section today ended with a rather hackneyed comparison of Wayne Rooney and Shrek. I imagine Wayne is past caring, but it sent the wrong message to kids who bully, or are bullied about their appearance.

One football player who didn't take well to prejudice and bigotry in football was Justin Fashanu. Match of the Day Kickabout had a chance to celebrate his life and achievement on Football v Homophobia Day - 19th February 2011 - the date which would have been his 50th birthday. However that was another opportunity sadly missed by BBC Children's.

CBBC routinely ignores homophobic bullying, but yesterday the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution which deals with sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. The Resolution removes doubt regarding the interpretation of Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights dated 10th December 1948.

I'm pleased to say that, following correspondence with the My Hero Project in the United States, they have now added a section on LGBT Heroes, which also includes a link to a copy of the aforementioned Declaration.

2011-06-16T12:05:00.000+01:00

Match of the Day Kickabout

It's not quite clear why the BBC has refused to give details of their fantasy football scoring rules. I first requested details on the same day the Leaderboard was mentioned on Match of the Day Kickabout on 29th January 2011. Just over a month later, after some reminders, I received a simple explanation which suggested that the scores are compiled taking each player's total from the Official Premier League Fantasy Football figures. I was invited to write back if I had any further questions.

I did have a couple more questions, about the teams chosen and the scoring. The BBC then asked, in deferential terms, why I wanted to know. I explained that I wasn't particularly familiar with fantasy football and wanted to be able to check out how the scores are worked out. I mentioned in my reply that the Leaderboard scores had been used to back up an assertion made on the programme (29th January) that Ore was "rubbish at fantasy football."

The BBC responded that they do not adhere to official Premier League game rules. The BBC also defended the remark about Ore, claiming that "Under our editorial guidelines we would not be able to state that as fact if that was not the case." Their email ended with a refusal to answer any more questions.

After considerable persistence I was able to get some more details, but this time their response contradicted what I'd already been told regarding scoring methods. A few days later I received another email which basically closed down any further discussion of the issue.

More about MOTD Kickabout in my next blog.

2011-06-13T00:46:00.001+01:00

It's a bit rich to promise one thing and then do the opposite. But unfortunately the BBC seems to make a habit of it. Whether the promise is to explain the rules of their Fantasy Football Leaderboard scoring system, or whether it's about helping kids understand the world around them, the Corporation has proved it can't be trusted.

The "results" of the Fantasy Football competition were announced on Saturday's MOTD Kickabout. After swapping between Sonali and Leah to tease the audience, we were eventually assured that Leah had won. However, perspicacious viewers will have noticed that the top two scores weren't revealed.

This year Jana Bennett is due to give a Keynote at the Banff World Media Festival. Four years ago Jana, as part of another keynote speech, told attendees to Showcomotion (now known as the Children's Media Conference):-

We help children understand themselves and their relationships in all their rich complexity and in particular, understand their world – begin to fathom their navigation of relationships, their situation, through the experience of others whom they can relate to.

We open the door for children to the wider world and its concerns whether that is science, history, fiction or the unlimited world of the imagination.

And in between all that good-for-you stuff we encourage children to have fun....

But Newsround Blog showed how, in reality, kids were betrayed by the BBC, their freedoms (of expression and right to information) being severely curtailed. Check out, for example, here, here and here. Richard Deverell, who incidentally bears a remarkable resemblance to Nyder from Doctor Who, was in charge of BBC Children's at the time.

Similar sentiments to Ms Bennett's were expressed last November at a meeting of the respected Voice of the Listener and Viewer. This time the invited speaker was the present BBC Director of Children's, Joe Godwin -

We need to fire the imagination of the next generation and help them make sense of the world around them with powerful storytelling that engages and enthralls them.

All drama and storytelling has the capacity to tackle social issues, to feature a range of characters that reflect the sheer diversity of society, and to help explain complex subjects to children.

So for quite a while the BBC has been putting out the same message about how it helps kids have fun, whilst preparing them for adulthood. But indications are that the interests of children are of secondary concern. Despite all the fine words intended for British ears, the truth is that world commercial markets are a major factor in deciding what British kids see on TV; and unfortunately another factor is heterosexism. CBBC's Leonardo is a blatant case in point.

The BBC performs a careful balancing act. When speaking to the Voice of the Listener and Viewer, its message is about homegrown content. When speaking to LGBT groups the message is about inclusion (at some unspecified time in the future,) and when speaking at media conferences abroad it's about how broadcasters can co-operate to make programmes suitable for an international market.

Joe Godwin is, I believe, presently attending the Banff World Media Festival 2011. Independent producers will get a chance to meet Joe and other "broadcast industry leaders and influential power-brokers" who are looking to discover "the freshest, hottest new ideas in television." (BANFF Connect: Cocktails with a Decision Maker) Then on Tuesday and Wednesday Joe is due to speak in two sessions about 'Kids and Animation'. Amongst topics being considered are:

Working with Canadian kids' TV producers.

What international broadcasters want, and how they want it.

What is up-and-coming in kids programming for each country?

What are the different countries looking for in terms of content?

Projects geared for U.S., U.K. and Australian distribution.

International funding and financing; optimal models for deal structures and budgets in the global market.

I won't be attending the Banff MediaFest. However Newsround Blog wants to know exactly how international broadcasters and the BBC are working to make public service programmes suitable for showing in Britain, where lesbian and gay people should be treated as full and equal members of society.

Mr Godwin told FTL that nothing is going to happen ‘tomorrow’.

Well, Joe, for some kids ‘tomorrow’ is already too late.

2011-06-08T12:48:00.000+01:00

Still no word from Joe Godwin, Director of BBC Children's, in response to my email to him (see blog 31 May 2011) so I'm none the wiser as to who met the cost of his flight to last year's Banff World TV Festival and his accommodation there. All we do know is that the licence-payer picked up the tab for some pretty hefty cab fares, including one on his arrival in Canada of £409.27p

Fairmont Hotel in Banff Springs resort
In a couple of days Mr Godwin will once again be winging his way to Canada for the the Banff World Media Festival 2011, which takes place in the Banff Springs Fairmont Hotel.

How are British kids likely to benefit from Joe's trip to Banff, or from his February trips to the New York Hilton?

Joe, I know you're rushed off your feet at the moment, but why not spare a few minutes to get in touch and explain? Or, if you prefer, feel free to leave a comment.

2011-06-06T22:39:00.000+01:00

Controversial recommendations about banning music videos was the top story on this evening's Newsround at 5pm.

Ore: The music videos you could soon be banned from watching. The Government's trying to stop children seeing so much violence and nudity on screen.

