A children’s news round-up series is being launched by the Herts Ad.

NewsHound is a short fortnightly clip which explains a selection of St Albans and Harpenden news stories in a digestible format for children on the Herts Ad website.

It is designed to engage youngsters in local news and inform them about their homecity.

The first episode has been produced by Herts Ad reporters - presented by Franki Berry and directed by Laura Bill.

It focuses on the market cancellations during Storm Gareth and the “St Albans Big Cat” controversy.

Reporter Franki Berry said: “We had a lot of fun making this episode, and we hope people will have fun watching it too.

“Against a rising distrust in the media, and a perceived increase in ‘fake news’, this will hopefully help children to engage in a bedrock of local democracy – local news.”

In the future, NewsHound could feature snippets of submitted content from keen, budding reporters of the future.

NewsHound would welcome any footage from children who would like to film themselves talking about a topic that interests them for inclusion in the series.

Additionally, any schools who might be interested in getting involved should contact HertsAd@Archant.co.uk

The NewsHound logo was designed by chief reporter Anne Suslak.

Tune back in to NewsHound on the Herts Ad website for the next episode on April 4.