Save Newsround

It is very disappointing that CBBC’S Newsround is to be axed from its teatime slot (Aidan Smith, 4 August). It keeps children well-informed about events in today’s world in a way they can understand.

As Aidan Smith says in his article, it has also never patronised its audience. From

Newsround’s inception in 1972 I was a regular viewer. John Craven was a good presenter who helped us children of the 1970s to have a better understanding of world events.

When I was in P5 at Castlehill Primary in Bearsden we had to write every day about an item we had heard about in the news, and what I wrote about generally was an item I had heard about the previous evening on Newsround, or John Craven, as the programme was often referred to.

Arguably the fact that Newsround was often called John Craven meant that Mr Craven had been elevated to the same status as Walter Cronkite. The well-remembered “and finally” reports, about some light-hearted news item such as kangaroos being seen on the streets of Los Angeles or a man-powered flight contest always rounded the programme off on a light note.

Newsround also features the more unpleasant news items, but in the 2000s the-then presenter, Ellie Crissell, always read the disclaimer “remember, events like these are very rare, that’s why they’re news”, and she said that anyone who was troubled by a news item could discuss it on the programme’s website.

ROBERT KELLY Bonhill Road, Dumbarton