ITV News launches news service for teenagers

I guess this is designed for Instagram/YouTube where this kind of audience is already well used to watching stuff with "limited" production values and delivered by people who aren't exactly experienced presenters, so for the target demographic I think it's fine.

I'm surprised Radio 1 Newsbeat hasn't already done something like this - particularly since the demise of BBC Three and 60 Seconds. They already have the expertise in making news accessible to this demographic.

I've heard of the First News children's newspaper, but I didn't know they were directly competing with Newsround by having a programme.

Well they’re not directly competing, are they?

Patronising? Have you ever watched a full bulletin? Those young presenters on NR have a difficult job writing and producing copy to an audience where news isn't the most important thing in their lives and when they do have to explain some very serious news to kids, they do that exemplary. It's a challenging job for a journalist to provide news for that demographic which actually goes up to 12 year olds (it used to be 15 when CBBC catered to teenagers).

Going back to The Rundown. Does it really need the presenter to be in-vision? They could easily narrate the bulletin and let the pictures and captions tell the story.

I must admit, I did find it a bit bizarre that the presenter's head and neck seemed to be popping up out of the headline.

Yes, I have. Quite recently, in fact. I do think their tone is quite patronising - it certainly never used to be. My point was that ITV's own research showed a desire for a news bulletin that treated adolescents seriously. That's because Newsround talks to the audience like they're very young. Which is fine for its demographic, but totally inappropriate for people around the age of 16 or 17.

P.S. I note in your quoting of my post that you snipped off "which is fine for their audience, but I don't think that would work at all for older adolescents" - which qualified my point.

Newsround hasn't changed that much bar presenter changes. It continues to be a beacon of public service broadcasting, alas more unloved on a digital channel rather than on BBC1, yet The Rundown isn't quite yet the finished product, which includes the delivery of the presenter. Getting the news right is 85% of the product, getting teenagers to watch it on the adult skewed ITV News Instagram is another.

This is where I go into old git mode, because I can't let the suggestion that Newsround hasn't changed much go without comment.

Compare and contrast the same day's John Craven's Newsround and BBC Early Evening News from 1982. I'm struggling to see much fundamental difference between the two programmes other than the selection of stories and Newsround explaining things in more detail.



Granted, Newsround's target audience changed and is focussed towards younger kids than it was in my day, but having watched both of today's editions the programme itself is certainly a lot more lightweight than it once was.

I don't think patronising is the word I would use, what news there was on the programme was delivered in a perfectly acceptable way, but on both the breakfast and teatime editions today there was only one news story, followed by some pointless viewer submitted videos (that are definitely not news), and an and finally.

There is a big gap between this and "grown up" news that was never there when I was its target demographic.

As a now 40 year old, I watch the John Craven bulletin and I don't think I would necessarily realise it was aimed at kids if I didn't know.

None of this is necessarily a criticism of the current Newsround, times change, but something to fill that gap between Newsround and News - especially now 60 Seconds has gone - is not a bad idea.

However I'd debate that John had a unique way of delivering news to children, despite the lack of gimmicks. John was the USP in those days, rather than having child-centric sets and presentation, yet kids watched in their droves in the 70s and 80s including myself.

The current Newsround hasn't really changed editorially since CBBC was relaunched as a stand alone channel, times have changed obviously and there isn't the Harry Potter plugs that they had in the noughties, yet the core elements of having a 20 or young 30 something presenter delivering the news in an accessible manner is still there targeting tweens.

Well I've not watched Newsround for 40 years, which is when I ceased being a child. JC was a bit like your twenty something teacher at school, who fell into the camp of being 'alright' and not like the miserable older gits, so consequently you absorbed and respected what was being said.

It's a UK version of NBC's popular 'Stay Tuned' Snapchat news show... but what works in the US may not be the same here.

Remember, TV Forum isn't the target audience.

I don't envy them at all, My strongest memory of Newsround is them explaining 7/7 the day of, or the day after it happened.

And then CBBC had that one-off drama a year or so later which followed a group of Muslim (or Sikh) kids on the day. "I'm not letting any of your kind on my bus" is a line that sticks with me.