Death of Newsround?
Show could be shifted online as BBC bosses ‘refresh’ youth programming
IT has been a fixture in the BBC schedules for nearly 50 years – giving generations of children their first taste of serious televised news coverage.
But now Newsround is in danger from corporation bosses.
According to insiders, BBC chiefs are in discussions to slash the number of episodes that air each week and replace them with online content.
At the moment, Newsround broadcasts every day, with two five-minute bulletins and one ten-minute bulletin on the BBC’s children’s channel, CBBC.
But the BBC said in its ‘annual plan’ that it wants to ‘refresh’ its children’s news output ‘in response to changing audience demand’.
‘Estimates indicate that as many children now consume Newsround online as via the scheduled Tv bulletins,’ it said. it refused to say what it will offer online but insiders confirmed that they are considering a reduction in the number of bulletins broadcast.
The proposals are likely to trigger a backlash from the BBC’s critics, who believe it should be doing more to educate young viewers about news and current affairs.
it has also sparked scepticism among the broadcaster’s staff, who regard Newsround as a crucial training ground for future presenters. The programme, which began in 1972 and was intended as a six-week trial, was originally called John craven’s Newsround, after its first presenter. After 17 years, craven handed over the reins to a succession of reporters, many of whom went on to become heavyweight news broadcasters.
channel 4 news host Krishnan Guru-Murthy and ITV News presenter Julie Etchingham spent years on the show before moving up the ranks. in the early days, the programme would often draw close to a million viewers on BBC1 or BBC2. However, ratings tumbled after the BBC took children’s programmes off its main channels and confined them to digital children’s channels CBBC and CBeebies.
Over the past month, Newsround has attracted an average of 58,500 viewers per episode on CBBC, with some being watched by considerably fewer than that. According to figures, the morning broadcast on Saturday, March 16, was not watched by anyone as it aired.
Yesterday, Mr Guru- Murthy warned that the BBC should not use the move as an excuse to cut costs. He said: ‘i get that Newsround needs to be all over social media but it should also be offering a programme to stream, download or watch on Tv.’
Last year, Sky launched FYI, the first new children’s television news show since Newsround’s launch. And yesterday, ITV boss carolyn Mccall revealed plans to expand its online news service to offer more content for teenagers.
She told the Broadcasting Press Guild: ‘There is a gap between what is currently provided to teenagers, and what they actually want. We will see whether we can fill that gap in some way, and we’ve just written to Ofcom to say that.’
A BBC spokesman said yesterday: ‘if Ofcom approve our proposals we’ll increase the amount of our Newsround content online, whilst still maintaining regular linear output.’