SadieJ has been mentioned a few times by Newsround Blog, for instance, in this review of the very first episode - Crushamondo

Perhaps as a result of careful planning, or possibly by pure coincidence, viewers of the CBBC channel had another opportunity to watch the third episode from series two of SadieJ last Friday - the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. In fact it was shown twice - first at 9.05am, and then again at 12.55pm

SadieJ was touted as an answer to criticism over the lack of LGBT diversity on children's TV. But despite these concerns, not one single episode ever actually addressed the subject of having same sex attraction, in other words what might generally be thought of as being lesbian, gay or bisexual.

The aforementioned third episode of series 2 is called Gagalicious. The episode seemed to try addressing the issue, but in the end it failed - and failed badly at that.

The theme running through the episode was very clear: that everyone should be proud to be who they really are. But that "proud to be" message did not seem to extend to being gay or bisexual. For example, whilst several characters in the series are either dating or "fancy" someone of the opposite sex, not one single character is either dating or has a crush on someone of the same sex.

Children's TV needs to deal with the full range of issues affecting the lives of 21st century British kids, otherwise it becomes an irrelevance and a waste of money. The Children's Media Conference has promised a session about LGBT inclusion at this year's event. We should have details about the session very shortly. Let's just hope it doesn't end up as just another cop-out which, as we've seen with SadieJ, is an all too easy mistake to make.

There has been some positive news in the media world, but LGBT discrimination continues at the BBC. I've written to senior management about the situation.

The Children's Media Conference has told me that one of this year's sessions will address the issue of LGBT inclusion - a welcome development as, in recent years, LGBT children have been very poorly served by the media. At the time of writing there is nothing specific about the session on their website.

Tomorrow, 17th May, is IDAHO Day - the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

Misleading kids about a meteor (previous blog) is one thing, but that hardly compares with editorial bias relating to big political or social issues. Newsround, in common with the rest of the BBC, gave unduly positive coverage to Mrs Thatcher's legacy at the time of her funeral. And following the local elections, Newsround, again in common with most of the BBC, fawned over UKIP, brushing aside the Party's sexist, homophobic and otherwise objectionable statements and policies. In fact Newsround's write-up of the local election outcome looks, to all intents and purposes, like a recruiting drive for new UKIP members.

More evidence of Newsround's bias came first thing on Wednesday morning - the day of the State Opening of Parliament.

(7.41 am) "The Queen will announce tough new rules on foreign people living and staying in the UK, when she travels from Buckingham Palace to Parliament today. She'll outline the Government's new plans as part of the State Opening of Parliament - a big ceremony that's like the start of a new school term for politicians. The immigration laws will make it easier to send foreign criminals, and people who want to come here illegally, back to where they're from."

Perhaps realising that their tendentious morning reports had gone too far, Wednesday's evening bulletin at 6.50pm was a little more carefully thought through.

(6.50 pm) "The Government has set out its latest plans for the year ahead. The Queen read them out in her annual speech to mark the State Opening of Parliament - an event steeped in lots of quirky traditions. (video) It's a journey the Queen's made many times before. And her 59th speech in Parliament followed the same traditions as all the others. The doors to the House of Commons, where MPs debate laws, were slammed shut to symbolise their independence. Then, once Her Majesty's allowed to speak to them, she outlined the Government's plans for the year. She doesn't write it, but reads it on the Government's behalf. Plans to impose tough new rules on people from foreign countries, and improving the UK's money problems, were top of the list. There was one break from tradition: For the first time in 17 years Prince Charles was by her side, a day after announcing he'd take her place at a big meeting between leaders of a group of countries with historical connections to the UK - the Commonwealth. It led to speculation that he's getting ready to take over more of her duties. But before she'd left, Buckingham Palace said that was not in their plans."

Two years ago, when Daniel Clarke was deputy editor, he wrote that increasingly Newsround "has a duty" to play a useful and important role as a trusted source of news and information.

Any source of news and information can only be trusted as long as there is no sense of bias.

If you saw a website where one of the headlines stated "Meteor over UK caught on camera," and if the headline was accompanied by what looks like a photograph, is it reasonable to expect a picture of that meteor? Newsround doesn't seem to think so.

