Commercial channels can't advertise unhealthy food and snacks during programmes watched by kids. But that doesn't mean BBC children's TV can't include news items about sweets and chocs. In fact Newsround covered three separate chocolate-related stories between Monday 2 March and Friday 6 March this year.

Today's programme at 5.05pm ended with a story about a sweet shop in Southampton. The shop called The Sugar Shack is a traditional sweet shop which opened in November last year. The owner, who incidentally has sold sweets online for about three years, came up with the idea of a local competition for kids to think up their own new sweets. Emily and her brother Adam were late entrants to the competition, but they invented the winning flavours. Ricky carried out a taste test himself and slightly preferred Emily's Banana Sherbet over Adam's Blueberry Explosion.

After the news story Ore asked those who thought they might have better ideas to head over to the website and let Newsround know.

Two Newsround All About You surveys have been reported in the last 18 months. A press release for the 2009 survey included several doubtful claims about differences which have occurred since the 2007 survey, due to the margins of error with the sample sizes involved. So, for example, where the press release states that: This year sees an increase in the number living with both mum and dad (68%, up from 65% in 2007) and also those with siblings (84%, up from 80% in 2007) in reality there may have been no change, or even a decline in the numbers. The regional comparisons in the press release are even more doubtful because of the smaller sample sizes and consequent greater margins of error.

Newsround itself didn't dwell on these trends, although Wednesday's Newsround did, it seems correctly, report that kids are spending more time with their families than before. The first programme on Monday dealt with concerns about money and the report ended with Evan Davis' rather optimistic view of future prospects for jobs and the economy.

Tuesday's programme was about school. Sonali said "most of you reckon it's important to get good exam results, but bullying is a big issue too." According to the BBC press release one in three 9 & 10 year olds said they'd been bullied. Maddy's report concentrated on disruptive kids and included an interview with teacher Jean Roberts who talked about being kicked by a boy who had previously been excluded. One in ten children had mentioned that their teachers are sometimes attacked or bullied.

On Wednesday we saw Adam going to meet Joe's ten brothers and sisters, and their mum and dad, all living in a house in Blackpool.

The topic on Thursday was about kids' worries. Bullying topped the list of things kids were most afraid of, though this was only briefly mentioned during the introduction. Instead the main report concentrated on fears of gun and knife crime. The message from Chris Preddie of Crimestoppers was that children are much safer if they don't carry a knife.

The last programme of the week looked at what kids wanted to do in the future. The favourite job for boys was to be a footballer, and for girls it was to be a teacher. Teachers are expected to challenge stereotyping ^* so the programme could have included a female footballer and a male teacher. Instead it kept with tradition - we saw 27 year old Rebecca talking about her teaching job, and Mark Noble who plays for West Ham United.

I'll come back to the issue of bullying in a future blog.

* The Code of Professional Values and Practices [GTC 2002] & Draft Code 2008 - Principle 4, Promote equality and value diversity

NB Following info from the BBC my blog entry of 26 March 2009 has been amended with an edit note.

CBBC's website and message boards

In the face of obduracy most kids have given up complaining, but a few are still questioning the changes to CBBC's message boards and website. This was posted a couple of days ago:-

Why won't you answer our questions PROPERLEY and giving a full explaination why you ruined the boards? I say why: you are heartless and cruel, not caring about any of us, as well as being scared that we know more than we get credit for.

Furry Time Lord: You should have been here when the boards were worth going on. It was more happy and relaxed. It ruined and will never be how it used to be.

On 5 February 2009 the BBC told me:-

We consulted other expert bodies outside the BBC (such as the NSPCC, Anti-bullying Alliance and CEOP) and have developed a number of social web products and services which are more appropriate and relevant to primary age children, such as myCBBC, Me & My Movie and Bugbears.

However I was particularly concerned about the withdrawal of peer help message boards such as the CBBC 'Bullying' and 'Your Life' message boards, as well as the withdrawal of all expert help about growing up problems which used to be provided by agony uncle Aaron. In a lengthy response to my further enquiries the BBC provided more details of their reasons for the changes.

