Adie: TV sidelines older viewers

Kate Adie has reported from the world's trouble spots

The BBC's chief news correspondent Kate Adie has hit out at TV bosses for focusing too much attention into shows aimed at the youth market.

She accused networks of sidelining programmes which appeal to older viewers.

"Television is changing," she told a conference organised by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and Help the Aged. "Commercialism, commercial ideas and profit have come into the TV world."

"There are fewer challenging programmes and there is a determination to pursue the line that if you are going to have programmes which might interest older viewers, you have to create areas away from mainstream TV."

Trevor McDonald was voted the most popular news presenter

Adie is convinced the move towards youth-orientated programming was not one that would be reversed.

Misrepresented

The reporter was speaking as part of a conference on older people and the media.

A survey just released by the ITC found older news presenters were more popular than their younger counterparts.

Trevor McDonald, Michael Buerk and Ms Adie were voted the top three presenters for providing knowledgeable and intelligent news reports.

The 56-year-old also said quotes attributed to her which said female news reporters only had to have "cute faces, cute bottoms and nothing else in between" had been misrepresented.

This was the same interview in which she dubbed herself "an ageing old trout".

'Craggy'

But she did say she considered double standards were at play in television newsrooms.

One debate panellist pointed out the most popular US news anchors - Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings - were in their 60s.

Adie said these men were often described as "craggy" but there was no adjective to describe women that was not derogatory.

She added: "All we are discussing is what is known as presentational convention. Everyone knows it is to do with putting a face into people's living rooms that will attract viewers."

Adie refused to be drawn on why she has made fewer appearances in recent years, especially during major stories.

She simply gave the reply: "That's a question entirely for the editor of BBC News."