Readers of this blog will probably know that Jana Bennett expressed unease about children knowing the word lesbian. But that type of attitude, invisibilising LGBT people, can lead to prejudice and ultimately result in homophobic bullying.

A few days ago a 14 year-old girl, Belinda Allen, committed suicide. Last year an 11 year-old boy at the same school hanged himself as a result of bullying.

The BBC's purpose, it says, is "to enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain." So rather than keeping silent about LGBT news and issues, Newsround could help inform kids before all the playground gossip develops into prejudice. It will soon be LGBT History Month - an ideal opportunity for CBBC to grasp the nettle.

The BBC has sent in a response to Ofcom's discussion paper on the future of children's television programming. They welcome the opportunity to engage in debate around the importance of provision of UK-originated television programming for children.

The BBC says it plays a unique and central role in the provision of Children’s TV programming in the UK. Newsround is the first programme mentioned in the BBC's response:

Through a unique range of UK-produced output, BBC Children’s contributes to all the BBC’s public purposes, providing dedicated programmes which engage and inspire children and encourage them to participate and interact with broadcast content. The output provides positive role models of children for children, and through programmes like Newsround, opens children’s eyes and minds to the world around them. Television can help children to understand themselves and their role in the world, and through moments of silliness and humour help children to relax and laugh out loud. In these ways, BBC children’s television is a unique and hugely valuable contribution, directly touching and enhancing the lives of people aged 12 and under ..

But what about older children? Is the BBC meeting its public purpose in respect of teens? The BBC have never explained why older children have been effectively abandoned. And although they've admitted to me that CBBC discriminates, they haven't actually made that clear to their audience.

The BBC claims it will increase investment in content for the young teens audience via their new brand, BBC Switch, available on TV, on radio and online.(blog 25 October 2007) But anyone with a reasonable memory will recall that the BBC actually cut the budget (pdf) for BBC Switch even before the first programmes were screened.

Over the Christmas holidays CBBC programmes accounted for about 100 hours per week of BBC TV airtime. BBC Switch normally broadcasts for a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes TV programmes per week, but in the last week of 2007 there weren't any TV programmes broadcast under the Switch brand. So overall it looks like the BBC's commitment to teens is a very low priority for the Corporation.

Ofcom's October 2007 discussion paper on children's TV wasn't even given a mention by Newsround or on its website (see blog entry 6 October 2007) Now the BBC says it's also focusing on the "traditionally underserved younger teen audience." First they axe the last vestige of services for teens (blog 13 May 2006) and then they worry about what to do. Newsround seems to have ended its wobble (blog 28 December 2007) and is again discarding feedback from anyone aged 14 or more.

-----
Stonewall's Workplace Equality Index was published this morning. WEI 2008 (pdf)

The extent to which Newsround has become inclusive was underlined at the start of this year when their website covered a report from press packer Jenny, who is proud that her family don't have a television.

Newsround's willingness to represent the diversity of Britain's population is serving to highlight the fact that LGBT kids are not getting fair treatment from the programme, or from CBBC generally.

LGBT History Month begins on 1 February - less than four weeks away.

Happy New Year

Did you know that Boxing Day was named in Victorian times when the rich would box up gifts to give to the poor? It seems a UK survey found that more than a third of people didn't know that fact. I bet some of those people had tried the Newsround website Christmas quiz and were a bit confused because boxing up gifts for the poor wasn't one of the possible answer options.

An interesting thing happened on Boxing Day this year. Newsround asked What did you think of the Doctor Who Christmas special? and they actually allowed a 14 year-old to have a say. And the very next day (yesterday) Newsround asked What has been your highlight of 2007? and again they allowed a 14 year-old have a say.

I've seen this kind of thing before at the BBC - they sometimes wobble a bit. So I wouldn't be surprised if, once again, it doesn't last. But if I'm wrong I'll get in touch with the BBC next year to ask if they have abandoned the discrimination against older kids and LGBT kids.

One other thing I've noticed over about the last month or so is that none of Newsround's feedback pages have suggested using the text option: You can also send us a text - Text NR and your message to 62222. Remember to include your first name, age and town. Charged at operators' standard rates. Please ask permission.

