A TEENAGE Sky News presenter, who has interviewed a host of famous faces, is now tackling the controversial topic of vaping culture in young people with his new documentary.
Fourteen-year-old Braydon Bent, a year nine pupil at The Grange School in Northwich, now has a regular slot on the popular news channel and travels down to London once a week to film for FYI, Sky’s daytime show aimed at and presented by kids.
The mega Manchester City fan was first noticed on social media when he was seven years old and a video of him pretending to be Sergio Agüero celebrating a goal went viral – and his career has taken off from there.
Braydon decided to pick the topic of vaping for his new investigative documentary to see how the habit has spiralled within younger generations and look into why vaping has become so popular with his age group.
Speaking on what he knew of vaping prior to filming the documentary, he said: “I knew it was an issue, you see it going on in schools. If you were to go into the town centre wherever you live, you would probably see someone below the age of 18 vaping.”
Throughout the documentary, Braydon speaks with young people who have vaped and looks at the packaging of vaping and how manufacturers attempt to appeal to a younger market with the flavours and colourful packaging of the products.
He spoke of what he learnt from taking on the documentary, including the reasons why young people choose to vape, saying: “The few reasons we have narrowed it down to are social media and peer pressure, they look at it as cool and sociable, and the branding and the marketing of the vapes.”
“Some of these vapes have been branded like they have been picked out of a sweet shop.”
Soon after the release of the documentary last month, Braydon went to a press conference where he was able to interview Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the topic of vaping, with the PM confirming he had in fact watched the documentary and supported the concerns raised.
“He said he thought the branding, the flavours and colours were all directed at a child audience.”
When Braydon, from Lymm, asked what action the government would be taking against this, the Prime Minister said they had formed a ‘crackdown squad’ to try and ‘stop young people vaping’ and that ‘millions of pounds’ has been put behind the cause.
Braydon said in his education setting he sees a lot of the ‘older kids vaping’ but that his school is ‘good at clamping down’ on the issue.
“I have got friends from other schools who say it is everywhere, there is even vape dealers who bring them in and sell them to other kids.
“Across the entire country, it is definitely one of the biggest problems amongst young people at the moment.”
The presenter also highlighted how one individual he interviewed in the documentary stated that people ‘as young as 11 in year seven are vaping’.
As more vaping shops open across Cheshire, the habit is becoming more accessible to young people.
Summarising his findings from the documentary, Braydon said: “I think it needs to be stopped as soon as possible. We need the government to put strong measures in place, we also need education in schools and schools to have a better understanding around it and parents need to speak to their children about it.”
The teen not only covers current and trending topics within the news on the FYI channel but has also gotten the opportunity to chat with some of the biggest stars in music and film, including Sir Paul McCartney, Justin Timberlake, Tom Grennan, Tom Hiddleston and a host of Premier League football players during his Manchester City coverage.
Addressing his blossoming TV career, he said: “If it all stopped tomorrow, I would be delighted with everything I have got to do. I would love to continue it, that would be the dream.”
To watch the documentary visit first.news/fyi or follow the Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4G3GP3vPW0
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