CBBC Newsround, also known simply as Newsround (stylised as newsround), is a BBC children's news programme, which has run continuously since 4 April 1972. It was one of the world's first television news magazines aimed specifically at children. Initially commissioned as a short series by BBC Children's Department, who held editorial control, its facilities were provided by BBC News. Broadcast on CBBC, the programme is aimed at 5 to 15-year-olds.
Originally known as John Craven's Newsround,[1] it was first presented by John Craven between 4 April 1972 and 22 June 1989. Originally, stand-in presenters, such as Richard Whitmore, came from the main BBC News bulletins.
In 1987, the show was renamed Newsround, and was presented by a rotating team including Craven in the dual role of chief presenter and programme editor. The programme gradually developed its own small reporting team, including Helen Rollason, Lucy Mathen, and long-serving space editor Reg Turnill. Other presenters included Juliet Morris, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Julie Etchingham, Chris Rogers, Kate Gerbeau, Matthew Price and Becky Jago. Regular reporters on the programme, who have also presented it, included Paul Welsh, Lizo Mzimba and Terry Baddoo. Also, for most of its first two decades, Newsround drew upon the BBC's network of national and international correspondents such as John Humphrys, Michael Buerk and Martin Bell.
Newsround was the first British television programme to break the news of the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger on 28 January 1986. This edition was presented by Roger Finn, who had only recently joined the programme. The programme was also first in Britain to report an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in Vatican City in 1981 and provided the first reports from the Windsor Castle fire of November 1992.
In February 2002, Newsround expanded from a sole ten-minute programme on weeknights to through-the-day bulletins seven days a week to tie-in with the launch of the CBBC Channel, and was broadcast across BBC One, BBC Two and the CBBC Channel. With this included a new theme, titles and expanded presenting team. The online and schools' offering were also expanded. In the early 00s Newsround was the most watched programme for children in the UK, and also had the highest AI score (a measure of programme engagement and appreciation) of all CBBC programmes. Following the 9/11 attacks, Newsround launched a guide to help children who were worried by news events. As part of the relocation of the BBC Children's Department, Newsround began broadcasting from new studios at Dock10, MediaCityUK in Salford Quays on Monday 21 November 2011.
In July 2020, the 16:20 & 08:15 programmes were axed after being on air since 1972. BBC executives concluded that children no longer turn on traditional television channels when they return home from school, and that the focus would shift to Newsround's morning edition often used by teachers in school classrooms, and to more investment in the programme's website.[2] The 7:40am bulletin was moved to 7:45am, and would be eight minutes long.
On the 15th of January, 2021, presenter Ricky Boleto turned his shed into a studio.[3]
Newsround moved out of studio HQ5 for undisclosed reasons on 17 December 2023.[4] All production from HQ5 had ceased by 22 December, and the studio had been emptied by 25 January.[5][6][7] Newsround is currently sharing space with a temporary set in the CBeebies studio until a permanent one is constructed in the future.[8]
Every day, Newsround is broadcast on CBBC once a day, with an eight-minute bulletin on weekdays and a six-minute bulletin on weekends at around 7:45am. On Saturday morning, it is also broadcast on BBC Two. Like many BBC News TV bulletins, it is available for 24 hours on BBC iPlayer and the Newsround section of the CBBC website.
A variation on the regular format of Newsround is a series of short (typically 15-minute) documentary films, previously broadcast under the title Newsround Extra but now called "specials",[24] which have been a regular feature since the late 1970s. Two or three series of these documentaries air during the year, which replace the regular bulletins on one day of the week (for Extras it was usually Monday, although sometimes on Fridays, particularly during the 1980s).
Newsround Specials in recent years have included:
The most recent Newsround Specials:
A light-hearted entertainment news round-up, originally known as Newsround Lite and introduced as part of the CBBC Channel's launch in February 2002. The latter version of the show was hosted by regular Newsround presenters/reporters Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes, Adam Fleming, Rachel Horne and Thalia Pellegrini, and produced by Sinéad Rocks. The programme was axed in 2005.
A Saturday morning sports magazine show introduced in September 2005 and produced by Sinead Rocks. It was cancelled in December 2010 and replaced by Match of the Day Kickabout, which was cancelled in 2021. In 2010 it was presented by Ore Oduba with reporters Des Clarke and Jon Franks.
Until 2006, a half-hour review of the year special was produced for broadcast during the Christmas/New Year period. The last review aired in 2009, and from 2010 – 2019 and 2021–present, the final bulletin of the year was hosted by all presenters who discuss their most memorable news stories.