(Ro Thomas Schwarz, KidNuz Editor in Chief) - News - the good, the bad, the fake - is everywhere, all the time. It’s on our phones, feeds and in our faces 24/7. And while that can be overwhelming for adults, it’s downright distressing for children who haven’t yet developed the skills to look beyond scary headlines, clickbait, and partisan spin.
And yet they see it, hear it, and feel it. Today’s kids desperately need - and deserve - an antidote; someplace they can go to get informed, not afraid. So we created it. KidNuz is a free, 7-minute, 6-story daily news podcast that meets kids where they’re at. It’s fun and factual, timely and nonpartisan, and age-appropriate for kids 8-13 years old who want to know what’s going on in the world — not what’s wrong with the world. Every weekday during the school year, our team of Emmy-winning journalists delivers the latest news from politics, science, sports, the animal kingdom and more. Much of the coverage is top of mind, important, and impactful, while some of it is just plain reassuring: people are more alike than they are different, kids can do remarkable things, and no one is too young make a difference.
The podcast is on a roll. Every day, 200,000+ kids and adults tune in. Teachers point to students’ increased awareness of current events — and the informed conversations that follow. “We have our morning meeting daily discussing the most interesting topics on KidNuz,” says Julia, a 5th grade teacher from London Mills, Illinois. “I overhear them talking in the hallways, too. They are thinking deeper and challenging each other.” Parents like Kim, from Flanders, New Jersey, use KidNuz as an onramp. “When there is a news story that is difficult for me as an adult to explain because of my emotional reaction to it, it helps me to hear (KidNuz’) simplified version to have a baseline conversation with my son. Sometimes political stories, sometimes disaster stories.”
Psychologist Elizabeth Burns-Kramer, a KidNuz advisor, is most interested in the mental health benefit; specifically, KidNuz’ ability to dial down news anxiety. "Oftentimes, (traditional news and social media) headlines and stories are framed in ways to increase fear and to portray the world as unstable. Developmentally, children are not always able to reality test headlines or to hold the nuance required when learning about complex news stories. KidNuz utilizes its team of experts in communications, psychology, and parenting to introduce and to report what is occurring in non-frightening ways.” New episodes drop every weekday morning at 7am. Tune in today!
- News - the good, the bad, the fake - is everywhere, all the time. It’s on our phones, feeds and in our faces 24/7. And while that can be overwhelming for adults, it’s downright distressing for children who haven’t yet developed the skills to look beyond scary headlines, clickbait, and partisan spin.
