:00:02. > :00:12.Now on BBC News, it is time for a Newswatch. This week, should
:00:12. > :00:14.
:00:14. > :00:19.Newsround have been dropped from Hello and welcome.
:00:19. > :00:22.Breaking news, David Bowie has released a new song. Is that news
:00:22. > :00:27.or just a man out to sell the world a single?
:00:27. > :00:31.First on BBC One, John Craven's Newsround.
:00:31. > :00:35.Newsround, along with other children's programmes, is no longer
:00:35. > :00:40.shown on BBC One, only seeded cygnet -- CBBC, and not everyone is
:00:40. > :00:50.happy with that. It deserves to be celebrated and one way of
:00:50. > :00:50.
:00:50. > :00:53.celebrating his to give it a It was another busy week for news
:00:53. > :00:58.with the debate over welfare changes, wildfires in Australia and
:00:58. > :01:04.violence in Belfast, Afghanistan and Syria widely reported. But on
:01:04. > :01:08.Tuesday, according to some, the BBC seemed most excited with this.
:01:08. > :01:13.years after Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars and 10 years
:01:13. > :01:17.since his last single, David Bowie has released a new song. It is his
:01:17. > :01:21.66th birthday and an album is to follow. BBC News came under
:01:21. > :01:26.pressure from viewers for featuring the new songs so prominently.
:01:26. > :01:30.Several directors say its release had no place on Radio Four Today
:01:30. > :01:36.programme where it was relieved, or national news bulletins. We asked
:01:36. > :01:46.one of those viewers to go into our Oxford studio to explain why.
:01:46. > :01:46.
:01:46. > :01:51.think the problem is that there was no journalistic content at all. The
:01:51. > :01:56.way that the Today programme covered it was a bit gushing, as if
:01:56. > :02:00.Mr Bowie was royalty and they were quite excited about it. I'm sure
:02:00. > :02:04.they hoped he would come into the studio to talk to them. It didn't
:02:04. > :02:09.make it news. David Bowie could have gone into a radio 1 studio and
:02:09. > :02:17.other programme on it, I'd have had no problem with that.
:02:17. > :02:24.# Where are we now? All this was was a beautifully placed plaque by
:02:24. > :02:29.the Bowie publicist, who did a fantastic job. -- plug. Just
:02:29. > :02:35.releasing a record, Madonna has done it, bucket loads of the
:02:35. > :02:40.slightly ageing pop fraternity are releasing records. It is not news.
:02:40. > :02:45.You have to add a magic ingredient of to make it news and that story
:02:46. > :02:52.didn't have it. Wednesday brought more complaints
:02:52. > :02:56.about some pictures shown at the start of the report on Newsnight.
:02:56. > :03:04.Should we brace ourselves for another flood of migrants from the
:03:04. > :03:14.EU or are things very different What followed is described by Pat
:03:14. > :03:27.
:03:27. > :03:32.Watson as the killing of the pig They were among scores of viewers
:03:32. > :03:42.who complained to the BBC about the footage. We asked Newsnight for a
:03:42. > :03:55.
:03:55. > :04:05.Another objection this week came from Martin Webb in any melt on
:04:05. > :04:26.
:04:26. > :04:31.Newsround has been a staple of the BBC One schedule since John Craven
:04:31. > :04:37.first presented it in 1972, but this week it no longer appears in
:04:37. > :04:40.its traditional slot on that channel. It and all children's
:04:40. > :04:45.programmes are confined to CBBC and CBeebies. The move hasn't gone down
:04:45. > :04:52.well with some of those involved in children's TV, such as the co-
:04:52. > :04:55.creator of Teletubbies. To take it off mainstream television rather
:04:55. > :05:00.suggests that the status and profile and the investment they
:05:00. > :05:05.making children's programmes is not as equally valued as other genres.
