Key takeaways:
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The BBC’s Newsround downplayed Hamas’ October 7 massacre, focusing on “rockets” while ignoring Israeli victims and hostages, including repeatedly failing to mention deaths.
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Gaza’s casualties and children were repeatedly highlighted, often with Hamas-supplied figures, with no comparable focus on Israeli children.
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Marketed as “kids’ news,” Newsround is shaping young minds with bias presented as fact.
The BBC is not just broadcasting news to adults. It is also shaping the worldview of millions of children. Alongside its regular news coverage, the British broadcaster operates 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.
On the surface, 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, with “child-friendly” definitions such as: “A hostage is someone who has been taken by a group or a person to try to force another group or person into doing what they want.”
The program also features articles on “media literacy,” an Orwellian twist considering the BBC’s own track record of bias and misinformation. When the very outlet accused of slanting coverage now positions itself as the authority teaching children how to spot “fake news,” alarm bells should ring.
And ring they do. 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.
October 7: Israel Declares War
On October 7, as Hamas launched its brutal massacre of civilians in southern Israel, Newsround published an article that it continued updating for more than 24 hours.
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.”
The article even included quotes from Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, explaining that the attacks were because the group had “decided to say enough is enough,” and calling on Palestinians everywhere to join the operation.
So, on October 7, children were presented with:
- Israel’s leader declaring war.
- Hamas explaining why it was attacking.
But 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.
The result is chilling. There is a way to explain horrors like these to children honestly, with clarity and compassion. Instead, the BBC chose to frame October 7 as if it were a military skirmish over rockets – rather than the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
October 9: Omitting Israeli Deaths & Hostages
On October 9, the first weekday broadcast after the attacks, Newsround handed coverage to BBC reporter Anna Foster, sent to Israel in the aftermath.
Here is how she 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.”
She continued: “But it’s a really scary time for people here. You can even maybe hear some of the bangs that are still happening in the background. People who live in this part of southern Israel are doing what they can to keep safe. They’ve come out this morning to try and buy things like milk and bread and food so they can stay in their homes as much as they can and look after themselves while this is going on.”
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,” and families buying bread.
October 11: The Shift to Gaza
Two days later, 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:
- “It is mostly one big city with tall buildings packed closely together.”
- “The 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.”
Four days after Hamas’ atrocities, Newsround still avoided telling children:
- The true scale of Israeli deaths.
- That hostages, including children, were taken into Gaza.
Instead, the framing suggested that Israel was waging war against Gaza’s children.
And this is how Newsround’s coverage continued, with a persistent focus on Palestinian suffering, often illustrated with images of children, while Israeli suffering was minimized or omitted.
Discrepancies between how Newsround reported on each side include:
- Minimal references to Israeli deaths. When figures were given, they were often vague or buried (see November 2023 Newsround first hostage release report).
- Hostages sidelined. References were delayed, then reduced to definitions or passing mentions, without exploring the human reality.
- Palestinian casualty figures foregrounded. These were presented alongside international criticism of Israel, despite being unverified and sourced from Hamas-controlled authorities (see February 2023 Newsround explainer).
- Focus on Gaza’s children. Standalone reports featured interviews and imagery of Palestinian children. No equivalent reports were produced about Israeli children, including those who survived October 7 or were held hostage (April 2024 Newsround report on second round of ceasefire).
This is not facts being simplified for a younger audience. It is selective reporting that instills a worldview: Israel as aggressor, Palestinians as victims, Hamas as a faceless “group,” and the atrocities of October 7 diminished almost to background noise.
Why It Matters
The BBC knows the power of children’s programming. Newsround has been a trusted source for generations. Parents allow their children to watch because they believe they are getting neutral, age-appropriate summaries of world events.
But neutrality is not what is being delivered. By filtering information in this way, the BBC is shaping how children think about Israel and Hamas. When Israeli victims are erased while Palestinian suffering is magnified, the imbalance doesn’t just misinform — it molds bias into the next generation.
Newsround flies under the radar — like much of the BBC’s output — trusted automatically because it wears the badge of children’s news. Yet that trust is precisely what makes the distortion so dangerous.
If bias is so endemic at the BBC that it seeps into content for kids, then it is everywhere.
Viewers, parents, and policymakers must hold the BBC accountable. If children’s programming cannot be trusted to report facts evenly, then trust in the institution itself collapses. Honest journalism should never mean sanitizing terror or skewing reality — least of all to children.
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