Saturday, August 14, 2010

I imagine that Ore's World Cup blog comment that being a Newsround reporter's a difficult job but someone's got to do it! was the thing that landed him down the sewer for a day when he got back from South Africa. But after his penance it seems he's been forgiven, and was again jetting away to a far-off land, this time to report from Singapore on the Youth Olympic Games.

To participate in the Youth Olympics you have to be aged between 14 and 18, so it would be nice to think that Newsround's coverage of the event signals the BBC at last accepting that particular audience groups must not be ignored or underserved.

Today at 1.45pm on the CBBC Channel -

Leah: Hello there. Leah from Newsround here, keeping you up to date with everything you need to know on a very sporty Saturday afternoon.

With an introduction like that you might expect to see Ore report on the YOG opening ceremony, which was well underway by then. But no - and not even a mention of the YOG throughout today's bulletins.

Accuracy is a continuing problem on Newsround. For example on the 12.55pm bulletin Leah ended by telling viewers "we'll have loads more in an hour's time." The screen caption stated "More NR @ 1.55pm on CBBC." In fact the programme began about ten minutes before that, and had finished well before 1.55pm.

Newsround has never reported civil partnerships or gay marriage, but it has reported on underwater weddings. At 6.25pm on Monday 12 July 2010 Sonali told us briefly about a couple who got married underwater in Austria. So it was a little surprising when Leah informed us today that the world's first underwater wedding had taken place in Macedonia.

This is from Newsround at 8.55am this morning -

Leah: Now to a couple who are deeply in love - and I mean really deeply. Here's the world's first underwater wedding. The couple tied the knot in Macedonia in full diving equipment. The ceremony took place in the springs of a famous river there. How romantic.

Get your facts right BBC! Underwater weddings are nothing new. Here's one from a few years ago. And the second picture on this Newsround web page was from even earlier, when thirty-six Thai couples got married underwater.

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