Margaret Davis

Children's television focuses too much on the UK and America, leaving viewers in the dark about the rest of the world, according to a new report.

The International Broadcasting Trust (IBT) commissioned a study of how children's, news and factual programmes have portrayed world affairs in the past year.

It found that nearly half the international children's programmes on British terrestrial TV came from North America.

Over a two-week period monitoring 19 digital channels, 79% of international children's programming was from the US. Only 7% represented the developing world.

The report, carried out by a team at the University of East Anglia, praised BBC's Blue Peter for its coverage of developing countries.

However, the study also warns that factual programmes about countries other than the US and UK are being pushed away from mainstream channels on to more niche digital channels.

IBT's director of campaigns Sophie Chalk said: "The results of this research are very worrying. Despite the fact we live in a more interconnected world, with the internet, social networking and global TV news, our chil- dren are growing up with television which only focuses on the UK and US.

"These are the citizens of the future: they have a basic right to good-quality, engaging information about what is going on elsewhere in the world in order to become fully developed citizens."

Minister for International Development Gillian Merron called on broadcasters to help Britons become better informed.

She said: "The broadcast media has a vital role to play in bringing a fair and accurate account of complex issues such as poverty, trade, conflict and climate change to our television screens, in formats that appeal to and engage UK audiences of all ages."

Mark Galloway, director of IBT, said coverage of current affairs in the developing world is "inevitably" negative, and this must be balanced out.

He said: "This research shows there is a steady decline in the range of countries, stories and voices represented.

"It's vital that coverage of the developing world isn't just limited to news and current affairs which inevitably concentrates on the negative.

"Innovative factual formats and drama can present a much more rounded and positive picture of the kind of lives people in other countries lead and audience research suggests that viewers would like to see more of this sort of positive coverage."