Newsround home page on 9th May 2013

You only see the actual meteor when you click on the relevant web report AND THEN click on the video itself.

Because of its target audience, Newsround should be even more careful not to mislead. The editor must do better, otherwise he might soon be hearing the message: "You've been pulled off air - that was terrible."

Hardly a month goes by now when another celebrity or media person isn't accused of sexual impropriety. Yet, ever since the revelations about Jimmy Savile, editors of BBC Newsround have decided that their audience doesn't need to know. Owenna Griffiths was, last year, asked by a very senior BBC manager - more senior than the Director of BBC Children's - to give a rationale for not covering the Savile story. Shortly afterwards Ms Griffiths went on attachment elsewhere in the BBC. Daniel Clarke is acting as the programme's editor until she returns.

There are good reasons for Newsround to cover these abuse cases. But principally to raise awareness of the issues amongst young people who may be, or have been, subject to abuse. Nevertheless, perhaps in a misguided understanding of child protection, Newsround remains silent. I believe silence about child abuse is not welcomed by children's welfare organisations such as the NSPCC and ChildLine, and the problem won't go away by simply pretending it doesn't exist.

Chairman of the BBC Trust, Chris Patten, was interviewed by Jeremy Vine on The Andrew Marr Show.

The Andrew Marr Show - Sunday 5th May 2013
Excerpt from interview -

Lord Patten: ... Dame Janet Smith, the very distinguished judge who's looking at the background to Savile - whether the BBC was complicit, turned a blind eye, knew about what was going on and didn't do anything about it - Dame Janet Smith's inquiry will, I hope, embrace what's happening with Stuart Hall as well. They're awful, awful allegations and stories. And, of course, we look back on the 60's and 70's and we know that that way of treating women, of treating employees, is something that was, thank God, put an end to by feminism, which people used to sneer about.

The last few months have been uncomfortable for the BBC. It started with revelations that Jimmy Savile had made use of the Corporation for his own vile purposes. But it turns out that Savile was not alone, and others were similarly taking advantage of the power and respect they enjoyed to harm children and young people. Stuart Hall is the latest to be condemned, as more staff admit they suspected impropriety.

Rather than helping to alert kids to the dangers of predatory adults, Newsround has remained completely silent. So why has BBC children's TV taken this stance?

Well according to an email I received on 9th April (see previous blog): "the choice of stories, and how we report these stories, across all of the BBC’s news programmes is a matter for the individual programme editors."

But is that always true? Isn't it the case that the BBC sets overall editorial standards and that individual programme editors have to abide by those standards. And if they don't, presumably the editors are answerable. If that is not the case what is the point of having editorial guidelines in the first place?

Perhaps there are a few clues about the culture of the BBC in Respect at Work (pdf) - a new report which has found that bullying is something of a problem, and staff have been too frightened to speak out.

Newsround Blog will have much more to say about this.

Is social media out of control? That was the first 'Big Question' on BBC One's Sunday morning debate this week. But why stop at social media, when the BBC could also have looked at its own 'out of control' editorial judgements? After all the BBC is subject to very little scrutiny - far less than most UK organisations.

Time and time again the BBC makes misguided or wrong-headed editorial decisions. Why, for example, did Newsround cancel a pre-arranged interview with a gay couple on 6th February 2013, giving them only an hour's notice of the cancellation? I believe the couple themselves were told that the story was "not fresh enough." But was it reasonable for Newsround to suddenly downplay the previous evening's historic House of Commons marriage equality vote, by leading instead on the Wednesday morning with "news" that all dogs would have to be microchipped in three years' time? The marriage vote was covered, but only as the second news item, and without the live interview.

According to an email, apparently written by Newsround editor Daniel Clarke, and sent via the BBC complaints department on 9th April, "the BBC cannot comment to any third parties on the circumstances surrounding interviews with potential contributors." I was also told that "the choice of stories, and how we report these stories, across all of the BBC’s news programmes is a matter for the individual programme editors."

If Newsround's broadcast output leaves something to be desired, their website judgement is, on occasion, just as bad.