As far as the expert help is concerned the BBC said that "provision of suitable information of complex issues for vulnerable kids is always best delivered by a sympathetic adult who can help put these concerns into context."

So I contacted the NSPCC to ask what they had to say about the withdrawal of expert online advice and they told me that they "would welcome more places where children could find support if they have a problem." They added that it's a shame the service is no longer available and said the NSPCC and Childline believe it is important that every opportunity is taken to provide vulnerable or worried children and young people with as much information and help as possible.

Newsround could have had the scoop if they'd decided to investigate, but when I asked on 5 January they told me the changes could be viewed as improvements "because it will allow more effort and resource to be put into the remaining boards and will allow more focused discussions." They had no plans to cover an investigation into the issue as they had already committed to another subject.

On 7 April 2009 I emailed the BBC to let them know the NSPCC viewpoint.

The third anniversary of the BBC's specious Creative Future policy is approaching. I blogged about my first age analysis of feedback to Newsround on 13th April 2006.

A new summary of Newsround feedback, based on data from six different topics late March/early April 2009, can be seen below:Three years on, by hook or by crook, it seems that CBBC has succeeded in ousting many of its teen viewers. Thirteen, 14 and 15 yr olds constituted over half of all feedback, but now they're less than a quarter.

Teens now have a meagre couple of hours of TV per week on Saturday afternoons, including repeats of Kyle XY which, a few weeks ago, was greeted in the Switch studio with loud cheers for a returning programme.

So much, where kids are concerned, for the BBC and Public Service Broadcasting. Is it any wonder that audiences are dwindling. The BBC Trust would like to put the blame on scheduling changes. The Weakest Link may be one factor, but the REAL weakest link is the BBC itself.

TV licence fee evasion rates, according to the BBC Trust, are predicted to increase slightly in the current economic climate. Maybe they're right but it's also possible that evasion rates will get much worse. So how should the Corporation respond?

Things have changed a great deal since the Review of TV Licence Fee Collection began last autumn. Back then, there were concerns about the harsh tone of advertising - a few sensitive people had been offended by the 'we know where you are' campaign and decided to boycott the fee. But now there are millions of people worried about losing their jobs and their savings.

The BBC needs to demonstrate that it deserves our money. And that means using the licence fee responsibly. So let's look at some examples from Newsround last week.

Monday 6th April - Was it really necessary for a Newsround reporter to travel to Italy to cover the earthquake story? That was already being done perfectly well by Louisa Baldini ... a few thousand pounds saved without really trying. Unlike Louisa, Newsround's reporter wasn't seen speaking a word of Italian and just seemed to vanish from the disaster area after a couple of days. Her web report of the trip has, at the time of writing this blog, a final entry mistakenly dated Tuesday 7th April at 3pm.

Thursday 9th April - Newsround at 5.05pm began with a report about children being locked up in detention centres. 15 year old Meltem had to spend three months in one of the centres. Meltem said it was depressing being locked up without seeing friends and family. She said people in government should think what it would feel like if their children were in the same situation. Newsround's report also included a short interview with Lyn Homer of the UK Border Agency, who put the government's side, and an interview with Caroline Slocock of Refugee and Migrant Justice, who said that refugee children shouldn't be locked up and treated like criminals. For once Newsround dealt with a controversial issue relevant to the rights of children. This is the kind of thing Newsround should be prepared to do much more often.

The fifth item on Newsround last Thursday was a report about buying and downloading music. Ricky said that downloading tunes off the internet is more popular than ever before and that you can now download songs for as little as 29p. He spoke to a music expert who said because prices were lower, more kids would be buying online. Ricky ended his report by saying that "for many of you, the only option you have is to buy a CD." He failed to mention that you can listen to, although not download, music tracks legally for free with a programme like Spotify. In the context of Newsround's report this was a significant omission.

