Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Newsround is on BBC1 at 5.25pm Monday to Friday. Also it's on the CBBC channel. Is was originally planned as a time filler in the 1970's, and was presented by someone called John Craven who now presents Countryfile on BBC.

Issues which are relevant to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (lgbt) people are never reported, and this non-inclusivity has been a deliberate policy. Although the editor, Ian Prince has denied it in the past, more recently he has not replied to criticism or suggestions.

I have complained for over two years, and asked them to cover lgbt-related news and information about homophobia and homophobic bullying. People now think that homophobia needs to be challenged at primary school stage otherwise it can be too late.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/comment/story/0,9828,1660272,00.html

Thankfully the BBC's Head of Diversity, Andrea Callender has emailed me to say that she asked a member of her department, Cyril Husbands, to liaise with me about my concerns. I have emailed him and will wait to see what can be done about the non-inclusivity of Newsround.

I searched the internet and found that Cyril Husbands, a senior diversity manager,joined the Diversity Centre about four years ago. In 2004 he said: “The equality agenda, important though it is, is not the whole agenda. It’s not just about numbers and representation, it’s about inclusiveness and meaningful diversity.”

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