What a wonderful news item for Newsround I thought as I watched a Sky News report last night about Louis Barnett, a teenager with a love for chocolate, who started his own company, Chokolit, and recently opened a factory making high quality chocolates for some of the major supermarkets. One of Louis's ideas was for a chocolate inside an edible chocolate box.

Louis left school at the age of 11 after he was badly bullied by other kids. From then on he was homeschooled. At the same time he developed an interest in chocolate and started making them at home. This autumn he opened a factory in time to make chocolates for Christmas, but he may soon have to move to larger premises to meet the demand.

It seems that Newsround's website picked up on the story when Louis opened the factory, but it wasn't covered on Newsround itself, which is a pity because it's an awesome story especially for kids who've had difficulties at school.
-----

Showbiz news

Newsround Blog hasn't covered very much celebrity news since Newsround's website did away with their daily celebrity gossip update page in the spring (see blog 20 May 2007). I had previously noticed that the page reported news about straight couples, but never news about lesbian/gay couples or civil partnerships. It was becoming increasingly obvious that the daily gossip page was discriminating against LGBT people and I think that's why they had to stop updating it. Newsround's former editor denied that that was the reason. He insisted that the true reasons were CBBC budget cuts, showbiz news being of less interest to kids than it used to be, and the lack of certainty involved with 'gossip' - in fact just about everything other than what I had suspected.

On Wednesday Newsround reported stories about Lily Allen and Jamie Lynn Spears. This was the news as reported on the CBBC Channel programme at 3.55pm -

Lizo: Now Lily Allen's got something to smile about - she's expecting a baby. (film of Lily smiling at an awards ceremony). The singer says it's early days yet, but she and her boyfriend Ed Simons are thrilled.

(Screen caption: Jamie Lynn Spears pregnant - films of Jamie and Britney)
And there's more baby news from America where Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney's little sister, has told a U.S. magazine she's going to be a mum too. Her baby is due in the summer.

To censor or not to censor?

That was the question for Radio 1 yesterday. An old song containing the words 'slut' and 'faggot' was at the centre of a controversy when the radio station initially thought it was time to cut out the offending words.

But after a day of complaints, Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt (also the BBC's teen tsar) decided he was mistaken to cut out the words, and reversed his earlier decision. Some people believe the song will be number 1 in the Christmas charts. Mr Parfitt said "It is not always easy to get this right, mindful of our responsibility to our young audience. The unedited version will be played from now on.

"While we would never condone prejudice of any kind, we know our audiences are smart enough to distinguish between maliciousness and creative freedom. In the context of this song, I do not feel that there is any negative intent behind the use of the words, hence the reversal of the decision."

The question for Newsround is whether or not to report this Christmas and LGBT-related news story, and I expect the answer will be to keep silent.

So the BBC has decided it can broadcast the lyrics uncut for Radio 1's young audience, but probably won't report the surrounding debate on Newsround because usually - as far as CBBC is concerned - gay is the offensive and unbroadcastable word, not faggot.

As mentioned in my last blog entry 11,000,000 Takeover Day never really took off, but what about young people's organisations like CRAE and the BYC? Newsround doesn't report on their work and events. Why?

And why doesn't Newsround report news from the UK Youth Parliament? After all, in July 2005 Newsround presspacker, Rebecca said that the Youth Parliament helps raise awareness, and bring about positive changes in issues affecting young people. She urged others to get involved.

The answer appears to be the BBC's near abandonment of teenage youth. Although kids aged 11-18 can take part in the Youth Parliament, the BBC is no longer interested in teenagers and has decided that anything relevant to that age group must be kept out of CBBC kids' TV.

