Children Newscasters Ages 6 and Up Teach Kids about the Taliban, Gay Rights.

Houston, TX -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/28/2021 -- Annabel, a middle school student in the State of Washington just launched a news show for kids called 'Extinction Status.' Annabel wants "to change the world by spreading awareness of endangered species." Ryan, a teen in New Hampshire and the Founding Artistic Director of The Fletcher Family Theatre, is launching a show called Gen Z on Gen Z. In his words: 'Gen Z on Gen Z is an interactive, biweekly news show for middle and high schoolers focusing on current events that relate to the future of Gen Z.' His first episode tackles the age-old issue of school dress codes.

Annabel and Ryan are just two of about ten children who take the news seriously and are reaching out to their peers and beyond through a new season of LittleNewsEars.com, a streaming news for kids platform, to provoke change. Noopur, a middle school student in California, is soon launching a show about politics and the arts that she calls 'Numtium.' Each episode will feature an original song that teaches kids about current events; her first episode will put a spotlight onto The Taliban. Addelyn, a middle school student in Australia who describes herself as 'passionate about politics and hopes to make a difference,' has just launched a show that teaches kids what LGBTQ stands for and why it is wrong to discriminate against this community. Taylor, based in the UK, warns about the effects of climate change and will teach kids in October about the situation in Afghanistan. She writes, "I believe that Taylor's News, Facts, and Fun can help young learners because it teaches them real world things that are important to learn about. Taking young learners and creating them into young leaders!"

The vision of these children to change the world matches that of Dan Buck, curator of the news for kids on this website and assistant principal by day in Houston. Buck wants to bring what he calls 'kid journalism' back into schools. "In the 1970s and 1980s schools used to actively teach current events--I remember vividly learning about the Challenger disaster as it happened as a ten year-old. I've been in education as a teacher and school leader for almost twenty years and almost nobody--Robert Pondiscio is the only one I know of--cares about teaching kids about current events in a real way. The Newseum in DC is dead. Elizabeth Holmes is on trial for lying and five year-olds aren't learning about it in schools. What's more important than teaching kids the value of telling the truth?"

Not all the kids (or adult newscasters on the site) have political or paradigm-shifting topics. Jordyn, a 9 year-old in Chicago, has just launched a show for kids about fashion news. She hopes to teach kids the wonders of chokers in her first episode. Zoe, a young teen in Australia, teaches kids about 'what is hot and what is not' (Squishmallows: hot, unicorn onesies: not). Addie, a 6 year-old in Florida, gushes about sea turtles while emphasizing how important it is for kids to stay happy and feel good about themselves.

All of these children, of course, couldn't do what they do without the help of a trusted adult. But the whole group is united in the belief that you can never be too young to make a difference. Ryan says, 'My aim is to engage a young audience in topics that are going to affect their futures: the economy, the government, the environment, [and] human rights. We need a large and diverse group of powerful young voices to get involved so that we can create change in the future."

It might be working. A reporter from The Daily Beast has just reached out to LittleNewsEars.com to mentor one of the young journalists.

About LittleNewsEars.com
LittleNewsEars.com is a division of Zoocenia, LLC. Little News Ears has been publishing news for kids via cartoon and live action video and podcasts since April 2020. It's a subscription-based streaming news for kids website, a member of the Kids Listen podcasting network, and currently operating from Houston, Texas.

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Live reading with commentary of every item of news for kids from cartoon video website begins Friday night (3/26) to help raise $100,000 to distribute 10,000 books to at-risk children and celebrate one year anniversary

Hoboken, NJ -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/23/2021 -- Little News Ears (LNE), a cartoon video news and podcast website for children, has partnered with The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) to celebrate one year of cartoon video news for kids and help raise $100,000 for culturally responsive books for deserving children. To commemorate over 1,400 news items for children and to raise money for The Children's Defense Fund, Daniel Buck, the founder of the LNE website, will offer a tongue-and-cheek 'oral history' of every news item on the Little News Ears website beginning Friday night (3/26) live on Instagram. Continuing the show beyond Friday, Buck and guests will read every news item from the website over several days while traveling from Newark to Los Angeles beginning Saturday. Buck will read items as often as he can throughout the entire journey--including on the flight--and while in quarantine in Los Angeles. Guest stars will include Michelle Voice, Timmy Ong, and David Beach, who are voice talents for the website. Viewers will have the opportunity to contribute to The Children's Defense Fund as they watch the marathon-style show.

Why watch? Buck is funny. Aside from co-creating Sketchup, a sketch comedy group at the University of Maryland, College Park, he regularly adds jokes for adults in his educational news show for children. A recent memorable moment on his show, 'BoxerBlu and Bram' was when Buck told the story of his real-life son flushing a potato down a toilet.

