11/01/2013 Newswatch

Now on BBC News, it is time for a Newswatch. This week, should

Newsround have been dropped from Hello and welcome.

Breaking news, David Bowie has released a new song. Is that news

or just a man out to sell the world a single?

First on BBC One, John Craven's Newsround.

Newsround, along with other children's programmes, is no longer

shown on BBC One, only seeded cygnet -- CBBC, and not everyone is

happy with that. It deserves to be celebrated and one way of

celebrating his to give it a It was another busy week for news

with the debate over welfare changes, wildfires in Australia and

violence in Belfast, Afghanistan and Syria widely reported. But on

Tuesday, according to some, the BBC seemed most excited with this.

years after Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars and 10 years

since his last single, David Bowie has released a new song. It is his

66th birthday and an album is to follow. BBC News came under

pressure from viewers for featuring the new songs so prominently.

Several directors say its release had no place on Radio Four Today

programme where it was relieved, or national news bulletins. We asked

one of those viewers to go into our Oxford studio to explain why.

think the problem is that there was no journalistic content at all. The

way that the Today programme covered it was a bit gushing, as if

Mr Bowie was royalty and they were quite excited about it. I'm sure

they hoped he would come into the studio to talk to them. It didn't

make it news. David Bowie could have gone into a radio 1 studio and

other programme on it, I'd have had no problem with that.

# Where are we now? All this was was a beautifully placed plaque by

the Bowie publicist, who did a fantastic job. -- plug. Just

releasing a record, Madonna has done it, bucket loads of the

slightly ageing pop fraternity are releasing records. It is not news.

You have to add a magic ingredient of to make it news and that story

didn't have it. Wednesday brought more complaints

about some pictures shown at the start of the report on Newsnight.

Should we brace ourselves for another flood of migrants from the

EU or are things very different What followed is described by Pat

Watson as the killing of the pig They were among scores of viewers

who complained to the BBC about the footage. We asked Newsnight for a

Another objection this week came from Martin Webb in any melt on

Newsround has been a staple of the BBC One schedule since John Craven

first presented it in 1972, but this week it no longer appears in

its traditional slot on that channel. It and all children's

programmes are confined to CBBC and CBeebies. The move hasn't gone down

well with some of those involved in children's TV, such as the co-

creator of Teletubbies. To take it off mainstream television rather

suggests that the status and profile and the investment they

making children's programmes is not as equally valued as other genres.

If you forgot multi- genre channels, children's should be, in my view,

an=genre. I was disappointed. For the BBC, this is their point of

difference. They lose that point have different if they take

children's programmes off mainstream. It deserves to be

celebrated and one way to celebrate it is to give it some profile on

the mainstream channels as well as on children's alone. The perception

of children's work on the mainstream is cities of equal

status. Good morning. I think it is a great pity that Newsround... It

was one of the pioneering programmes, one of the pioneering

children's programmes. Children perceive the world in a particular

world and if you make a news programme for them, you were trying

to show the world from their point of view. We are losing something.

We are losing something by not paying more attention to what

children have to offer us. We asked Newswatch viewers on Twitter if

Let's hear the response from the Director of BBC children. Can you

sum up why the decision was taken to take it off terrestrial? Several

reasons. The view was made the decision for us in a way. Although

the BBC made a formal decision a year ago, most children are

choosing to watch Newsround and there are the favourite programmes

on specialist, dedicated digital channels like CBBC and CBeebies.

The number of children watching children's programmes on BBC One in

the afternoon was very low. Mostly we are just doing what the audience

has already done. What about the point that it is a downgrading of

news and children in a way. You stop thinking about children's role

in society and in news, and that is a BBC responsibility. Part of the

problem with that is they are confusing a few things. Middle-aged

people getting nostalgic about when they were kids and what the

services for. Principally, for services I run of four children.

They are unique, they are unique BBC propositions in that they are

only channels making factual programmes in the UK which speak to

the lives of children in the UK. That has not gone away. The idea

that CBBC is not a mainstream channel would make children laugh.

CDC is the most watched Channel by children. -- CBBC. Older children

might not think they will watch that Channel, they are watching the

same channels as adults and they will not be able to access that

programme, which they should be able to. Well, they do. We know

from research that a lot of older children and young teenagers do

watch CBBC. They might not tell everybody, but we know they are,

particularly dramas. By putting a new Newsround bulletin at 6:55pm,

at a new slot, we are sure some of those older children will come and

watch. What we also know it is the Newsround website is a huge wave

that young children and older children can seem the news. That is

their 24/7. I am not worried that we are reducing provision for

children and young teenagers. There's an idea of the BBC offering

something different as the state funded broadcaster. A lot of adults

found Newsround a way into news stories. But it is about children

being part of news coverage in a way they are now shunted off to a

ghetto. Why throw that away and why not keep it as part of the share?

Do if children are not watching, we are not doing our job. It doesn't

matter if adults are watching it? Not many were. A lot more are

saying what a shame than actually watched it. Coe is a bit of

nostalgia going on. Personally, I believe it very deeply that what

Newsround does for children is of huge importance. For me, the main

thing is to get as many children to consume it as possible. BBC One at

5pm is not the place to do it. 6:55pm on CBBC is the place to do

it. Thank you. You're often write to us about

freezes or practices used on BBC news bulletins which annoy you.