Monday, November 02, 2009

Nice to see that Newsround covered the UK Youth Parliament meeting in the House of Commons. I've been suggesting the programme do more reports about the Youth Parliament, so it was a step in the right direction.

But there are signs of the BBC's discrimination against older school kids (see blog dated 13 Dec 2006.) Although we do see feedback from the occasional 15-year-old, it seems that most feedback from them is destined for the cyberbin. Here are a couple of examples where the BBC received loads of messages, and I think the figures speak for themselves.

What do kids think of the X Factor's John & Edward? So far there are 45 responses from 14-year-olds but none at all from 15-year-olds on the webpage.

A few weeks back, on 28 September, Newsround reported news about schools banning coloured bracelets, and the programme asked kids for their views. Newsround published a total of 372 responses, including 49 from 14-year-olds. But again there are zero responses from 15-year-olds on the webpage.

Newsround is asking kids who've been cyberbullied to share their experiences. It remains to be seen how the BBC will treat the feedback they receive, and whether the problem will be reported in a fair way.

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