:05:05. > :05:14.If you forgot multi- genre channels, children's should be, in my view,
:05:14. > :05:19.an=genre. I was disappointed. For the BBC, this is their point of
:05:19. > :05:23.difference. They lose that point have different if they take
:05:23. > :05:27.children's programmes off mainstream. It deserves to be
:05:27. > :05:32.celebrated and one way to celebrate it is to give it some profile on
:05:32. > :05:35.the mainstream channels as well as on children's alone. The perception
:05:35. > :05:45.of children's work on the mainstream is cities of equal
:05:45. > :05:47.status. Good morning. I think it is a great pity that Newsround... It
:05:47. > :05:51.was one of the pioneering programmes, one of the pioneering
:05:51. > :05:54.children's programmes. Children perceive the world in a particular
:05:54. > :05:59.world and if you make a news programme for them, you were trying
:05:59. > :06:02.to show the world from their point of view. We are losing something.
:06:02. > :06:07.We are losing something by not paying more attention to what
:06:07. > :06:17.children have to offer us. We asked Newswatch viewers on Twitter if
:06:17. > :06:40.
:06:40. > :06:45.Let's hear the response from the Director of BBC children. Can you
:06:45. > :06:50.sum up why the decision was taken to take it off terrestrial? Several
:06:50. > :06:54.reasons. The view was made the decision for us in a way. Although
:06:54. > :06:57.the BBC made a formal decision a year ago, most children are
:06:58. > :07:02.choosing to watch Newsround and there are the favourite programmes
:07:02. > :07:08.on specialist, dedicated digital channels like CBBC and CBeebies.
:07:08. > :07:12.The number of children watching children's programmes on BBC One in
:07:12. > :07:17.the afternoon was very low. Mostly we are just doing what the audience
:07:17. > :07:22.has already done. What about the point that it is a downgrading of
:07:22. > :07:28.news and children in a way. You stop thinking about children's role
:07:28. > :07:33.in society and in news, and that is a BBC responsibility. Part of the
:07:33. > :07:37.problem with that is they are confusing a few things. Middle-aged
:07:37. > :07:42.people getting nostalgic about when they were kids and what the
:07:42. > :07:48.services for. Principally, for services I run of four children.
:07:48. > :07:52.They are unique, they are unique BBC propositions in that they are
:07:52. > :07:57.only channels making factual programmes in the UK which speak to
:07:57. > :08:00.the lives of children in the UK. That has not gone away. The idea
:08:01. > :08:07.that CBBC is not a mainstream channel would make children laugh.
:08:07. > :08:12.CDC is the most watched Channel by children. -- CBBC. Older children
:08:12. > :08:16.might not think they will watch that Channel, they are watching the
:08:16. > :08:20.same channels as adults and they will not be able to access that
:08:20. > :08:25.programme, which they should be able to. Well, they do. We know
:08:25. > :08:29.from research that a lot of older children and young teenagers do
:08:29. > :08:35.watch CBBC. They might not tell everybody, but we know they are,
:08:35. > :08:39.particularly dramas. By putting a new Newsround bulletin at 6:55pm,
:08:39. > :08:44.at a new slot, we are sure some of those older children will come and
:08:44. > :08:49.watch. What we also know it is the Newsround website is a huge wave
:08:49. > :08:54.that young children and older children can seem the news. That is
:08:54. > :08:58.their 24/7. I am not worried that we are reducing provision for
:08:58. > :09:02.children and young teenagers. There's an idea of the BBC offering
:09:02. > :09:07.something different as the state funded broadcaster. A lot of adults
:09:07. > :09:12.found Newsround a way into news stories. But it is about children
:09:12. > :09:16.being part of news coverage in a way they are now shunted off to a
:09:17. > :09:21.ghetto. Why throw that away and why not keep it as part of the share?
:09:21. > :09:25.Do if children are not watching, we are not doing our job. It doesn't
:09:25. > :09:29.matter if adults are watching it? Not many were. A lot more are
:09:29. > :09:34.saying what a shame than actually watched it. Coe is a bit of
:09:34. > :09:39.nostalgia going on. Personally, I believe it very deeply that what
:09:39. > :09:44.Newsround does for children is of huge importance. For me, the main
:09:44. > :09:50.thing is to get as many children to consume it as possible. BBC One at
:09:50. > :09:55.5pm is not the place to do it. 6:55pm on CBBC is the place to do
:09:55. > :09:59.it. Thank you. You're often write to us about
:09:59. > :10:09.freezes or practices used on BBC news bulletins which annoy you.
:10:09. > :10:31.