The BBC’s Distorted News Coverage for Kids

 The BBC operates a programme Newsround—a long-running children’s news program that began in the 1970s as part of afternoon kids’ television. Today, it appears as a weekday bulletin on CBBC, the BBC’s dedicated children’s channel, and runs as a digital platform on the BBC News website.

Newsround markets itself as an accessible way for young audiences to understand major events, while still using the same on-the-ground reporters and journalists who deliver the BBC’s regular news broadcasts. It promises to explain complex global issues in simple terms understandable for children,

A review of Newsround’s coverage of the Israel–Hamas war since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, massacre reveals something deeply disturbing: the BBC is not simply reporting events to children. It is actively shaping how the next generation perceives Israel, Hamas, and the wider conflict—leaving out key facts, distorting context, and sanitizing terrorism.

 On October 7^th, its headline read: “Israel: ‘We are at war’ says PM following Hamas rocket attacks.” From the very first line, the framing was clear: this was about rockets, not massacres.

Children were told that:

• “Fighting, which started on Saturday morning, has continued overnight.”
• “Dozens of armed people from Hamas – the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza – crossed the border on Saturday into Israel from Gaza in a surprise attack.”
• “Thousands of rockets were launched toward Israel, setting off air raid sirens across the country.”
• And that the Israeli military was striking “targets in the Gaza Strip in response to the barrages of rockets.” (this did not start until October 9^th!!)

They were NOT told about the civilians who were killed in their homes, the young people murdered at a music festival, or the more than 250 hostages dragged into Gaza.

On October 9, the first weekday broadcast after the attacks, Newsround reporter Anna Foster, who was sent to Israel in the aftermath summarized the previous 48 hours for her young audience: “Well, it’s been a really frightening night for people who live here in southern Israel because all night long they’ve heard the loud bangs and explosions from missiles being destroyed in the sky. And most of them don’t actually hit the ground, but some do.”

Foster then showed a damaged home in southern Israel, explaining that an eight-year-old boy had been injured there, “but he’s been taken to hospital and he’s okay.”

This was the BBC’s child-friendly summary of the first 48 hours of war: a few bangs, a boy in hospital who was “okay.”

On October 11, Newsround did eventually acknowledge that “Israeli civilians as well as soldiers were deliberately attacked by Hamas” and that “many people were killed, [including] four children.”

But the focus quickly shifted, pivoting to Gaza:

• “The Gazan population is very young. Almost half the people living in Gaza are children. You can see children everywhere on the streets. Many of them cannot go to school.”
• “Israel controls what goes in and out. They have now cut off water, electricity and food supplies. Many charities have warned that Palestinian civilians will suffer as a result.” 

This is how children’s minds are brainwashed.