Ricky: That's why movie-style age ratings could be introduced which would prevent you from watching some of the world's biggest stars.

(Video report - included an interview with Rachel Aston of the Mothers' Union)

After that, Ricky and Ore read out some of the early feedback they'd received.

Newsround's next story was about the result of Britain's Got Talent, won by Jai McDowall, with Ronan Parke in second place.

Ore: So well done Jai, but fear not Ronan, because coming second in the world of reality TV is always a good thing.

Ore said that JLS came second on the X Factor but they'd had four Number 1 singles and two platinum selling albums.

Ricky: Olly Murs was beaten by Joe McElderry. Since then Olly has had a string of hits and, unlike poor Joe, he's still got a recording contract.

Ore: Could be an opera star though, couldn't he.

One thing Newsround omitted to mention is that media bosses have enormous sway over the fortunes of reality show winners. Unfortunately things were stacked further against "poor Joe" as soon as he came out as gay.

Joe was completely out of his depth in the shark-infested and homophobic world of showbiz. He was subjected to repeated insults on CBBC, which should never have been allowed even once. Olly Murs had no such disadvantage, and is a favoured guest on children's TV. This news about Olly's less pleasant side went unreported by Newsround.

Joe McElderry awaits the Popstar to Operastar vote (5 June 2011)

2011-06-03T12:12:00.000+01:00

Simon Cowell is in the news once again, and whatever the truth about these allegations one thing is certain: the media and showbiz worlds can be quite manipulative.

We saw a week ago how the BBC made use of an investigation by the Taxpayers' Alliance to shut down another story which had the potential to dent the BBC's image. And, it seems, they even co-opted Newsround - a children's programme - into their cunning plan.

In fact the BBC is quite adept at turning things around in its favour. Only this morning, for example, Miriam O'Reilly appeared on BBC One's Breakfast.

Having fought a legal battle to the bitter end and lost, the BBC immediately realised they needed to get Miriam on board in order to sustain an image of the Corporation as fair-minded and diverse-friendly in this twenty-first century.

Miriam will co-present Crimewatch Roadshow

2011-05-31T00:08:00.000+01:00

Some six weeks ago I contacted the Director of BBC Children's to alert him of my concerns about historical distortion on CBBC's Leonardo. I didn't hear back at the time, so last Tuesday, 24th May, I asked whether he would like to say what future plans are in the pipeline to make BBC Children's inclusive and diverse-friendly. Unfortunately I've had no response to the email, despite a reminder. This is the substantive text of my email -

I recently heard from a school in London about their excellent work during this year's LGBT History Month. Their email included some information about a training course they're running in a few days' time. Here is part of my reply -

Thanks for the email with the YouTube video about the wonderful work you're doing at Stoke Newington School. It would be nice to see your work complemented by inclusiveness in the media, and kids' TV in particular. We live in hope, of course, but Joe Godwin's repeated assurances to myself, to Schools Out and to other LGBT groups have not resulted in any perceptible improvement - in fact quite the reverse has happened recently. The new CBBC 'Leonardo' series is, in my view, both a deliberate misrepresentation of the historical Leonardo's sexual orientation and a betrayal of today's lesbian and gay kids.

As you can see, I'm worried about the direction BBC Children's is going. In my blog on 6th May 2011 I wrote "CBBC's Leonardo series is contrary to everything LGBT History Month stands for, quite apart from also being at odds with the BBC's Mission, Values and Public Purposes."

I intend to write more about this in my blog at the weekend or early next week, so I'd be very interested to hear your future plans, if any, for making CBBC inclusive and diverse-friendly. I would like, if you give permission, to publish what you say on my blog.

There are a couple of other issues.

I've now received FOI lists of your expenses for the last year or so, and noted that taxi fares in Canada seem somewhat excessive. Especially one single journey on 13th June 2010, which set back the licence payer £409.27p. However your flight to the Banff World TV Festival 2010 isn't listed, and neither is the hotel accommodation. Please could you kindly let me know who met those costs?

Finally, I've been waiting some time for details relating to the Fantasy Football Leaderboard scores.

2011-05-28T23:55:00.000+01:00

CBBC Newsround is usually quite good on reporting animal stories, but one item on Friday was less positive than usual about animal welfare.

With one notable exception, Newsround has been a very animal-friendly programme. Last week, for example, there was a series of reports by Leah on endangered species in the UK, as well as a report on attempts to save stranded pilot whales in Scotland. On Monday there was an item about caring for pet rabbits, and on Thursday about the new penguin enclosure at London Zoo.

So why the sudden out-of-character concern for the financial cost of helping animals in distress? Newsround Blog has been investigating, and I've come with some interesting background.

Newsround - Friday 27 May 2011 at 8.30am

Leah: Fire crews spend millions of pounds rescuing animals. But this morning we've heard they're being criticised by one campaign group who says saving animals isn't their job, and they're wasting taxpayers' money. Fire crews say they'll always help animals in trouble because they see it as part of their job. Call-outs have included: rescuing a cow from a tree, a snail from a wall and a duckling from a drain.

At 5pm the same day -

Ricky: Hello

Sonali: Yes, happy Friday. Ricky and Sonali here to get you in the know before you start your weekend.

Ricky: Yeah, got a packed show today. Here's a taste of what's in store: Firefighters are told they're spending too much time rescuing animals.

Sonali: And we ask Simon Cowell's bff what's really going on with Cheryl and the American X Factor.

In the report proper, Sonali told viewers that "a BBC investigation found UK fire services spent three million pounds rescuing 17,000 animals in the past 3 years. One emergency involved reuniting a duckling with its mum."

The BBC investigation was covered in detail on Friday's Radio 4 You and Yours programme.

Newsround Blog has found out that the origins of the "BBC investigation" goes back a few weeks. Look at this on the Taxpayers' Alliance website and you'll note the nascent story about fire crews being kept busy rescuing animals dates from early in April 2011. But now also look at this Taxpayers' Alliance press release and note that it was embargoed until the start of Friday 27 May 2011. Both these news items appear to have their origins with the Taxpayers' Alliance.

So what's going on? First of all, bear in mind that many of the BBC's traditional supporters - the sort of people who believe public service broadcasting exists for the greater good of society - would be shocked to learn that even one penny of licence fee money is being channelled into private healthcare. And the BBC would have become aware that the Taxpayers Alliance had got hold of the story as soon as they received Freedom of Information requests asking for details.

The BBC was, quite rightly, embarrassed about this information being made widely known, and Newsround Blog posits that BBC bosses decided news management was needed to preserve the Corporation's public service reputation.