On 3 December 2007, some 8 months after Newsround's actual 35th birthday, the programme announced the results from their survey of kids aged 6-12. Here's an extract from the announcement on CBBC channel at 8.25am -

Sonali: It seems that overall most of you are actually feeling pretty good about things. How do we know that? Well today Newsround is releasing the results of a special survey we've done to mark our 35th birthday. It's called 'All About You' and one of the biggest things we found is most of you are happy with your lives and yourselves. We questioned a thousand kids from all over the country and more than 9 out of 10 of you said that you like the way you are, and used positive words like happy, funny and clever to describe yourselves. 7 out of 10 of you also felt that you're having a better time as a child than your parents did. Our survey's findings seem to go against the results of a recent study carried out by the United Nations' children organisation UNICEF. Out of 21 rich countries they ranked Britain the worst place to be a child.

Newsround's main evening programme at 5.25pm on BBC1 didn't mention the UNICEF report (pdf). Some further details of the Newsround survey are given in a BBC press release. The BBC was involved in surveys of young people a year ago. (see blogs on 6 & 9 December 2006)

Whatever happened to 11 Million Takeover Day?

In May, Newsround's website reported the launch of 11 Million Takeover Day and said "It is hoped that kids will be in charge of lots of organisations - and Newsround is taking part." But Newsround's participation was practically doomed from the start.

For Takeover Day to be seen as a legitimate attempt to put children in charge, the BBC would need to allow them editorial control of Newsround for the day. But my previous blog (30 November) showed that CBBC bosses have little trust or confidence in children.

Next we come to the number of children - 11 million. That's the number of children and young people in England aged up to 18. But what about those in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales? Newsround is broadcast throughout the United Kingdom, so it wouldn't be fair to have it run only by English kids, even assuming the BBC had been prepared to allow the editorial takeover to go ahead.

Lastly, organisations taking part were expected to comply with child protection guidelines, including the following -

Always work with children in an open and transparent way. Your actions should be warranted, safe and applied equitably; Respect children at all times, regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation. Don’t discriminate or show signs of approval or prejudice

So for a number of reasons there was never any chance of Newsround taking part in the event.

About a week after 11 Million Takeover Day, the Children's Commissioner for England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, answered viewers' questions on Newsround's website, just as he had done in July 2006 shortly before Newsround's exclusion of 14 and 15 year-olds became apparent.

Three weeks ago a national newspaper exposed another Blue Peter deception which took place in 2005. A competition winner told The Sun that two other "winners" of the competition to put questions to Jon Culshaw were actually from an agency.

The first time this year that Blue Peter was caught cheating, Richard Deverell, Head of CBBC spoke to BBC News (14 March 2007): I'm apologising unequivocally to viewers - particularly children - that this has happened. It's a clear breach of the relationship of trust with audiences. We have to ensure that all our dealings with audiences, particularly with children are open, honest and straightforward.

In response to the latest newspaper allegation, the BBC failed to apologise to Blue Peter viewers and claimed that it often used unpaid volunteers from drama groups.

Richard Deverell said: Our presenter should have made it clear that only some of the children on the show came via the website.

He explained that it was standard practice for producers to form relationships with local schools and drama groups to help pad out audiences and to help prevent other children featured on the programme from being too shy to contribute.

It's something which we'll keep on doing because we need articulate, confident children who will contribute something to our shows, Mr Deverell said.

So in future we expect Zoe or Gethin to say "Here are the six competition winners, but two of them didn't really enter the competition and are just pretending they did," or words to that effect.

Anti-bullying week on Newsround - Part 2

I've remarked once or twice before that Newsround is showing signs of becoming more diverse-friendly. Sports coverage is noticeably less concentrated on England, and there's more on the other Home Nation teams as well.

The programme is more inclusive of women's sports too. There was excellent coverage of the Women's Football World Cup from China, with Jake sent out there to provide live reports.

Newsround is also thoughtful about showing children from other countries. On Saturday we saw Presspacker Julia explain how Thanksgiving is celebrated by American families. Last Wednesday, half way through Anti-bullying week, Adam reported from a Japan about how bullying is different there, and why Japanese children find it very difficult to talk about:

Adam: Well it seems that Japanese school children are under loads of pressure. And even getting people to talk about the issue is pretty difficult. So it looks like the problem of bullying won't be solved in this country for a while yet.