The last report was about seven year old agony aunt Elaina (see my previous blog)

Help from agony aunts and uncles

Everyone needs help with their problems from time to time, says Newsround, on the webpage caption to a story about seven-year-old agony aunt, Elaina. Ore introduced the report on this morning's programme at 8.25am -

Ore: Who do you turn to when you need advice? A parent? a friend? The problem page in a magazine perhaps? Well one radio station in the Midlands has just hired a new agony aunt who's only seven, yes seven years old. Here's Adam

Adam began by mentioning a few problems kids might have - things like too much school work getting you down, not being selected to play on the team, or Adam's pet peeve - being nagged by someone. "Then you need Elaina," said Adam.

Elaina: I like helping people. When I grow up I wanted to help people even more by being a nurse, and then I changed my mind to being a radio producer.

Andy Goulding, who's the DJ she works with, says that Elaina is completely open and honest and that's what you need sometimes.

More about agony aunt/uncle advice to come. See also blogs on 8 Jan 2009 and 18 Jan 2009

I'm here to talk about something that we just don't talk about. It's a difficult subject. In fact it's one of the most difficult subjects there is to talk about. However, the more you do talk about it the easier it is to accept and understand.

That was how Barney Harwood began his introduction to Gone, a Newsround special documentary dealing with bereavement. Barney told us about the fond memories he had of his grandfather who died two years ago. He went on to introduce four children, each of whom talked about their experiences when a close family member died.

The circumstances were quite different for each of the children. Some people have questioned whether it was right to ask young people to participate in such a documentary, but it was handled sensitively and may help other kids to cope with the loss of their own loved ones.

Today is the BBC School Report day, and no doubt it will be amongst the stories covered by Newsround this evening. All very well, but the BBC has come in for quite a lot of criticism recently. A couple of days ago Chris Moyles was censured by Ofcom after he lampooned Will Young earlier in the year. It's not yet clear whether the BBC will penalise him in any way.

A consultative group is being set up by the Diversity Centre to consider editorial policy and portrayal issues in relation to sexual orientation. It is due to meet in the next few weeks. Members of the BBC's lesbian and gay forum, or BBC Pride as it's now known, have been invited to participate.

I have suggested that the BBC looks urgently into why the recent spate of attacks against LGBT people have, shamefully, been given less coverage than other crimes motivated by hate. Further issues which should already have been sorted by the Diversity Centre, but which the consultative group might look at:-

1) the question of casual homophobia by presenters such as Chris Moyles, Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton and Jeremy Clarkson;

2) the renewed representation of gay people as stereotypes on programmes such as Horne and Corden;

3) the low level of realistic LGBT representation in soaps and dramas;

4) the failure to cover LGBT issues on BBC children's TV, thereby implicitly condoning homophobic attitudes in society and homophobic bullying in schools.

Following the departure of Andrea Callender, the BBC has downplayed Diversity to the extent that their press office failed to issue a press release announcing the appointment of a new Head of Diversity^*. This is a break with tradition, as it's usual for the BBC to give details regarding the appointment of a new head of department rather than keeping it under wraps.

*Edit note (23 April 2009): I understand that a new head of diversity has yet to be appointed. Amanda Rice is presently acting head of diversity. Apologies for this mistake.

Next week Newsround will show Gone, a special documentary about bereavement and how it affects children. According to the BBC press release Newsround was surprised by the strength of feeling from its audience.

There has been a big rise in the number of suicidal kids contacting ChildLine over the last five years, says its head Sue Minto. Speaking today on BBC News she said "unfortunately we have very unhappy children at the moment." Her message to parents was that they shouldn't trivialise anything which seems to be important to their child because children don't always outwardly show that they are very distressed and maybe feeling suicidal. However trivial or silly kids' problems might seem, parents were advised that they should take what their children have to say seriously.

