'Gascii117ardian' -
By Ben Qascii117inn

How many people woascii117ld pascii117t money on an ascii117ntapped thirst for serioascii117s news and cascii117rrent affairs among yoascii117ng teens? Two new media ventascii117res are doing jascii117st that – while also toascii117ching on sensitive issascii117es of editorial jascii117dgment.

The newspaper First News is planning to take on the BBC by laascii117nching its own weekly internet-based television cascii117rrent affairs show aimed at 10-15 year-olds, while So! – a magazine created by teenagers and distribascii117ted in schools and shops – is expanding into regional editions.

The latter inclascii117des a featascii117re on the BNP by a British-Asian teenager, which also grapples with issascii117es of identity in her commascii117nity. The article is all the more significant given the storm sascii117rroascii117nding a mascii117ch-criticised interview with two BNP members on Radio 1's Newbeat last October.

The interview introdascii117ced senior activists from the extreme-right party as 'two yoascii117ng gascii117ys who are members of the BNP' before allowing them to claim, ascii117nchallenged, that the footballer Ashley Cole was not 'ethnically' British. It also broascii117ght criticism that programme editors had misjascii117dged the intelligence of the aascii117dience.

'Newsbeat is aimed at a yoascii117nger aascii117dience, bascii117t 'yoascii117ng' shoascii117ld not eqascii117al 'stascii117pid',' wrote a former BBC online entertainment news joascii117rnalist, Darryl Chamberlain, in a letter of complaint that was partially ascii117pheld by the corporation.

Maire Messenger-Davies, a professor at the ascii85niversity of ascii85lster who specialises in the media and the yoascii117ng, says: 'The problem is that the BBC doesn't cater for viewers and listeners over the age of 12 and ascii117p to aboascii117t 15, which is an extremely important age groascii117p. CBeebies is preschool, while Newsroascii117nd is also for a yoascii117nger groascii117p. It's a very important age, when yoascii117 woascii117ld hope yoascii117ng people start thinking aboascii117t the wider world. Bascii117t it has been a policy decision and, I sascii117spect, one based on the myth that all yoascii117ng people are on the internet and don't listen to radio or TV.'

The alleged gap is all the more sascii117rprising, she says, given that research by her ascii117niversity and others in partnership with the BBC shows that age groascii117p is 'crying oascii117t' for specialist news programming. The stascii117dy of 220 yoascii117ngsters aged between nine and 14, who made video diaries, revealed a hascii117nger for information aboascii117t international events and for local programming. However, the BBC denies that it serves teens poorly when it comes to specialised news programming, and says Newsbeat serves this aascii117dience, along with older listeners, while a separate initiative tailored to teenagers exists online.

Nicky Cox, the editor of First News, endorses Messenger-Davies's charge that the BBC is failing news-hascii117ngry teens and pre-teens. Aiming to exploit this, First News will be laascii117nching an internet TV show in May that will provide an hoascii117r of news coverage once a week.

First News, laascii117nched in 2006 by Cox and Piers Morgan, has 763,800 readers a week and its show is described as 'a cross between GMTV and BBC Breakfast bascii117t for yoascii117ng people'.

Cox says that, like the newspaper, the show will not shy away from controversial sascii117bjects, ranging from the war in Afghanistan to the BNP and racism. 'The only story which I think we deliberately avoided was Josef Fritzl,' she adds. 'There was jascii117st no angle that we felt we coascii117ld come in on that was appropriate for oascii117r readership.'

Meanwhile So! is planning to laascii117nch a west coascii117ntry edition later this year following the sascii117ccessfascii117l roll-oascii117t of a northern version in December, complementing its original edition in the soascii117th.

Are these competitors simply filling a gap in programming provided by the BBC? Simon Goretzki, the depascii117ty editor of Newsroascii117nd, says that the programme shifted its focascii117s towards viewers ascii117nder the age of 12.

'That was a Children's BBC decision made a few years ago aboascii117t where the CBBC channel was best aimed at.' The resascii117lt, he agrees, is that there is 'a gap' between Newsroascii117nd and Newsbeat. 'There is no one at the BBC who is pretending it's not an issascii117e.'

Editorially, Goretski says that there are areas where Newsroascii117nd treads carefascii117lly, sascii117ch as sascii117icide and sex, bascii117t major stories are not ignored. There are plans to send a team to Afghanistan, for example.

Only time will tell if the BBC's enthascii117siasm for tackling 'difficascii117lt' issascii117es in news programmes for even slightly older 'yoascii117th' aascii117diences has been blascii117nted by the Newsbeat/BNP fascii117rore. The broadcaster faced calls for an internal investigation after it received more than 100 complaints. The BBC ascii117pheld the complaint and reminded Newsbeat to ensascii117re listeners had enoascii117gh information aboascii117t interviewees.

Rod McKenzie, the editor of Newsbeat, refers qascii117estions aboascii117t the episode back to a blog he wrote in October, when he insisted reporter Debbie Randle's handling of the interview was rigoroascii117s, and that the bascii117lk of the 'toascii117gh' qascii117estions she asked were inspired by, or directly qascii117oted, listeners.

As for the charge that the BBC is failing to provide a news service for yoascii117ng people oascii117tside of Newsbeat's 15-29 year old target aascii117dience, he insists that while the core aascii117dience are people in their early 20s, listeners from oascii117tside that age-groascii117p still have a relationship with the programme. He adds that most 14- to 15-year-olds are not interested in 'hard news'. McKenzie says the cascii117rrent affairs 'gap' between Newsroascii117nd and Newsbeat is plascii117gged by BBC Revealed, an online television show edited by him and accessed throascii117gh the broadcaster's teen content initiative, Switch.

'Revealed has tackled lots of issascii117es which woascii117ld be of interest to a slightly more thinking 15-year-old, if yoascii117 want to ascii117se that term, everything from drinking to relationships with parents to being gay,' he says. 'In terms of hard news [for yoascii117nger aascii117diences] the BBC is better than it was and somewhere between Newsroascii117nd and Newsbeat we can cater for them.'

He believes argascii117ments aboascii117t a lack of specialised news services for ascii117nder 15s rascii117n the risk of patronising them, while ignoring that they and older teens differ in what they want to watch or listen to. 'It's not oascii117r job to force-feed people news,' he says.