The Taxpayers' Alliance story about BBC private healthcare costs was embargoed until 27 May 2011 - the very same day that the BBC pushed their spoiler story about the cost to taxpayers of firefighters rescuing trapped animals. It beggars belief that this was a pure coincidence. And we shouldn't forget that the BBC has form when it comes to burying unwelcome news items.

Newsround Blog can report that the BBC's news management achieved its aim of minimising, and in fact almost drowning out, news about staff private healthcare costs. No major sites went with the BBC private healthcare story.

Newsround's take on the animal rescue story was shaped not within the constraints of their typical editorial judgement, but presumably by a management edict that Newsround was to assist in helping to bury that day's Taxpayers' Alliance press release.

That's why, on this occasion, the programme offered less than wholehearted support for the animals.

2011-05-25T13:22:00.001+01:00

Nice to see Newsround helping to improve kids' rights. From Tuesday's 5pm bulletin -

Leah: Ricky's been pretty busy this week, because you've been asking him to look into things for you. His next investigation is one that we got most emails about. Lots of you are fed up with being banned from shops. Watch this.

After Ricky's report Leah asked kids to send in new suggestions for him to investigate. Perhaps Ricky could also help by showing Newsround viewers how to investigate things for themselves.

Talking of which, here's an update into my own enquiries about the BBC (blog on 20 April 2011)

My FOI request about Joe Godwin's expenses was answered last Wednesday. The links on Richard Deverell's disclosure page were put right last Thursday. The information in Joe Godwin's Declaration of Personal Interests is still incomplete, and the BBC's Head of Information Policy & Compliance, James Leaton Gray, is aware of the issue.

I did eventually hear back from Mr Gray personally, and amongst other things he says that his Department dealt with my FOI request "in accordance with international accountancy standards." He rejects my assertion of "a misleading and possibly dishonest response."

James Leaton Gray was sorry I wasn't satisfied with the service provided, and says that he and his team set great store by the work they do on behalf of correspondents.

I'm waiting to hear back from BBC Children's on the matter of the MOTD Kickabout Fantasy Football Leaderboard (blog 24 April 2011) as well as on some other issues.

2011-05-24T00:44:00.000+01:00

BBC News first named Ryan Giggs as the injunction-row footballer on Monday at 5pm. Earlier in the afternoon Laura Kuenssberg was telling viewers that, despite the footballer having been named in Parliament, the BBC was unable to repeat it on air. Meanwhile Sky News was openly reporting that Ryan Giggs was the footballer in question. This is from Newsround's bulletin just after 5pm yesterday -

Leah: First, we're talking secrets. Everyone's got them, but up until an hour ago if we told you this one we could be sent to prison.

Ricky: Yeah, that's because a judge ruled no-one was allowed to name a world-famous Premier League footballer who was trying to keep details of his life private.

Leah: It's got lots of people talking about what celebrities should be allowed to keep private, and in the past sixty minutes that's all changed. The footballer went to court to ban people reporting claims about his private life. He said it was no-one else's business. So nobody was allowed to say who he was - not on TV, radio, in the papers or online. If they did they could be fined or go to jail.

Ricky: But there was a problem - the Internet. It's easy to write whatever you like online, and lots of people did name the player. And today an MP called John Hemming used a special rule to name him as Ryan Giggs.

Leah: Making all this public is good news for people who think we should be told absolutely everything about celebs' lives - and role models. But it's bad news for famous people who think they have a right to keep some things private.

2011-05-22T12:45:00.000+01:00

CBBC's Leonardo establishes that, in spite of Joe Godwin's reassurance, children's TV has made no meaningful progress on LGBT inclusiveness. Luckily a small number of schools are making a real difference.

Teachers at Stoke Newington School are working right now to make things better. The School's activities during LGBT History Month 2011 included a project called LGBT Creative Day which was turned over to celebrating LGBT human rights. The banner for LGBT Creative Day was:-

Claiming our history
Celebrating our present
Creating our future

Stoke Newington School say they've almost eliminated homophobic bullying. Unfortunately their heartwarming work and achievements haven't yet been reported by CBBC Newsround.

2011-05-19T10:48:00.001+01:00

Ricky was in the studio on his own for Newsround's 5pm bulletin yesterday. Sonali reported live from a tiny Mediterranean island called Lampedusa. Thousands of refugees are fleeing unrest across North Africa and making their way to the Island. Sonali's report was very informative, and an example of Newsround at its best.

2011-05-17T01:38:00.000+01:00

The First Post reports: A burly World Cup winning rugby player, with a wife and two children, may not appear to be an obvious candidate to become a gay rights activist. But 6ft 3in Ben Cohen has done just that. The former England winger has announced his retirement from the sport, aged 32, to dedicate his life to tackling bullying and homophobia.

Sport is often thought of as a bastion of homophobia, so it's good to see people like Ben Cohen stand up against prejudice. The showbiz and media worlds on the other hand are thought of as LGBT-friendly, but in reality homophobia insidiously pervades the industry, making it potentially far more harmful than the overt prejudice found in the sporting arena.

Simon Cowell is an exemplar.

Simon is quite happy to appear as Mr Nasty - the tough judge who doesn't suffer fools gladly. At the same time he likes the public to think of him as protective and supportive to those under his wing as mentor and agent. Despite Cowell's overt support for Joe McElderry when Joe came out as gay last July, it seems that Mr Cowell is very far from the well-meaning, easy-going and benign person that he'd like us to believe. Joe's career wasn't helped by the way he was treated by the BBC.

Newsround frequently covers stories about Simon Cowell's TV shows. At the end of yesterday's 5pm bulletin they reported that the X Factor axe has fallen on Dannii Minogue. Then this -

Leah: Talking of the X Factor, head over to the website because we want to know who you think should be on the judging panel. Let us know your thoughts this very minute!

There's no doubting that Simon is a mummy's boy but his credentials as a ladies' man are somewhat more suspect. What is the relevance of Simon's sexual orientation, you might ask. Well it's this. The showbiz and media worlds are generally seen as modern-thinking and entirely comfortable with LGBT people. So why does Simon Cowell pose as hetero when supposedly no-one really cares any more?

The truth is that people do care. No-one knows that better than these media types. They know it makes the difference between success and failure on talent shows, they know it affects marketability, they know that "straight is safe" and "gay is a gamble." Note on this YouTube clip Paula Abdul's indignant response to a reference to Simon Cowell's sexuality, although Simon himself sensibly makes light of it. But in this clip he loses his cool after Dannii Minogue quite properly raised the issue of the altered lyrics in Danyl's song (see blog on 11 October 2009)

Had Joe McElderry not fibbed about his sexuality at the start of his X Factor challenge his chances of winning would have been greatly diminished. He knew it. Simon Cowell knew it. In fact everyone in showbiz knows it. So we end up with a vicious circle whereby media moguls feed this prejudice for their own self-advancement.

