Shoreham Street and Londons Fleet Street are miles apart.
| You suddenly realise youve got an audience of thousands thinking about your ideas. |
But the news features breaking from the Arts and Media offices above the Leadmill Club crackle with the same energy you would expect from the capital.
This is the home of Childrens Express, Sheffield, the news agency for young people which has forged major links with The Star over the last year.
Childrens Express began life in Sheffield 18 months ago and is made up of young people from Firth Park School and the Youth Service, and has its main headquarters in London.
Its output would be the envy of more adult organisations.
Already, the agency has had a dozen major features in The Star, as well as having copy published in the National dailies, Sunday Express and Observer.
Getting my copy on smacking published in the Sunday Express was brilliant. You suddenly realise youve got an audience of thousands thinking about your ideas, says Sara Hawkins, one of the agencys Lead Editors.
And if you think that young journalists only write reviews about school plays and whats happening in the local corner shop, forget it!
Articles far published include hard-hitting features on the young homeless, drug-abuse, joy-riding and the continuing arguments about Section 28, all seen very much from a young persons point of view.
Sensitive
Davina McDowell, one of the original Childrens Express team backs this up. Young Homeless was the first feature I worked on, because you see young people on the streets all the time, but who ever asks their opinion?
It became clear pretty quickly that theres a real problem in Sheffield. By getting the story in print, youre letting people know whats going on.
At the heart of Childrens Express, is the voice of the young person. Although subjects covered are designed for anyone to read, it is the young people of CE who decide the stories, the angles they want to take, the questions they want to ask, and the people they want to interview, often in adult situations and on sensitive issues.
As 14-year-old Shakeela Alsallam explains In our article Easy Targets we felt strongly that kids are often blamed for shop-lifting we interviewed Dawn Osbourne, Head of Services at Meadowhall, and adults around the Firth Park area, and it became clear it isnt young people who are necessarily the problem. As our headline suggests people sometimes find it too easy to blame kids when things go wrong.
A major reason for the success of the agency is the working link with The Star, which has provided an outlet for many features. The young journalists have worked closely with Nick Ward, John Highfield and recently Jo Davidson on a mobile phone feature.
What do young people get from the experience?
Confidence
Its not only fun, but you learn so much. Weve gained IT skills, worked on the Internet, and its helped me a lot with my English, says Wesley Taylor, a 14 yr. old veteran journalist with five published articles to his name.
The main thing though is that Ive got a lot more confidence in talking to people, and letting them know my opinion!
Bob Gregory, Head of Partnership and Regeneration for Sheffield City Council would agree. From the start, the benefits of the scheme were clear to everyone involved, particularly in terms of the confidence and skills generated. Empowering young volunteers from different backgrounds in mixed age groups is at the heart of the initiative.
Working alongside professional journalists has been a real plus for the young people, but they have certainly held their own in getting the interviews. At a recent press conference given by Michael Palin, members of Childrens Express stood alongside Yorkshire television and the BBC as well as the local media.
David Burnham, aged 15, from Southey Green, enjoyed the competition. Afterwards, we were told that Michael Palin thought our questions were interesting and thought provoking. Far better than the adults!
So how much do young people think theyve achieved? Anna Bradshaw, Lead Editor on 5 features, says: Last June, the Star ran their opinion column next to our Hush Little Baby feature on child abuse. They wrote Childrens Express have shown us the devastating effects of child sexual abuse. But we all need to be aware of the threat to children from prostitution.
That showed people were sitting up and taking notice. Thats how it should be!
About the team
This article was produced by the Sheffield bureau of Children's Express, and appeared in the Sheffield Star.