Have been checking a few things with the BBC, like why it was necessary for both Director of Children’s, Joe Godwin AND his two immediate subordinates (Kay Benbow and Cheryl Taylor) to attend the Kidscreen Summit in New York - see blog on 1st February 2013. This is what I've been told on that score -

Kay Benbow and Cheryl Taylor have different roles within BBC Children’s and were invited by Kidscreen to speak on different subjects and went to discuss different business with different partners. Kidscreen is the premier worldwide conference and market for children’s content and the BBC is one of the world’s leading producers of children’s content. Producers and other broadcasters around the world expect the BBC to attend, hence the organisers inviting the BBC attendees. The Director of BBC Children’s is responsible for the overall strategy for children’s content and is also a key participant in the co-production and partnership agreements which are discussed and worked on at Kidscreen. He is a key figure in the worldwide children’s media industry, of which this is the premier gathering, and as such his attendance is essential to the effective international co-production work, which adds huge value for UK licence fee payers.

Kids today are unlikely to know quite how thoughtless Mrs Thatcher had been to many in society, and very little said on Newsround would have served to enlighten them. In fact it seems the programme was determined to turn a blind eye to her homophobia and Section 28.

One girl interviewed at Thatcher's funeral in London yesterday told Newsround reporter Joe Tidy: "We wanted to come and pay our honour to Margaret Thatcher because she's really helped our country. And so we wanted to just show that we are really grateful for her and her work."

Newsround's numerous reports about the death of Baroness Thatcher rarely, if ever, went without a mention that she was Britain's first and only woman Prime Minister, as if that made her in some way better than her male counterparts. But the truth is that each person's achievements and failings aren't dependent on their gender, race, sexual orientation or other status. After all, is BBC business expert Evan Davis a better (or a worse) journalist on account of being gay? Of course not. Long-term readers of Newsround Blog may remember that four years ago Mr Davis gave kids an optimistic view of future prospects for jobs and the economy. And in October 2010 he didn't notice a £49 billion error, now silently corrected, on this Newsround webpage.

Mr Davis also appeared in the Newsround Special: Hard Times, exactly one month ago, to explain why we've found ourselves in this economic mess. Check it out, and you'll see that he suggests it's down to things happening 10 years ago. Not very perceptive in my opinion. Mr Davis hasn't considered why factories were springing up abroad, and how they were able to make goods so cheaply. Still, despite doubts over his expertise, Evan was, I believe commendably, one of the very first people in the world to come out for marriage equality.

Why on earth does the BBC have a regular TV news programme for kids if that programme doesn't report important stories relevant to kids?

Paris Brown was Britain's first youth Police and Crime Commissioner, appointed last week to represent the interests of children and young people in Kent.

Last weekend it emerged that Paris Brown had been responsible for some homophobic and racist tweets. Ms Brown told Sky News that the tweets weren't acceptable and said "I do sincerely apologise if they have caused any offence at all."

The story grew and grew on the UK news media, but Newsround steadfastly kept mum on the controversy.

Paris and her boss, Ann Barnes, were interviewed for the BBC by Stuart Flinders. Ms Brown told Stuart that she was "definitely up to the job." She said her tweets were taken out of context and were not meant to offend, insisting she'd been "misinterpreted." Paris told Stuart that she is not homophobic or racist, and she doesn't condone drug taking. She didn't want people judging her "based on a few stupid things" which, said Paris, "were not meant as they're portrayed."

Tuesday morning's Newsround was introduced by Ore Oduba -

Ore: Hi everybody, you're watching Newsround with me, Ore. Here's everything you need to know this Tuesday morning.

Now you might think that young people, especially young people in Kent, would "need to know" about the controversy surrounding the person chosen to represent them on matters of policing and crime. But, for some reason, Newsround still had not a word to say. Neither was there anything about the controversy on Newsround's website.

It was only after a press conference later that day, at which Paris said she would be stepping down, that Newsround deigned to report the story - and then only via the website, and only in the most perfunctory terms.


BBC News Channel report about resignation of Kent youth PCC

So why was Newsround so reluctant to deal with this news?

Once again a Newsround editorial decision is seriously in question.

Some people were concerned about SadieJ when it launched in January 2011. Here is one such person's comment from the Digital Spy forums:-

"... In it there is a boy called "Kit" who is suggested will come out as Gay. He acts and sounds very feminine, exfoliates, and lurves JLS. I dont think this is appropriate in childrens programmes. ..."