That's why it's important that more people like Ben Cohen stand up and be counted.

It's that day of the year again - 17th May - International Day Against Homophobia - IDAHO

2011-05-15T15:35:00.001+01:00

Friday Download is possibly a sign that children's TV is spreading its wings, perhaps appealing to a wider range of kids including teenagers - a group which has, in recent years, been poorly served by the BBC.

The thinking behind Friday Download owes something to Channel 4's programmes for teens, but it seems CBBC is still reluctant to stray too far from its namby-pamby attitude.

On Friday 6 May 2011, the so-called 'TV download' segment - a selection of recommended television programmes presented by Ceallach - included this about Leonardo -

Ceallach: .. OK, the next show is Leonardo which is on CBBC. This show is based on Leonardo da Vinci as a teenager. Now some of you may know Leonardo da Vinci was a very very famous artist ....... but this is him as a teenager and what life was like for him hundreds and hundreds of years ago. It's a really factual show. It's really enjoyable to watch. You've got all his friends - Machiavelli, Lorenzo. And it's about him as a teenager doing his drawings and making some inventions, but at the same time people are trying to take his inventions. And it's all about what he goes through in the town of Florence. Let's take a look (video excerpt from Leonardo - Episode 6 - The Lightning Box)

Ceallach, for one, believes that Leonardo is factual (see previous blog for context,) and Friday Download did nothing to disabuse kids of that belief - in fact it reinforced it. Kids who take the trouble to do a few minutes research on the Internet - say by checking out Newsround Blog - know the truth about Leonardo da Vinci, and of course the truth about CBBC.

Why the title Friday Download? Well who doesn't like Friday, being as it's the start of the weekend. And everyone believes downloading is popular with kids. So put the two together and, hey presto, you get Friday Download.

---
Newswatch, on Friday dealt with the BBC move to Salford, but surprisingly failed to mention the recent news that Peter Salmon's second-in-command, Richard Deverell, has pulled out of the venture.

Peter Salmon was left with the last word on Newswatch -

Raymond Snoddy: You've managed to persuade about 55% of the staff involved to move to Salford, but isn't it a bit odd that some of the top brass like yourself haven't moved here permanently?

Peter Salmon: Well a lot of us are in the process of moving. I'm renting, for instance, this year and I'm buying a home next year. Lots of my senior colleagues are already here - they've bought their homes. We don't tend to hear stories of BBC bosses committing to buy homes. It just tends to be the odd individual who's still renting. That's because a lot of us are, you know, in a particular place in terms of our family lives. In terms of kids at school, all the rest of it, partners etcetera etcetera. But we're all very committed to this project. Inevitably bosses come and go just like staff. Presenters come and go just like staff. That's our business model. We encourage fluid careers, but we're very committed to this Centre.

2011-05-06T14:56:00.006+01:00

Regular readers of Newsround Blog should be aware that Joe Godwin, Director of BBC Children's, attends the Kidscreen Summit in New York. This year he participated in a session which discussed children's heroes and superheroes (blog 10 April 2011)

Leonardo is being heavily promoted, and few kids who watch children's TV will have missed seeing the series trailer. The website describes it as a "drama following the adventures of the teenage Leonardo da Vinci and his friends." The opening title sequence of every episode broadcast so far sets the story in Florence in 1467.

Nowhere are kids cautioned that Leonardo is makebelieve. It is a false and misleading account of the teenage years of Leonardo da Vinci.

The fifth episode 'It Must Be Love' portrays Leonardo as head-over-heels in love with a girl called Valentina, and apparently it's love at first sight. Chatting to a friend, Leonardo exclaims - "She is so beautiful. When I look at her I can barely breathe."

Leonardo and Valentina flirt together

The series fails children on multiple levels. One of the many issues with Leonardo is that, in reality, the eponymous superhero would have been more likely to be head-over-heels in love with one of his male friends (blog 13 April 2011)

Since my earlier blogs on this topic, I've found out more about the Kidscreen Summit Heroes And Superheroes session, and it seems the issue of LGBT heroes was not raised by any of the panel. This was particularly unfortunate because the reality of the My Hero project is so much at variance with its founding principles. For example there is currently no information about LGBT History Month on their website. I have raised this with them.

Despite CBBC's profoundly misleading account of the life of Leonardo da Vinci, it seems that Joe Godwin has, for years, been telling LGBT rights and support groups that CBBC inclusiveness will improve. On 12 March 2011 he spoke to Families Together London (FTL)

CBBC's Leonardo series is contrary to everything LGBT History Month stands for, quite apart from also being at odds with the BBC's Mission, Values and Public Purposes.

Leonardo is broadcast on Mondays on the CBBC Channel at 5.15pm.
Episode 5 - 'It Must Be Love' is repeated tomorrow at 10am on the CBBC Channel. The series is also presently available online in the UK.

2011-05-05T23:36:00.001+01:00

By way of an update on certain BBC disclosure pages, the broken links on Richard Deverell's page, which were listed in my blog dated 21 April 2011, are still not working.

The link to Joe Godwin's declaration of personal interests, mentioned in my blog on 24 April 2011, is now working although the declaration does seem curious in some respects.

I should mention, at this point, that the BBC department which has overall charge of Freedom of Information is, based on the evidence in my possession, bereft of credibility, as I hope was clear from the detailed sequence of events shown in my blog on 20 April 2011. The email was not rebutted by James Leaton Gray, and the matter was referred to the BBC's Chief Operating Officer for her comments.

2011-05-02T12:38:00.000+01:00

Newsround's mistakes and editorial misjudgements just keep on coming. Take the news about Emma Watson. This was how Newsround reported the story yesterday:-

Harry Potter star Emma Watson has denied a report that she's being bullied. The 24-year-old star says she's never been bullied in her life, and reports that she's taking time off university because of being teased about her role as Hermione just aren't true.

Emma isn't 24 years old as Newsround said - she only turned 21 last month.

Honestly, CBBC ought to check its facts and accuracy before allowing programmes on air which mislead kids. Other examples - see blogs on 28 April 2011, 21 October 2010 and 11 December 2010

2011-04-29T11:11:00.000+01:00

I can't track down the section of Sentamu's interview which Newsround broadcast on Wednesday afternoon, but it seems the clip (see yesterday's blog) was most likely taken from his recent pronouncements about the Royal Wedding, and the benefits of marriage as against just living together. That particular bit isn't included in the Archbishop's own edited recording of the interview and accompanying transcript. Also missing from Archbishop Sentamu's edit is his comment about some people wanting to taste the milk before buying the cow.