Newsround's web report claims that Japanese people find it a bit rude to say the word bullying in public. This was quite an interesting report because, here in Britain, Newsround doesn't use some words on air. Any regular Newsround viewer might gain the impression that being lesbian or gay is unmentionable.

So although Newsround is more diverse-friendly than it used to be, it looks like the problems of prejudice and discrimination won't be solved for a while yet.
---
Coming soon: Whatever happened to 11 Million Takeover Day?

Anti-bullying week on Newsround - Part 1

Anti-bullying week was mentioned on last Monday's Newsround at 3.55pm (CBBC Channel only). A short excerpt from BeatBullying's YouTube video appears on Newsround's website. As we have come to expect from Newsround, the opportunity to oppose homophobia or homophobic language was missed.

The Newsround clip starts with Girls Aloud and Ronan Keating.

Girls Aloud This year more than 20 people will take their own lives in the UK alone because of bullying. It's not funny.

Ronan Keating: If you wouldn't say it to someone's face, well then don't post it online.

But Scott Mills denouncing "gay" as an insult, which follows Ronan Keating in the YouTube video is not included in the Newsround edit.

---
Only just over two months till LGBT History Month. The pre-launch event is tomorrow.

BBC test

Michael Gove, the Conservative shadow Secretary of State for Children, Families and Schools was interviewed last month by Pink News. Amongst the points raised was:

As a social element rather than a sexual element, there is what is called the BBC test. When a footballer gets married, (Children's BBC news programme) Newsround can't shut up about it. When Elton John or John Barrowman from Torchwood gets 'married,' they couldn't possibly mention it because it has moved away from being a social thing to a sexual thing.

And on 7 November 2007 at Equity's first Diversity Conference, Stonewall's CEO, Ben Summerskill criticised BBC programming for failing to reflect the broad make-up of its licence fee payers. (see blog 10 November 2007)

He said: “I have always been a huge advocate of the BBC and I do think it has served historically as a cultural glue for so many people in this country. But I think it is putting the opportunity of continuing to do that in peril if it does not properly engage and portray the way Britain is in the 21st century, rather than the way a small number of people at the top of that organisation imagine it might be.” (see blog entries on 10 August 2007 & 11 October 2007)

Newsround's ethos

At the start of my blog dated 6 November 2007 I quoted a Newsround report about two red pandas kissing. And I went on to say that it was nice to see Newsround cover the story without the usual heteronormative slant. Newsround, it seemed, was becoming more diverse-friendly.

But it looks like there is still quite a way to go.

At the Order of the Phoenix DVD press launch, Newsround's Lizo asked about Ron's new girlfriend, Lavender, in the forthcoming sixth HP film. For some reason Newsround didn't cover the cast reactions to JK Rowling's comment about Dumbledore's sexuality.

In a Newsround exclusive on Tuesday, the programme revealed that Lavender would be played by Jessie Cave -

Ellie: Meet the girl who'll spend most of the next Potter film snogging Rupert Grint....

And on Newsround's website: Jessie, 20, must be the envy of lots of girls. In playing Lavender, she gets to kiss Ron Weasley (played by Rupert Grint) a LOT!

I'm told that Newsround would have no qualms about covering an LGBT-related story on TV provided the item fitted with the programme's ethos. I am still trying to work out the nature of Newsround's ethos, apart from its evident heteronormativity.

Newsround press pack reports have included kids who get picked on or bullied:
Don't call me names because I wear glasses - Sophie doesn't think it's right that you get called names if you wear glasses.

I'm bullied because of braces - Press Packer Simone has braces on her teeth. And she has been getting a hard time about it from other kids.

I am happy with the way I look - Some kids used to call Amy names because she was bigger than them. It made her feel really sad inside.

I'm proud of being ginger! - Catherine thinks it's wrong when other children call her mean names just because she's a redhead.

But would Newsround be equally OK with a Press Packer saying:

I'm bullied for being gay

In today's prejudiced society, not helped by the BBC's non-inclusiveness, a press packer intending to do a report like that would need to weigh up the potential consequences of disclosing their affections on TV. Yet the BBC has no qualms whatsoever about encouraging young kids to talk about their straight affections or relationships on CBBC programmes (blog 12 November 2007).

