Want to write the headlines?
Tuesday 26 June 2007
Ever wanted to report on stories that you see in the news from your point of view? Headliners is a news agency that gives young people the chance to do just that.
n2k went along after an editorial meeting at the headquarters in London and spoke to 9 year old Ziyad, 14 year old Ghizlan and Ginisha, 16. Watch the video and find out about the work they do at Headliners.
Young voices
Headliners is a news agency which produces news, features and commentary by young people for everyone. Previously known as Children’s Express, it has now been around for 12 years and has 4 centres around the UK.
By giving young people the chance to be news reporters the agency aims to inspire them to investigate and challenge the world around them. Headliners also want to promote the right to of young people to be heard as equals by giving them the opportunity to put their opinions into the mainstream news agenda.
The agency’s learning through journalism programme is open to 8-19 year olds. Everyone has the opportunity to research and write stories on issues that are important to them and the best bit is that their stories are actually then published in national and local newspapers and magazines and also broadcast on television and radio.
News that matters
Since it started in the UK in 1994 Headliners has produced over 1,200 stories involving 4,000 young people.
Last year alone young reporters travelled to Kenya to make a film on how young people led projects in Africa were reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS - shown on Sky News, BBC News 24 and ITN - and attended and reported on the World AIDS Conference in Canada .
In that same year journalists also interviewed an unaccompanied asylum seeker who was to be returned to her native country where she knew no-one, after three years in Britain.
Making Decisions
Young people are also very much involved with decision making at Headliners too and after 18 reporters can also become trustees.
Annabel McLeod is one of the graduate trustees, joining Headliners when she was 14 and interviewing politicians David Blunkett and Fiona MacTaggart. She has gone on to work for the Guardian and is also a production assistant on Big Brother! She remembers,
"Age and your background weren’t relevant and they were trusted to do the stories independently...I never realised what I could be and Headliners has helped to raise my aspirations - being a young person doesn’t mean that you can’t have a positive voice in the media.”
Reaching out
Headliners aims to raise the voice of young people in their own community and also aims to reach those who are isolated or at risk of exclusion, those who are disabled or have experienced being in care and young people from minority groups.
16 year old Lyra, also a reporter for Headliners won Young Journalist of the Year 2006 from Sky News and sums up how she feels though an interview on the Headliners website,
“When I look back on my achievements ten years from now, I know I'll say that Headliners was what changed it all for the better. Before joining, I didn't have anything in particular to be proud of, except perhaps a rather bizarre love of writing.“
Find out more about Headliners.