The Archbishop of York's objections to gay equality are well known and on record. However Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who Newsround confused with John Sentamu, has very different views.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu wrote

A student once asked me if I could have one wish granted to reverse an injustice, what would it be? I had to ask for two. One is for world leaders to forgive the debts of developing nations which hold them in such thrall. The other is for the world to end the persecution of people because of their sexual orientation, which is every bit as unjust as that crime against humanity, apartheid.

Archbishop Tutu says that a parent who teaches a child that there is only one sexual orientation and that anything else is evil denies our humanity and their own too.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu would, no doubt, be disdainful of any school or public institution that tolerated homophobia. CBBC has, in recent years, gone out of its way to invisibilise lesbian and gay people and issues. Which is a total disgrace.

2011-04-28T12:09:00.000+01:00

Over the years Newsround Blog has pointed out numerous errors, editorial misjudgements and bloopers. So here's another from yesterday's programme at 3.30pm. Notice the caption when the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, speaks.

Sonali: Hey guys, Sonali here with all your top stories from Newsround. First to a big dress rehearsal for the Royal Wedding - and it happened overnight. Members of the armed forces marched through the streets of London very early this morning to make sure they get it right on Friday. Leah's got the pictures.

(video) Leah: Lit up. Westminster Abbey. In the middle of the night the military were rehearsing. It's their last chance before the big day, and they needed the streets to be quiet to make sure no-one got in their way. The army, the navy and the RAF will all take part in the ceremony. And they need to make sure no-one puts a foot wrong. As well as lining the way from Buckingham Palace to the Church, some of them will be escorting the royal carriage as it makes its way along the route. Outside the Abbey people have already begun camping out so they can get a front row seat on all the action. Yesterday work began on preparing the inside of the Church - trees and flowers were moved in.

John Sentamu: The moment, you know, when William answers the question, Do you take Kate to be your wife? and he says I do, almost all the lights will go out of London, because he's no longer a bachelor.

Leah: Later this afternoon there'll be a full music rehearsal. With just two days to go it's no wonder people are working through the night to get everything right.

2011-04-27T10:20:00.000+01:00

As Andrew Marr has been in the news recently accused of hypocrisy, and as he's been mentioned many times on this blog in relation to the BBC's so-called Impartiality Summit and the resultant From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel, and as Andrew Marr has a high opinion of BBC journalists, I've decided to publish my email to him dated 6th July 2008.

Dear Andrew,

I believe you told people at the BBC's Impartiality Summit, amongst other things, that there is almost certainly an abnormally large proportion of gay people working for the BBC compared with the general population.

Please could you advise me why you believe that statement to be true?

Also why do you believe that there is an innate liberal bias at the BBC, and why do you think that gay people necessarily add to any liberal bias?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Andrew Marr has never replied to my enquiries.

2011-04-24T13:28:00.000+01:00

Openness and transparency

The BBC Trust has taken a lot of stick, not least from Newsround Blog, which realised that the Trust is far too close to BBC management well before most of the press and politicians created a brouhaha.

Sir Michael Lyons, who is leaving his post as Chairman of the Trust, believed a low point at the BBC was being part of their 'ship of fools' election night coverage.

Chris Patten takes over as Chairman on 1st May.

In spite of the BBC Trust's many faults, its Strategy Review did include some very important and progressive key objective statements, particularly in regard to the need for openness and transparency and the need to do more to serve all audiences.

My blog dated 20 April 2011 demonstrates Corporation malfeasance, even at the higher levels. If the BBC's Head of Information Policy & Compliance can't be trusted, who can?

At the time of writing, several links on Richard Deverell's page and the last link on Joe Godwin's page - supposedly his declaration of personal interests - still aren't working.

Of course it shouldn't always be necessary to go through the formality of a 'Freedom of Information' enquiry. You'd think that when a programme invites viewers to contact them with "Email us now!" they'd be more than happy to receive and answer emails.

But I contacted MOTD Kickabout in January asking about the Fantasy Football Leaderboard, and I still haven't been given the details I asked for.

More recently I asked BBC Children's about another programme, Project Parent, and I'm still waiting for a reply to that question as well. I hope to write a review of Project Parent, or 'Attack of the Matchmakers' as it was originally to be titled, when I hear back.

An Easter Egg

2011-04-21T07:03:00.002+01:00

With reference to yesterday's blog, Richard Deverell is now Chief Operating Officer, BBC North, but was Director of Children's before Joe Godwin took over in 2009.

The following links on Mr Deverell's disclosure page are broken (at the time of writing)

Richard Deverell's expenses Q3 2009-10 (131KB)

Richard Deverell's central bookings Q3 2009-10 (236KB)

Richard Deverell's e-expenses Q2 2009-10 (149KB)

Richard Deverell's central bookings Q2 2009-10 (180KB)

Richard Deverell's e-expenses Q1 2009-10 (108KB)

Richard Deverell's central bookings Q1 2009-10 (130KB)

Richard Deverell's Gifts and Hospitality Register Q1 2009-10 (35KB)

2011-04-20T21:05:00.000+01:00

New standards of openness and transparency

The BBC has today published its latest set of disclosures, which for the first time, includes some salary and expenses data relating to the current BBC Director of Children's. A mystery surrounds why Mr Godwin's data were not published previously, and it's is an issue which I originally took up with the BBC in February 2010.

There is still an outstanding disclosure enquiry relating to Mr Godwin which has been dealt with by the BBC in a less than honest manner. This is how I put it to James Leaton Gray, BBC Head of Information Policy & Compliance, on Monday:

The BBC Trust recently indicated that it wished the BBC to set new standards of openness and transparency. Members of the public are entitled to expect you to fulfil your role in a professional and impartial manner. However I suspect your department's misleading responses (see attached screencapture) have set a new low standard for the Corporation.

Anyone who carefully checks out the BBC's "disclosures" will notice that a substantial number of links are broken or never worked in the first place. One example of the latter is Joe Godwin's Declaration of Personal Interests link which, at the time of writing, returns "Error 404 - Page not found"

screencapture from 'About the BBC' website

This following email was sent to the BBC at 10.46am today -

FAO: James Leaton Gray, Head of Information Policy & Compliance

Dear Mr Gray,

In reply to your email yesterday, I still believe that my FOI enquiry has been dealt with improperly.

The sequence of events was as follows:

My original request (see below) was emailed on 9th March 2011, and acknowledged by your department on 10th March. The enquiry was given a reference number RFI20110305.

The subject of my email was: Freedom of Information Enquiry re BBC Director of Children's

The BBC's FOI acknowledgement was titled: RFI20110305 - BBC Director of Children's salary

It did, however, quote my enquiry in full.

