In
Nick News, the show will be anchored by the journalist Linda Ellerbee who will
take a critical look at the medium, Television, which plays such an important
role in how kids see the world and themselves.
"To be media literate
is to understand how and why TV is made, what it can and cannot do and not be
fooled by it," said Ellerbee. "We wanted a better understanding of what
kids know and think about television. After all, who watches more TV than kids?"
Ellerbee
and Nick News surveyed kids across the country about what bothers them about television
and posted their responses on http://www.NickNews.com.
In response to
the survey, kids listed the following things that bothered them: TV stereotypes
people; too much sex, violence and bad language; TV news is biased; so many channels
and nothing to watch; TV shows don't reflect real life; TV makes me feel bad about
myself; and TV news is too negative and scary; and there are too many commercials.
The order of the kids' concerns will be revealed in the episode.
In
addition, Ellerbee also addresses the relevance of advertising to television and
media literacy issues such as understanding television, how and why it is made
and what it is to people and what it can do to people, states the press release.
"Kids
should remember that the viewer is, and always will be, smarter than the television,"
Ellerbee commented. "Television should be a tool you use, not the other way
around."
Nick
News, which is in its 14 th year is the longest running kids' news show.