When I agreed to try presenting an episode of Newsround, I wasn’t expecting this. “I’ll talk about how animal poo is being used to heat up homes to generate power,” says presenter Martin Dougan, who is about to pretend to be a guest. “You can ask whatever questions you want, but remember: my name is Jerry and it is about poo.”
Next week, Newsround celebrates its 50th anniversary. Hence my visit to the set of the children’s news bulletin: partly because the show’s production team have invited me to mark the milestone by presenting a whole (fake) episode – and thus understand how hard it is to cover news for children. But also because Newsround was a mainstay of my childhood. Without it, I don’t think I would be a journalist.