Why shouldn't LGBT kids be treated fairly? After all, the BBC says it must be inclusive.

Newsround should take special care to consider LGBT diversity in all editorial decisions (blogs 11 & 13 February 2006). They should report news about combatting homophobia and homophobic bullying in schools, for example the ChildLine Casenotes last year (blog 30 August 2006). I would like to think this approach would be entirely in accord with Newsround's ethos.

Next week is Anti-bullying week (19-23 November) - an opportunity to find out whether the BBC is serious about its diversity policy.

Newsround report on CBBC channel, 8.29am this morning:

Sonali: A man in India has married a female dog. Really - I'm not kidding. The wedding took place at a Hindu temple in the state of Tamil Nadu. (video of wedding ceremony) In the past the groom had killed two other dogs and believes he's been cursed since then. He thinks that getting married to this dog will get rid of that curse.

(screen caption: Be a Presspacker)

Sonali: Now if you've got anything bugging you that you'd like to report on for Newsround, we want you to get in touch. Here's how.

(video featuring past presspackers and Lizo explaining how to get involved)

CBBC and sexuality

Newsround this evening yet again missed an opportunity. Lizo interviewed three members of the Harry Potter cast but failed to ask anyone what they thought about JK Rowling's comment that Dumbledore was gay. Instead the interview included Lizo asking about Ron's new girlfriend, Lavender, in the sixth HP movie.

CBBC continues to cover sexuality despite repeated denials from BBC managers. Here are three extracts from CBBC programmes last week:

'Best of Friends' shown on the CBBC channel Monday 5 November, 4.30pm :-

Friends - Joe, Matthew, Miles, Nathan, Richard
Presenters - Michael "Abs" Absalom and Rani

Rani: Let me find out a little about you, Nathan.
Nathan: Hello
Rani: (enthusiastically) Ladies' man! Tell us about it?
Nathan: Well I can be a bit, but I try not to.
Abs: How many girlfriends have you got at the moment then if you're a ladies' man?
Nathan: Just the one at the moment.
Abs: Oh, just the one.

----

'Best of Friends' shown on the CBBC channel Tuesday 6 November, 4.30pm :-

Friends - Amy, Becky, Natalie, Ryan, Savin
Presenters - Michael "Abs" Absalom and Rani

Abs: Let's meet today's team. Hi guys.
All: Hello
Abs: Now this is Becky. You'd like to go on a date - not just with one person, not with two people, but three people. Who?
Becky: erm Robbie Williams..
Abs: Yeah
Becky: David Beckham and Justin Timberlake.
Abs: Wow, what a date.

.....

Abs: Ryan, apparently you fancy Becky here, don't you?
Rani: Ahhh.
Ryan: (smiles and nods in agreement)

----

'Prank Patrol' shown on the CBBC channel Wednesday 7 November, 5.30pm :-

Presenter - Barney Harwood


Barney: (speaking to James) Let's find out a bit more about this Henry. Then we'll talk about his prank afterwards. Here he is.
(video of Henry and James begins)
Barney: (voiceover) James and Henry have been mates since Year 6. They both share a love of football and support the same team - Manchester United. (cheering crowd on sound track) C'mon the Reds. Henry is into computers, MSN-ing and dating girls (wolf-whistle on sound track).
(video shows Henry and a girl looking fondly at each other, kissing noises on sound track)
Barney: (voiceover) James says that Henry has a different girlfriend every week (photos of girl blowing Henry a kiss) and loves to rub his face in it. I think it's time we arranged Henry a date with the Prank Patrol.
(video ends and Barney chats to James)
Barney: Well he's a bit of a Casanova isn't he? I think he needs taking down a peg or two here, James. Talk to me. What have you thought about for his prank?
James: I want to get him messy. (sound effect)
Barney: Ah, I like mess. Why?
James: Because he's so worried about his appearance because he wants to look best in front of girls (another wolf-whistle sound effect).

On 30 October 2007 I contacted the BBC to ask about diversity on BBC programmes. I said that I was particularly interested in diversity in the BBC main drama - EastEnders.

