Headliners (Formerly known as Children's Express)

• Give young people a say in your stories
  Seek their opinions. Interview them. Recognize that their views on issues that affect them are important. If journalists interviewed young people more often, they would be less inclined to stereotype them - since they would have a more accurate idea of what young people think.
  
  
• Listen to what young people say
  When you interview young people, go in with an open mind. Try not to influence what they say, or your article will merely reflect a adult's perspective. Where space is tight, try to reflect the shape of the interview - don't pick comments that misrepresent or sensationalize a young person's view.
  
  If you genuinely listen, your story's angle may be different - and it will be more interesting.
  
  
• Talk to a representative group of youth
  Remember that young people's views are as diverse as adults', and talk to several different people - don't let one person's opinion represent a single "youth view." A 13-year-old female from a middle-class home in Flin Flon, Manitoba, will have very different opinions from a 19-year-old male in the care system in downtown Toronto. Different backgrounds produce different opinions among young people, just as they do among adults.
  
  
• Avoid stereotyping
  Young people say the media often divide them into two camps: the "bad kids" - lazy, uneducated, violent, angry; thugs, criminals, drug dealers and sexual objects - and the "good kids" - and, intelligent, athletic, eloquent, over-achieving leaders. Explore the truth behind these stereotypes. Look at how other media portray young people, and ask yourself:
  • Who created this representation?
  • Is this representation real or perceived?
  • Do any young people I know, or have interviewed in the past, fit this representation?
  Above all, young people are humans beings.
  
  
• Involve young people in setting up the interview
  Explain the purpose of the interview, where your story will appear and who will read it. Offer them some say in where and how the interview is conducted - whether by phone or face to face; whether alone, in groups or with a trusted adult. Be honest: tell them they have the right to turn down an interview, refuse to answer a question, or ask for more information before commenting. (For a refresher course on what journalists are entitled to ask, and not entitled to ask, during an interview, see Your Rights as an Interviewee.) By respecting the wishes of young people, you're more likely to get truthful and in-depth answers.
  
  
• Consult young people on a wide range of issues
  So-called "youth issues" often seem to focus just on drugs, sex and crime. But they could also include other social issues that concern youth: welfare benefits, employment rights, exploitation, and especially education issues - an area young people are intimately concerned with, though journalists rarely ask their opinions. Remember that young people are part of society too, and you can ask for their views on anything.

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Source: These tips were adapted, with permission, from the Headliners (Formerly known as Children's Express) "Kids These Days" seminar (April 1998).