The BBC response was sent on Thursday 7th April 2011, just outside the time limit, for which an apology was given. Two documents were attached. The first (RFI20110305 - final response.pdf) included a detailed explanation as to why Mr Godwin's salary details had been withheld, as well as the following two sentences under the heading of 'Expenses' -

"Please find enclosed a schedule of Joe Godwin’s expenses from 1st October 2009 – 30th September 2010. For a small number of entries, we have added some additional notes for context."

The document ended with a paragraph explaining my rights of appeal.

The other attached document (RFI20110305 - Disclosure document - Joe Godwin expenses data.pdf) was the said list of expenses.

Being surprised to note that there were apparently no expenses in relation to Mr Godwin's attendance at last year's Children's Media Conference, I followed up the next day, 8th April 2011, asking if you would recheck to see if more details were available.

No reply was received.

Six days later, on 14th April 2011, I emailed again repeating the request. Your department replied the same day mentioning that they had contacted the BBC's Finance department. I was informed that the data provided constitutes details of all claims paid to Joe Godwin in the period specified. I then enquired once again (at 2.23pm) whether there might indeed have been other expenses.

The next morning, Friday 15th April 2011 at 11.10am I emailed again asking for an adequate response by 6pm. Your department's reply then stated for the first time that requests for expenses are treated as requests for expenses paid to the claimant. No reason was given for not having informed me of this in reply to my emails of 8th and 14th April 2011, neither was there any apology for what might well be reasonably characterised as a misleading and possibly dishonest response. Instead I was issued with a different reference number for what was termed my "new request."

I wrote back at 5.30pm: "This is not a new request. I did not limit my original request in any way. This gives the clear impression that the BBC is deliberately withholding information."

I wrote again on Monday 18th April 2011 pointing out what the BBC Trust had to say about new standards of openness and transparency which I felt had not been met in your handling of this case. I attached a JPEG of the 'About the BBC' website which seems to back up my view that your department should have been forthcoming on all expenses from the start.

I advised that you conduct a review of your department's procedures, and requested that my enquiry, with reference number of your choice, be expedited. I said I would be grateful for an answer by 6pm that day.

A reply yesterday (19th April 2011) attempted to defend your position, linking to what seems to be a BBC staff information document.

You said in part:

'the BBC discloses details of expenses once they have been paid as this is the point at which a cost is incurred by the corporation.'

Now I originally wrote:

In respect of the Director of Children's, Joe Godwin, please could the BBC provide details of salary and expenses for

A) The first two quarters (Q1, Q2) of 2010-2011;

and

B) The last two quarters (Q3, Q4) of 2009-2010.

My request applied to 'expenses' without any distinction, i.e. whether reclaimed by Joe Godwin or otherwise incurred to the BBC, and your most recent message is no excuse for the lack of transparent disclosure - during the quarter they were incurred by the BBC - of all Joe Godwin's expenses.

Nevertheless I was told yesterday to expect a response within an additional 20 working days.

As I may decide to pursue this matter with relevant authorities, it would be most helpful if you could let me know as soon as possible if there is anything in the above with which you take issue. Thank you.

2011-04-19T11:25:00.000+01:00

Apparently Rebecca Black took over from Justin Bieber as the most watched star on YouTube last month. The story was trailed at the start of Newsround at 8.25 this morning:

Ricky: ... It is a black day for Bieber as he loses the top spot.

and then a bit later -

Ricky: Right, Bieber breaking news just in - the singer's lost his crown as the king of YouTube ...

Plenty of puns then, but shouldn't Newsround have been wary of beginning its bulletin with an archaic idiom?

2011-04-16T14:30:00.005+01:00

LGBT heroes

What is it about two men or two women kissing in public which causes some people distress? Whether it's in a London pub or whether it's on children's TV there's always the odd bigot trying to keep same-sex relationships out of sight.

Although the My Hero project, mentioned in an earlier blog, was supposedly set up to counter the lack of "positive role models" in the media, it seems the site has never included a feature about LGBT History Month.

But there were plenty of equality champions gathered together in London last night. They'd congregated outside the John Snow pub in Soho to protest at the treatment of a gay couple two days before. The couple, James Bull and Jonathan Williams, had been on a first date when they were asked to leave the pub. Rather than face the music, the cowardly landlord closed the pub early and had nothing to say on camera. (Sky News report)

News about LGBT discrimination and news items about attempts to fight homophobia never make it to CBBC Newsround, though stories about combatting racism are relatively frequent. Only last night, for example, the lead story was about racist chanting in football, and celebrities campaigning to help stamp it out.

Not only is CBBC failing to combat homophobia, it is at the same time responsible for a drama which rewrites history, depicting a prominent LGBT hero as heterosexual. (see previous blog) I've asked Joe Godwin, Director of BBC Children's, about Leonardo in that regard.

When another a couple gets thrown out of a pub simply for kissing, the BBC will bear a share of responsibility. Unfortunately the end result of homophobia isn't limited to being ejected from a pub. Michael Causer and Ian Baynham are just two of the many victims who aren't able to testify to that.

2011-04-13T15:42:00.000+01:00

Heroes and Superheroes - continued

CBBC's new 13 part historical drama, Leonardo, paints the young Leonardo da Vinci in glowing terms. The series, which was shot in South Africa, is set in 15th century Florence, and stars Jonathan Bailey as the eponymous superhero. It follows the adventures of a teenage Leonardo and his friends.

Historical accuracy is not one of the strengths of the new drama series. In the first episode, for example, we see Leonardo riding a remarkably modern-looking bicycle, which he had supposedly invented and initially termed a velocerotor.

According to a BBC press release the drama series is full of mystery, adventure and an unfolding love story.

Will that love affair be between Leonardo and Lisa? Probably yes. But if there were to be any attempt at a story true to history, we'd be more likely to see a romance develop between Leonardo and one of his mates.

It's about time the people in charge of CBBC grew up and faced the reality of the world as it is and always has been.

2011-04-10T23:57:00.001+01:00

Heroes and Superheroes

Who are kids' heroes? Are they reflected in children's media? Can we use attributes that kids respect in building the next generation of media heroes and superheroes? Hear findings from the "My Hero" project, followed by discussion with leading producers.

That was the description of a panel discussion in New York's Hilton (see blog on 31 March 2011)

Without having attended the Kidscreen Summit, and without transcripts, I can only speculate on the event. So let's analyse what we have available.

Who are kids' heroes? - That seems a fair enough question.

Are they reflected in children's media? - Another fair question.

Can we use attributes that kids respect in building the next generation of media heroes and superheroes? - Right, this is where things get a bit more complex. Because it looks to me like kids' heroes are actually influenced by people in the media and their perceived financial interests.

Hear findings from the "My Hero" project, followed by discussion with leading producers. - "My Hero" is a US-based organisation set up by parents to offset the lack of "positive role models" in the media. Only a few days ago in Britain BBC newsreader, Jane Hill who is LGB, commented: It’s 2011 – do we not have a right to see ourselves reflected? Stonewall’s Unseen on Screen research showed how little positive representation there is of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

American attitudes are a world apart from British attitudes, and the "My Hero" project, which claims to "celebrate the best of humanity," is primarily for Americans. Try searching for an American politician - Barack Obama is an obvious choice. Now try searching for David Cameron or Ed Miliband.

So why have UK licence-payers been funding Joe Godwin, Director of BBC Children's, to attend the New York Hilton and participate in an event which has little relevance to a British audience? Joe Godwin does check out this blog, so maybe he would like to explain his reasons for attending. I'd be happy to publish Joe's viewpoint should a response be forthcoming.

2011-04-02T12:17:00.002+01:00

New sections of the Equality Act 2010 will come into force very shortly. Regular Newsround Blog readers will know that I've taken a particular interest in equality legislation. It's now almost 2 years since I first contacted the DCMS to ask details of intentions with regard to the legislation. Last year my enquiries led to the Government Equalities Office, and yesterday I received an unexpected email from the GEO Correspondence and Enquiries Manager:-

I am writing in relation to a complaint that you raised with the ICO in the 4th March.

Please find below a reply to your Freedom of Information request and correspondence about the Public Sector Equality Duty.

We are informing the Information Commissioners Office about this response.

There were 2 attachments to the email. The first was a document from Tim Morgan, who was the lead official for the Government's consultation on the Public Sector Equality Duty:-

Ref: GEO/10/FOI/65

I understand that an FOI request you made last year to the Government Equalities Office (GEO) – to which we gave the reference above – was not dealt with properly. Please accept my apologies for this. The GEO aims to respond promptly and fully to all FOI requests.

As you will recall, we exchanged a series of e-mails in the autumn of last year, and I endeavoured to answer the various questions you asked.

In response to the specific question that formed your FOI request, I responded within the necessary timescale, and provided relevant information and context. However, I was not actually aware then that I should have been treating that particular question as an FOI request, and – among other things – failed to use the reference number that we had allocated to it, as you would rightly have expected. For this, I apologise.

Given that response, and the fact that you very helpfully explained in a subsequent e-mail the key information you were after, I recognise now that I should have given a fuller answer. This letter therefore provides further information.

Your original question was:

"Please could you let me know if the Government Equalities Office was involved or contacted in any way whatsoever, either directly or indirectly, in respect of the broadcasters' exemption? I am particularly interested in the details up to, and including, 19th January 2010."

Plainly this was a very broad question, and my response made clear that – as the lead department for the Equality Bill – GEO was of course involved in many discussions about the broadcasters’ exemption.

However, you helpfully narrowed it down to ask, in a follow up question, to focus on your key interest, which was communications with Lord Lester. Your e-mail of 20 September asked:

“Please could you let me know if the GEO had any communications with Lord Lester in connection with the public sector Equality Duty? Thanks again.”

I explained that GEO Lords Ministers were in contact periodically with Lord Lester during the passage of the Bill through the House of Lords, as he was the Liberal Democrat lead on it. But I was not aware if they had discussions about the Equality Duty outside of the House.

In retrospect, both of these answers could have been rather fuller.

In answer to your broader question, much of the involvement and contact that the GEO had regarding the broadcasters’ exemption is already in the public domain. That includes:

• Ministerial responses given to Mark Harper MP and Lord Ouseley, who asked Parliamentary Questions on the subject in June 2009;

• debates between GEO Ministers and the Conservative members of the House of Commons Equality Bill committee, who tabled an amendment to exclude the BBC from the scope of the Equality Duty, in June 2009; and

• formal responses to our first consultation on the shape of specific duties, in the autumn of 2009, from the BBC and the BBC Trust.

However, there were also exchanges between GEO officials and those from other relevant Government Departments, such as DWP and DCMS; and a meeting between GEO officials and the BBC and other broadcasters, in October 2009. These discussions focussed on the wording of the exemption to which the Government, both in those Ministerial responses and in the debates in the House of Commons, had given an explicit commitment.

In regard to your more specific question quoted above, my e-mail noted that there may well have been informal involvement and contact between the GEO’s Lords Ministers and Lord Lester. I noted that we do not hold any information on that, and instead flagged for you their formal exchanges in Parliament, which were recorded in Hansard. However, I have found one e-mail exchange between a senior GEO official – Melanie Field – and Lord Lester, which is relevant to your request. It is therefore attached, in a slightly redacted form blocking out material not relevant to the question you asked.

Moving on, you will recall that, in subsequent exchanges, you asked for the GEO's views on the BBC’s exemption – essentially whether we agreed with the Prime Minister and/or with Parliament on this issue.

I noted the difficulty of dealing with that question. GEO has no corporate view, as such, on anything. We take our lead from our Ministers, who are appointed by the PM; and the Government is then collectively accountable to Parliament for its decisions, and ultimately to the electorate.

I have kept you informed about relevant consultations and debates on this issue, and I note that you have responded. I have endeavoured to do this because ultimately – as you’re aware – the partial exemption for the BBC and other broadcasters from parts of the Equality Act were discussed in both Houses of Parliament, and agreed by all the main parties. It is politicians, not GEO officials, who need to be persuaded of the arguments on this issue.

Aside from what was necessary to deal with your FOI request, I see from my notes that I also mailed you to flag the BBC’s consultation on its diversity objectives; the Government’s work to promote LGB&T equality, including their first ever LGB&T Action Plan; and in regard to the roles of Ofcom and the BBC Charter in influencing this debate.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has responsibility within Government for the BBC and the other broadcasters, and I suggest that you should contact them for any further information you require.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. You should submit an internal review request within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and you should address it to: Information Management Services, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF or email foirequests@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. You can contact The Information Commissioner at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

I still take issue with some of the above. As an example, there was no debate in the House of Commons regarding the BBC's partial exemption from the Act. This had been acknowledged in earlier correspondence with Mr Morgan.

The other attachment contained various redacted correspondence between Lord Lester and the GEO. The dates of emails were removed by the GEO:-

From: Anthony Lester
Sent: [ ]
To: Melanie Field
Cc: [ ]

Subject: RE: Broadcasters

Dear Melanie

Thank you very much for taking such trouble to explain. Before you make any more criticism of my own drafting I should like to emphasise that the drafting came from the broadcasters. I know that is no excuse since they are in my name.

Would you like me to forward this to the broadcasters or will you do so?