A response from the BBC's continuing drama department pointed out the BBC has led the way in boosting minority representation in drama. And they said that they aim to fully reflect the diverse make-up of the UK.

Minority percentages were provided for four BBC dramas, detailing the regular cast and the guest cast, but it was made clear that figures don't include "disability, an area where we still need to do more work." A follow-up enquiry revealed that they "do not currently monitor for lgbt on screen portrayal."

It's recently been reported that a new gay character will be introduced into EastEnders next year. It will be Ian Beale's brother-in-law.

But if the BBC really want to fully reflect the diverse make-up of the UK, there will be three or four lgbt characters on EastEnders at any one time, and we will have a chance to see some of them come out to friends and family. (blog 12 July 2006)

Here is a short item broadcast last Thursday on Newsround, 5.25pm on CBBC1

(Film of two red pandas kissing, kissing and kissing some more)
Ellie: "These bear friends just can't get enough of each other. The two red pandas have lived together in the same cage at a zoo in Tokyo for 8 years but the romance clearly isn't dead. According to keepers they're smoochier than ever. Ahh!"

Nice to see a Newsround report like this, but without the usual heteronormative slant.

I mentioned in my blog dated 1 October 2007 that Newsround has become a more diverse-friendly and less London-centric programme.

In a speech to the Royal Television Society on 1 November 2007, Head of the BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons, argues the need for a more diverse-friendly BBC:

All of my previous work, and especially the inquiry I led into the role and funding of local government, as well as my long association with urban regeneration, has convinced me that diversity both within and between local communities is a source of strength rather than weakness – and that the UK will become stronger the more it recognises and builds on that diversity. The BBC can and should help with this. ...

I have spent much time in my first six months going around the country listening to different audiences and one of the issues constantly raised is that people want to see their lives reflected in BBC output – they want to be represented. And many people don't think the BBC does a good enough job of this. ...

Audiences are telling us that the BBC is still too London-centric – and that has to change. The BBC has to deliver value to all its licence fee payers, wherever they live. ...

For the BBC to discharge its public purposes, to realise its own potential and to respond to this big challenge I have outlined tonight, it must reach all parts of the population, whatever their age, wherever they live, whatever their ethnic background, whatever they are interested in. ...

On behalf of the Trust – and more importantly on behalf of the people who own and pay for the BBC – I have outlined some very high expectations of the BBC. I have no doubt that the BBC has the creativity, the talent and the commitment to make the changes necessary to fulfil them.

Clarity and honesty - Part 2

When, on 11 September 2007, I informed Mark Thompson about the discriminatory filtering of messages on CBBC, I was surprised to receive such a muddled explanation.

I had pointed out, amongst other things, and in case he was not aware, that Newsround has been systematically and covertly discarding feedback from 14 and 15 year-olds.

The reply I got said that the CBBC channel (including CBBC on BBC One) and all its programmes "are now aimed at children aged from 6 to 12" and, I was told, that explains why Newsround "does not normally publish comments from those aged 13 or above."

The reply doesn't hold water for two reasons:

1] CBBC has been aimed at 6-12 year-olds for several years, but 14 and 15 year-olds have only been cast aside recently - after 'Creative Future' was unveiled.

2] Newsround routinely publishes comments from those aged 13.

The DG hasn't yet attempted to explain the discrepancies. His policies, announced on 25 April 2006, seem to have resulted in an underhand attempt to drive viewers away from CBBC in preparation for the new teen 'brand' - BBC Switch.

Someone must have deliberately instigated this discriminatory policy, and Newsround Blog will try to find out who it was. But whether or not the culprit is identified, Mark Thompson, having been informed, now bears responsibility.

Often people at the BBC make very clear statements. Take this one for instance: I have never been involved in a deception of the public. Nothing equivocal about that, but just to make sure why not follow by saying It would just never have occurred to me (see blog 31 July 2007)

But without honesty the clearest statements become meaningless. And that's why the BBC has a serious problem - an ethos of dishonesty emanating from the highest levels of management.