When asked what advice ChildLine counsellors give to children in these circumstances, Sue replied: "... we do urge children to try and find someone locally, we help them to think through who could they talk to. Could they talk to a family member, is there someone at school, is there a family friend... "

Clearly the experts believe that a trouble shared is a trouble halved. So the BBC still needs to explain why, as part of what it described as improvements, it closed down its important children's peer help message boards including the Bullying board and the Your Life board. And why did the BBC remove all of its advice about growing up, and stop providing help from agony uncle Aaron? These are some of the questions I've asked of the relevant BBC department, but so far without a satisfactory response. There was an overwhelming strength of feeling against the CBBC message board closures (blog 29 December 2008)

".. Newsround has a long history of tackling sensitive and challenging issues .." (Sinead Rocks, Editor of Newsround)

Sinead's blog about Gone

Stonewall's The Teachers' Report - Homophobic bullying in Britain’s schools -was published yesterday. Their Report deals with homophobia and homophobic bullying in primary and secondary school settings. Other than an investigative piece in The Guardian, so far there has been little interest in the findings of the YouGov survey upon which the Stonewall report is based. The BBC has not bothered with it and, as expected, it hasn't been mentioned by Newsround.

According to the Report, nine in ten secondary school teachers and more than two in five primary school teachers say children and young people, regardless of their sexual orientation, currently experience homophobic bullying, name calling or harassment in their schools. Three quarters of primary school teachers and 95% of secondary school teachers have heard the phrases 'you’re so gay' or 'that’s so gay' in their schools.

How does the BBC help perpetuate homophobic prejudice?

A relevant article by Simon Edge is to be found on pages 108-111 of March 2009's GT magazine. Simon is annoyed at the BBC, which he says is one of Britain's last great bastions of homophobia. His article, called Turned Off in homage to Stonewall's 2006 Tuned Out report (blog 28 February 2006), is a damning indictment of the Corporation. Simon goes into detail about the BBC's attitude to diversity, and ends by questioning the Corporation's coverage of Michael Causer's murder.

Simon Edge: Why didn’t they broadcast anything about Michael Causer?

I’m referred to press officer number five, who asks if anyone is accusing the BBC of homophobia over this. "Yes," I tell him: "both Peter Tatchell and Ben Summerskill, in a rare outbreak of unanimity." He will have to get back to me. And he does. But this time he doesn’t even have a written statement. Will any non-homophobic news editor explain why Causer’s murder mattered less than that of every other teenager killed last summer?

BBC and coverage of LGBT History Month (part 2)

The first report on the Inside Out programme (BBC One, London, 25 Feb 2009) was by journalist David Akinsanya. A few years ago David made a documentary for the BBC called Sad To Be Gay. So needless to say, his report was hardly a celebration of LGBT History Month.

Although one of the BBC's Values begins: "We respect each other and celebrate our diversity," the Corporation takes these words less conscientiously in regard to the LGBT community. Thus, in order to imply 'neutrality' Inside Out occasionally used terms like homosexuality, as well as talking about lesbian and gay people (see comment by Tony Fenwick in previous blog)

Drama teacher Jo Letson, talking about Romeo and Julian, her adaption of the Shakespeare play: At the beginning it was a novelty for the kids. And then, as we started doing the project, as we started looking at the language and the words, it kind of developed into something else. The kids started to look at it, and started to really feel that this is about tolerance.

David Akinsanya: You may think this focus on sexuality in schools is new, but actually something similar was tried over twenty years ago.... So according to Akinsanya, and as with CBBC, relationships become sexual when they're lesbian and gay relationships.

Akinsanya claimed that "just five years ago teachers were forbidden from even using the word 'gay' in classrooms." Not true, although at the time many teachers felt that to be the case. What is certainly true, however, is that BBC children's TV today has a de facto ban on using words such as 'lesbian' and 'gay'

BBC and coverage of LGBT History Month (part 1)

There were no items about LGBT History Month on Newsround during February. So no surprises there.

Now let's look at coverage on some other BBC TV programmes. Firstly there was The Big Questions on Sunday 1 February 2009. The second 'big question' that day was "Is homosexuality a cause for celebration?"