[ one additional paragraph on unrelated issue ]

Have a relaxed weekend

Best wishes

Anthony

From: Melanie Field []
Sent:
To: Anthony Lester
Cc: [ ]
Subject: RE: Broadcasters

Dear Anthony

On the public sector Equality Duty, the plan is to list the public service broadcasters in Schedule 19 except in respect of their broadcasting and output functions.

In case it is helpful, I have set out below further explanation of why we consider Parliamentary Counsel's drafting does the trick, and addressing concerns raised by the BBC.

1. The references to "failing", "refusing" and "omitting" in your version can be dealt with by the word "not" by virtue of clause 204(3) (general interpretation) which provides that a reference to an omission includes a reference to a deliberate omission to do something, a refusal to do it or a failure to do it. However, we have gone for an even simpler formulation which provides that section 20 does not apply to the activities in question.

2. The references to broadcasting or distributing "particular output at a particular time or in a particular manner" in your version are not necessary: the reference in clause 29(2) to providing the service would, we think, cover all aspects of provision as well as the fact of provision. There is further support for this in clause 31(7) which provides that a reference to a service provider not providing a person with a service (contrary to clause 29(1)) includes the service provider not providing the person with a service of the quality that it usually provides to the public and the manner in which, or the terms on which, the service provider usually provides the service to the public.

3. We do not think that the reference to deciding or failing or omitting to decide to take any of the steps mentioned is necessary. The services provisions in clause 29 hinge on providing or not providing the service in question. In this case, that would be the broadcasting or not broadcasting of a programme. We doubt whether deciding to do something is itself the provision of a service.

4. The reference to "programme" is intended to cover output broadcast on the television, radio or internet. It is not intended to cover, for example, advertisements. We would be happy to hear from the BBC as to why they consider the concept not broad enough, what it does not capture that they would wish to capture and what alternative can be used. We think that "output", undefined, is too vague a concept for the lay reader to understand. The reference to distribution by means of the internet can be added to to include mobile devices. It would be helpful if the BBC could include all of the activities which they think need to be covered.

4. We do not think that the commissioning of a programme is the provision of a service to the public. What matters for the purposes of clause 29 is the broadcasting of a programme rather than how it came to be made or prepared for broadcast (i.e. whether it was commissioned or bought or made in-house). It follows that we also do not think that creating a programme is the provision of a service to the public. We think that scheduling a programme is an aspect of broadcasting and that the manner in which the service is provided would include the time/day on which it is broadcast. In relation to the BBC's example of a complaint by a disabled person in relation to an absence of gardening programmes aimed at disabled people, we do not think that the issue of commissioning would be relevant to such a complaint. Such a complainant would probably have to argue that broadcasting a gardening programme that did not take into account the needs of disabled gardeners amounted to a detriment. As we do not consider that commissioning a programme is the provision of a service to the public, it does not make sense to seek to include it in the exception.

5. We have not included references to "content" or "output", but have preferred to refer to broadcasting a programme or an intem within a programme as more accessible language to the lay person.

6. Sub-paragraph (2) is intended to ensure that broadcasters are not exempt from liability in respect of decisions regarding the transmission of a signal that people receive in their homes, should the term "broadcasting" be interpreted as including that activity. We have done this by trying to exclude the relevant concepts as defined by the Communications Act 2003, but realise that some fine-tuning may be required here. We do not agree with the BBC's view that the effect of sub-paragraph (2) negates the effect of sub-paragraph (1) and would be grateful for an explanation of how they think it does this. As we have already said, the effect of sub-paragraph (2) is to ensure that any discrimination involved in the activity of broadcasting a signal is not exempted from the duties in clause 29. The exception is only intended to apply to the content of programmes broadcast on the television, radio or via the internet (or, as indicated by the BBC, mobile devices).

Best wishes

Melanie

Melanie Field
Head of Discrimination Law
Government Equalities Office

From: Anthony Lester [ ]
Sent:

To: Melanie Field
Cc:
Subject: RE: Broadcasters

Thank you. what about the public sector duty?

A

From: Melanie Field [ ]
Sent:
To: Anthony Lester
Cc:
Subject: Broadcasters

Dear Anthony

I thought you might want to see an amendment Parliamentary Counsel has drafted which would ensure that the broadcasting and output functions of public service broadcasters were not covered by the prohibition on discrimination in Part 3 of the Bill:

Schedule 3

2 Page 145, line 11, at end insert—

PART 6A

TELEVISION AND RADIO PROGRAMMES

(1) Section 29 does not apply to broadcasting, or distributing by means of the internet, a programme or an item forming part of a programme.

(2) Sub-paragraph (1) does not apply to providing an electronic communications network, electronic communications service or associated facility (each of which has the same meaning as in the Communications Act 2003).”

You will note that this exception does not cover the commissioning of programmes. This is because Counsel thinks that commissioning a programme is not the provision of a service to the public. What matters is the broadcasting of a programme, not how it came to be made or ready for broadcast (such as whether it was commissioned or bought). It follows that we also do not think that creating a programme is the provision of a service to the public. However, scheduling a programme is an aspect of broadcasting - the manner in which the service is provided would include the time at which it is broadcast.

Best wishes

Melanie

Melanie Field
Head of Discrimination Law
Government Equalities Office

2011-03-31T12:44:00.002+01:00

The latest Newsround Special, on Tuesday, dealt with cancer. Other specials have included knife crime, divorce, living with alcohol, depression, poverty, Internet safety, coping with death, and growing up in care.

But one issue that CBBC avoids is homophobic bullying.

An inquest into the death of Dominic Crouch heard that he jumped from a six-storey block of flats. Roger Crouch, Dominic's father, said after the verdict of suicide was returned: "Dominic was clearly upset about rumours that he believed were being spread about him."

Mr Crouch is insistent that his son, who attended a Catholic school and played rugby, was not actually gay.

New sections of the Equality Act 2010 come into force next week.

Amongst the provisions of the Act is that for 'positive action' which is explained in part of the guidance -

‘Positive action’ is when something is done specifically to help someone who has a protected characteristic. There are several different reasons why it may be appropriate to take some sort of positive action, for instance if someone is suffering some kind of disadvantage linked to that characteristic ....

Positive action is not a legal requirement, but CBBC ought to help counter homophobia rather than condone it.

Last month Joe Godwin, Director of BBC Children's, was at the Kidscreen Summit in New York's Hilton to discuss kids' heroes: Are they reflected in children's media? Can we use attributes that kids respect in building the next generation of media heroes and superheroes?

But back here in the UK, CBBC has been resolutely silent about gay heroes and superheroes. Why is it no surprise that kids get upset about rumours of their sexual orientation and, in extreme cases, contemplate suicide?