However, that homophobe needn't have worried at all, because, as readers of this blog know, CBBC bosses believe that portrayal of a gay teen is inappropriate on BBC children's TV. Kit was, indeed, quite feminine. So much so that the subtitlers initially appeared to believe Kit was actually a girl (see blog on 19th Jan 2011) Digital Spy "fears" that Kit would come out as gay were unwarranted. His feminine demeanour proved nothing, and by the end of the third and final series viewers were none the wiser as to Kit's sexual orientation. Nor, in fact, were there any other explicitly gay characters in the series. Here Dede meets her hero Captain Skylo aka Tom Roberts - the "manly but approachable" TV presenter. Tom is, in reality, Robert Evans, the person ultimately responsible for SadieJ.

SadieJ was, generally speaking, an unbelievably bad example of British television. There were three or four reasonable episodes, and the series did introduce some talented actors. But unfortunately there seems to be a complete lack of quality control on BBC children's TV. The poor content standard was evident from series 1, where the last two episodes were mostly made up of a number of short clips from earlier episodes all stitched together in a haphazard fashion into a barely watchable whole.

Despite the awful series 1, the powers that be commissioned another two series. Having got away with it in series 1, it should come as no surprise that the quality didn't improve. In this excerpt from series 3, episode 5, Keith's throw-away remark that everyone loves a competition is the excuse for an assortment of competition-related clips from earlier episodes. And here, in a later episode, Dede's comment about Sadie always causing chaos leads to more rehashed material. Eventually the actual re-use of old content becomes the joke in itself, as you can see here, here and here.

But if you think the problem of rehashed content is restricted to SadieJ, guess again. In fact it is spreading to other BBC children's programmes as well. Look at this excerpt from episode 12 of the latest series of The 4 O'Clock Club. Josh refuses to unlock the door, saying "you've been on my back all term," which serves as an excuse for some flashbacks. Then, after two minutes of time filling, Dexter replies "if I've been on your back it's usually been for a good reason." Cue more recycled stuff. And it doesn't just stop there, the old clips just keep on coming.


Tony Hall talking on Channel 4 News to Krishnan Guru-Murthy
A new Director-General has just taken over at the BBC. Tony Hall told former Newsround presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy that he wants to do all he can to "enable the very best programmes and content to be made." Lord Hall will have his work cut out just to get BBC children's TV back on track.

Newsround is running a competition to dream up inventions that solve everyday problems. The competition was announced a few days ago, but they're still seeking more applicants. Here's the ending of Newsround's second bulletin this morning.

The results of a public vote of the most important past and future British innovations were announced on Monday. The Universal Turing Machine was voted top past innovation. Alan Turing's work, dating from 1936, helped break the German WWII Enigma code, and was instrumental in the development of modern computers

Yet despite the significance of Turing's work, and the fact that he was a British genius, it seems that bosses at CBBC don't want kids to know about him. In fact Newsround viewers could be forgiven for believing computers were invented by Steve Jobs. He's frequently been talked about on CBBC. Here we can see a him mentioned in a Newsround report about sand sculptures.

Alan Turing was never once mentioned by CBBC during the his centenary year - 2012. And Newsround ignored the top British Innovation vote, instead choosing to concentrate on the Top 10 rubbish inventions!

Some tips for these hard times :-

For those with high cholesterol, consider asking your doctor for statins rather than use less effective but more expensive cholesterol-reducing spreads

Detail from Newsround Special Hard Times

Don't go on expensive conference trips abroad, except when others pay

Don't buy "Harmony" potatoes (even in times of plenty)

Hard Times

The last few years have been hard times for many people in Britain. But some have suffered more than others. BBC bosses are, it seems, amongst the least affected. One such still regularly attends notable TV media conferences, summits and award ceremonies, staying at some of the world's plushest hotels at licence payers' expense.

Hard Times - A Newsround Special on Monday (5pm - CBBC channel) looks at families who've been struggling with money, the changes they've had to make, and how kids have been affected by the economic climate.