Nicky Campbell kicked off the debate asking why celebrate something that is "none of anyone else's business?" But if Nicky was still at school and friends asked him who he fancied, would he tell them it's none of their business? And when someone likes someone else, is there any point in hoping for a relationship when their sexual orientations aren't compatible? So of course these matters are other people's business.

Tony Fenwick, from Schools Out, said "We need to celebrate homosexuality, as you put it - I would prefer you to say being lesbian and gay, because 'homosexuality' is a term that was coined in the Victorian era to describe what was then thought of as a disease. But it's a question of being - we are gay and we are lesbian and that's how we turn out."

One of the guests on the programme was Peter Tatchell.

One of the reports on Newsround yesterday was about a new service to help kids who are bullied. Kids can log on to the site and get help from specially trained mentors.

This evening's Newsround reports on BBC One began with news of the Sri Lankan cricket team returning after the attack in Pakistan. Ore said "In the middle of the night the Sri Lankan team arrived home, their anxious wives and families waiting for them, relieved to be out of Pakistan."

The second story was about the conviction of a man for the murder of 18 year old actor Robert Knox. Another item was about Sol Campbell urging more kids to go to live sports and not just watch on TV. And after Ricky's report on Monday about reducing the packaging for Easter eggs, today's programme had him telling us about Fair Trade chocolate.


Newsround BBC One 5.05pm - 4 March 2009

Sri Lankan cricket team return home [2'06"]
Man guilty of murdering 18 yr old Robert Knox [0'13"]
ITV has money problems [0'13"]
Dani Harmer wants to be a pop star [0'15"]
Sol Campbell wants more kids to watch live sport [1'57"]
Fair Trade chocolate [1'52"]
Giant lump of popcorn [0'19"]

How many months of the year have thirty days in them?

That was Question 6 on yesterday's edition of the CBBC quiz show Get 100. "It may not be as straightforward as it sounds," said presenter, Hardeep. With a puzzled expression on her face contestant Siobhan asked "is it four?"

"It's not four," said Hardeep, as he moved on to the next contestant. Harrison suggested three as an answer, Samantha said five, and Lucy's guess was six.

"The answer is eleven. That's a trick question," Hardeep explained, "because eleven months have thirty days. Some have more than thirty days, but eleven have at least thirty days."

What's CBBC up to? It looks like they're giving lessons on how to cheat and deceive. Next thing you know they'll shut down half of the message boards and tell kids it's part of improvements to the website.

I came across this post on Newsround's Showbiz message board. I don't watch CBeebies so I'd never heard of Cerrie. I did a quick google and found out more about her.

Ironically, the Daily Mail, which just a few weeks ago was running what amounted to a vicious hate campaign against gay people adopting, now has a piece entitled It's not Cerrie Burnell who's a threat to children - it's their bigoted parents.

The shocking 'not guilty' verdict in the case of Michael Causer prompted a protest outside Liverpool Crown Court on Sunday. A large crowd of people expressed their shock and outrage. Whilst the local press had given some coverage to the crime and trial, there was very little interest elsewhere.

The Independent reports Stonewall's Ben Summerskill as saying "It is testament to the lack of seriousness with which these kinds of incidents are treated. They are simply not regarded as newsworthy. The BBC has reported every single murder of an adolescent in the past 18 months in this country as a national news story, but not this one."

Ben Summerskill could be right up to a point. There is a pervasive atmosphere of homophobia in society, exemplified by this detestable verdict as well as the national media's reluctance to report the injustice.

Causing confusion

Kids could be forgiven for being rather confused about where they stand with CBBC's Newsround at the moment. For a start loads of message boards were closed down in December, in a move which the BBC described as an improvement. And Newsround has normally made a point of not reporting on films with certificate 15 or 18.

When, yesterday, Newsround asked which films would win at your Oscars? their web page stated that most of the nominations were for "long, boring films that you lot aren't allowed to see."

But today the programme reported on awards for two certificate 15 films, Slumdog Millionaire and The Reader, which they'd seemingly put down in such a patronising way.

