The Herts Advertiser has launched a fortnightly video news round-up for children, saying it wants to help them engage with local reporting in the face of “rising distrust” in the media.
The Archant-owned weekly title published the first News Hound video on Thursday, saying the series is designed to inform youngsters about what is going on in St Albans and Harpenden in a digestible format.
The video, which is under two minutes long and focuses on two stories from the past week, was directed by reporter Laura Bill, while the News Hound logo was designed by chief reporter Anne Suslak.
Herts Ad reporter Franki Berry, who presented the episode, said: “Against a rising distrust in the media, and a perceived increase in ‘fake news’, this will hopefully help children to engage in a bedrock of local democracy – local news.”
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In its report on children’s media literacy, published last month, Ofcom found that three-quarters of young people aged 12 to 15 consumed news at least weekly, while six in ten actively look for news on at least a weekly basis.
Two in five (43 per cent) of that age group who go online said they had seen something online or on social media they thought was fake news, a concept 80 per cent of them were aware of.
In November Sky News launched its own twice-weekly show aimed at children aged seven to 12, saying it is vital to”invest in them and give them a voice”.
The first News Hound video is available to view here.
The newspaper said News Hound could start to feature submitted content from “keen, budding reporters of the future”, urging any interested kids or schools to get in touch via hertsad@archant.co.uk.
Picture: Herts Ad
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