Little News Ears, a subscription-based website for parents, teachers, and children with limited free access, bills itself as the only cartoon video news website for children ages 2 and up. Aside from being a member of the Kids Listen podcast network, a nonprofit group podcasters, parents, and teachers who advocate high-quality podcast content for kids, Little News Ears publishes three cartoon video episodes, on average, per week. Buck, who works as a Deputy Head of School at Tessa International School in Hoboken, New Jersey, curates all episodes and provides voices for seven characters on the website. Prominent journalists have recently tweeted praise about Little News Ears, including New York Times diplomatic correspondent Lara Jakes and CNN journalist Stephanie Busari.

The Children's Defense Fund has worked relentlessly for nearly 50 years to advocate for policies and programs that improve the well-being of all children, especially those most vulnerable due to poverty, racial inequalities and lacking to access to basic services.

Little News Ears Kids Newsathon / Children's Defense drive begins on Friday (3/26) at 8 pm eastern on Instagram (@littlenewsears). A 1-minute video advertising the event can be seen here:

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Little News Ears Asks Young Kids (through Parents) to Trump to Stand Up to Racism, Violence

Hoboken, NJ -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/09/2020 -- The death of George Floyd and the resulting protests in the United States and abroad have caused Dan Buck, founder of Little News Ears and director of Tessa International School in New Jersey, to create a petition for 4 year-olds and up to petition Donald Trump. The petition, available at https://tinyurl.com/ydyatf4o asks children, through their parents, to demand Donald Trump to speak out against racism and violence, especially on Twitter, a platform that he frequently uses. Buck is trying to gain 100,000 signatures on the petition by the deadline set by the White House, July 4th. The petition cites two news websites, ABC News and Vox.com, as sources for its claim that Trump has a history of promoting racism and violence.

Buck and his family attended a peaceful protest in Bayonne, New Jersey, on June 7th. He and his family reached out to attendees to increase awareness and for them to join Buck's cause. Little News Ears was announced to the crowd as a place to go to petition the President. Buck hopes that the petition will, at the very least, teach children around the world that activism, protests, and petitions are important parts of democracy.

Little News Ears, a news podcast and video site for young children, released a segment devoted to the death of George Floyd on June 8th, which also included a call to action to sign the petition. The segment includes audio from evangelist Pat Robertson, who has criticized Trump's response to Floyd's death, and touches upon aspects of commentary and news related to Floyd's death, including Laura Ingraham's claim on Twitter that protesters could try to take down the Washington Monument and the sheltering of protesters by Rahul Dubey in Washington D.C. This segment is in line with other episodes of the show, which strives to be politically neutral, that have broached politics. Previous episodes have touched upon the insider trading scandal and Richard Burr, gay marriage, and Trump taking hydroxychloroquine.

Little News Ears, recently featured on Mental Floss is a subdivision of Zoocenia, LLC, a company based in Hoboken, NJ, that provides news, education, and entertainment. It sees itself as a news resource for kids, parents, and teachers.

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Little News Ears: Funny Video-Podcast News Show for Kids made by an Educator. Parents, Teachers Get Hundreds of Related Lesson Plans and Quizzes.

Jersey City, NJ -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/15/2020 -- Little News Ears, a subdivision of Zoocenia, LLC, is a newly launched podcast and video show for parents and teachers who want young children to know what's going on around the world and be able to laugh. The current line-up of BoxerBlu and Bram is geared for 4 year-olds, but all ages should be able to enjoy the show. Unlike most cartoons, each year Bram will get older, so the news can grow with children as they get older. Older episodes are always available on our Youtube Channel and on major podcasting platforms.

Little News Ears was recently seen in the national blog for Destination Imagination (https://www.destinationimagination.org/blog/little-news-ears-podcast-for-teachers-parents/) and has been tweeted about by prominent journalists (https://twitter.com/BoxerBluAndBram/status/1253328212685320197) and scientists (https://twitter.com/BoxerBluAndBram/status/1260948593424453632)

Little News Ears wants to help families during this uncertain time by offering news for kids for free! And teachers with a valid school email address can get free access to our lesson plans, quizzes and vocabulary pages.

Little News Ears hits the big issues in news with sensitivity toward different points of view.

Little News Ears aims to be positive, inspiring, challenging, funny, and educational--but it is something quite different than 'kiddie news.' Complex concepts are broken down whenever possible. War, violence, and generally nightmarish things are de-emphasized, if not ignored completely. Nevertheless, it was designed by educators in the vein of Fred Rogers teaching children about the Kennedy assassination. Though sitting near a parent is not required, it is advisable, especially for the video quizzes.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm