Children's News Online

October 22, 2001 5:01 PM

Children's News Online - from the BBC. Newsround is their long-running, early-evening TV news show for kids. It was fascinating watching it struggle with presenting the Falklands War in the eighties. I wonder how CBBC News will cope?
posted by ntk (9 comments total)

How they'll cope with what? Haven't they been airing episodes since September? Isn't the lead story on their website about Pakistan refugees? Isn't this a question better asked a month ago?
posted by eyeballkid at 6:33 PM on October 22, 2001

I miss John Craven...
posted by feelinglistless at 10:23 PM on October 22, 2001

The Website is new, eyeballkid. I think that presenting the news on the Web is different to television; and presenting the news to children is different again. I'm interested to see how if they pull it off.

How the news is presented to children is important. Newsround has for 30 years been given a slot deliberately close to the adult's early evening news. Two reasons: one, so children don't feel patronised. Two: The BBC discovered that adults were sneakily brushing-up on complex news stories via Newsround. A lot of people got their introduction to international issues via Newsround.

And if you think people get outraged about prejudice in the standard news media, imagine the fights over bias they see in their kids' news.
posted by ntk at 11:30 PM on October 22, 2001

All of which has nothing to do with the question posed in your post: I wonder how CBBC News will cope?

posted by eyeballkid at 11:39 PM on October 22, 2001

Yes, but you already pointed out that's not a very interesting question, didn't you? I took that as a hint to move this topic away from the recent unpleasantness.

I failed.

But we both failed, didn't we? We both tried, and we both failed. And now the cool kids are living it up at the Falwell thread, leaving you and me here, compulsively clicking that "New message" button, trying to bridge the awful, widening silence with more rhetorical questions and slightly misunderstood replies.

I don't want to talk about the WTC again, and you're not interested in Children's TV News Websites.

We have nothing else to say to each other.

I don't know how we ever became lovers.

Race you to "Newer >>", my beautiful freak!
posted by ntk at 1:25 AM on October 23, 2001

I found another children's news site, but it scared me.

The BBC one looks quite good: short, succinct articles with all the fluff taken out.

I'm glad they chose the bright colour scheme though, or I might have thought I'd accidentally hit ananova.
posted by walrus at 1:43 AM on October 23, 2001

I miss Jon Craven too.... *sniff*

So are there any plans for a children's NTK then, Danny? :-)
posted by salmacis at 3:22 AM on October 23, 2001

How can you impute it's rigerous news values when you have important stories like this on the front page:

RSPCA Warns Of Cat Crisis

Unfortunatly I cannot think of a witty undercutting of this deliciously frivolous story so you'll have to supply you're own.
posted by nedrichards at 6:56 AM on October 23, 2001

salmacis: excellent idea! We'll call it "I Think You're A Little Bit Young To Know That Right Now".
posted by ntk at 3:06 PM on October 23, 2001