About 9% of Britain's population identify as Roman Catholic, and about 5% identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. But given the amount of news coverage devoted to the election of a new pope, you could be forgiven for thinking the Catholic population of Britain exceeds the LGB population by at least an order of magnitude. And nowhere has that divide been more obvious than on the BBC children's channel, CBBC. (also see previous blog) Thankfully, though, most Catholics are somewhat more enlightened and progressive than those in the Church hierarchy.

In a tweet last month Aaron Balick considered why the Church is so anti-gay. He suggested the reason was "because it is so gay." Apparently this is known by psychologists as reaction-formation. Also sounds like those in charge at BBC children's TV.

You'll recall that, last year, the BBC allowed itself to be used as a mouthpiece for the Catholic Church, culminating on Christmas Day with the Corporation giving Vincent Nichols privileged access to a series of TV news bulletins. Furthermore one of their journalists - BBC Religious Affairs Correspondent, Robert Pigott - fronted what seems to have been a most disgraceful attempt to mislead viewers.

Perhaps as recognition that they'd gone too far, last week a prominent journalist and equality campaigner, Benjamin Cohen, was allowed to put the case for treating LGBT people more humanely. He was speaking on last Wednesday's edition of Lent Talks. Benjamin said he'd been contacted by many whose families have abandoned them. Some religious groups felt that the BBC had sunk to a new low - they were very unhappy about hearing the plight of Christ compared to that of young gay people who fear being disowned by their friends and family.

Benjamin Cohen: Some parents give them an ultimatum: to ignore their feelings, or even undergo controversial reparative therapies to try to turn themselves straight. Shockingly, every year, hundreds of people, mainly teenagers, kill themselves because of their family or society's rejection of them due to their sexuality. In many cases the reason for this rejection is religion - something that really angers me and upsets me.

Despite the torment some lesbian and gay kids go through on account of their religious upbringing, it is certain that Newsround will soon be giving over even more airtime to uncritical reports about the Catholic Church, and that it will big up the next pope, whoever he may be. Compare that with almost zero empathy for gay kids. The programme, for instance, completely ignored President Obama's support for marriage equality, and what he said about gay people in this year's Inauguration speech.

Another example - on 15th January 2013, Newsround reported on the outcome of two discrimination cases at the ECHR, there was not a single word said about the other two extremely important rulings that Christians can not use their beliefs as a ground to discriminate against gay people. We can clearly see whose side BBC Children's is on.


Newsround report about FOUR discrimination cases (4th September 2012)

The stunning hypocrisy of Cardinal Keith O'Brien and his ilk is, unfortunately, not so far removed from what we've come to expect of those responsible for children's TV - see last Sunday's blog. I may, at some future date, publish a more complete version of the email referenced in that blog, but with redactions as appropriate.

In the latest episode of SadieJ we see Danny and Jake both have a crush on Leona from Year 10.

They've got a crush on Leona from Year 10

Bosses at the BBC Children's department believe their audience should be protected from words such as lesbian and gay. Although The Dumping Ground was cited as an example of LGB portrayal (see blog on 2nd January 2013) - I believe it was not quoted as a sign of diversity and inclusiveness, but rather as a warning to prejudiced parents that their kids should be barred from watching the programme. Other BBC children's programmes are "safe" and parents can rest assured that their kids will not hear "gay" in an affirmative sense.

Not sure about this, but my guess is that the percentage of BBC staff who identify as LGB is slightly higher than you would expect in the general population of Britain {5% according to a ComRes survey in January (pdf)}

Some at BBC Children's are LGBT. In fact, a few years ago, I was rebuked by one such person who wrongly thought I had suggested the department was homophobic. In a lengthy email to me he wrote "As a gay man I take exception to your suggestion of homophobia on my part and your questioning of my sincerity – as well as that of my CBBC colleagues, many of whom are members of the LGBT community."

Today marks exactly one year since Cardinal Keith O'Brien wrote a piece for the Telegraph in which he condemned plans to "redefine marriage." O'Brien may not be homophobic, but the vituperative language in that article shows him to be a blatant hypocrite.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, God's Rottweiler, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus - whatever you choose to call him, he is not a very humane human being. But little of his nasty side has been reported by Newsround nor, in fact, by the media in general. Thankfully we have the Internet, and so don't have to rely on the BBC and other mainstream media to get a balanced assessment of the man.