Sonali: It was the Oscars last night and British talent came out on top. Slumdog Millionaire won eight awards....

It's not clear whether kids who had seen any certificate 15 films could mention them as part of the feedback or on the message boards. But, to my mind, and I'm sure to lots of kids also, Newsround is a bit mixed up at the moment.

LGBT History Month - Michael Causer

Michael Causer, a gay teenager living near Liverpool, was the victim of a homophobic hate crime last year. Yesterday, despite overwhelming evidence, Gavin Alker was acquitted of killing Michael.

LGBT History Month - Samuel Delany

Samuel Delany is an academic, literary critic and science fiction writer who has made extensive and innovative contributions to the sci-fi oeuvre, including The Einstein Intersection and Triton. Also known as Chip Delany he was born in April 1942 and raised in New York. He married Marilyn Hacker, a poet, in 1961 and they have one daughter. He had met his future wife in High School - Bronx Science - which continues to attract gifted students.

Marilyn Hacker identifies as lesbian, and Chip Delany as gay since his adolescence. He's written of his experiences as a black gay man on several occasions, including in The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village, where he describes meeting WH Auden, Bob Dylan and Albert Einstein, as well as his experiences in an open marriage.

Hazel Carby, who is Professor of African American Studies at Yale, uses Delany's The Motion of Light in Water to present some alternative approaches to challenging heterosexual norms pursued by gay men. In Race Men she characterises Delany's work as absolutely central to any consideration of black manhood. The Lambda Book Report chose Delany as one of the fifty most significant men and women of the past hundred years to change our concept of gayness.

Internet safety and BBC children's services

Yesterday was EU Internet Safety Day, and Newsround gave some helpful advice to kids about how to stay safe online. This report was from the BBC One programme at 5pm -

(studio) Sonali: Loads of us chat to our mates online. For most of us it's a great way to stay in touch, but for Georgia it turned into a complete nightmare. She was bullied on social networking sites, and has been telling Maddy all about it.

(video report) Maddy: Georgia was bullied online for about six months. Girls she'd known for ages started sending her nasty messages on MSN and Bebo.

Georgia: They were calling me fat and making me believe that I was fat. And it would just carry on from there. Stuff like "if you hate Georgia sign here." And she would get people to sign stuff and make hate mail. When my mum and dad went out and I would shut the door, close the curtains, turn the lights off and make sure it was all dark, and I would just scream to get all my anger out of me.

Maddy: Most kids don't get as badly bullied as Georgia, but it is a big problem. You're not exactly going to chuck your computers away though. So how do you make sure what you're doing in cyberspace is safe?

Boy: If you're gonna go on Bebo or MSN, add people you know and trust.

Girl: I think we could have it in the living room so your mum and parents can watch over you. And it's simpler, so they know what you're doing and see if you're safe. And if you're not they can tell you to come off of that.

Maddy: Seventeen social networking sites have just promised to do more to protect people who use them. If you still end up being bullied, the advice is tell someone. Save the messages and don't reply to any of them.

Georgia: My message to anyone that's being bullied is to speak up. Tell your mum, your dad, it may feel awful but it's something you've got to do, you can't go through it alone. And the message to the bullies - it's not big, it's not clever, and you may think it's a bit of fun, it's a joke, it's really not to the bully victim. It means everything to them.

(studio) Sonali: Well, if you're worried about being bullied on the 'net, head over to our website for more advice.
-----The trouble is that at the end of last year CBBC closed down lots of safe and well used message boards, describing the changes as improvements. No kids were fooled, however, and there were hundreds of complaints about the closures. Newsround apparently didn't have enough time to investigate.

I requested that the BBC Trust look into this as part of their consultation into children's and young people's services. They refused to countenance my suggestion.

The first part of the Trust's consultation was published yesterday, though not reported by Newsround despite a major publicity drive on CBBC in the autumn to get feedback from under 12 year olds.

Amongst the Trust findings was that programmes like Newsround and Blue Peter are losing audiences.