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VOICE ONE:
This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with Explorations in VOA Special English.Today we tell about American children serving as news reporters toexplore the issues important to them.
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VOICE ONE:
The United States is holding ageneral election on Tuesday. Politicians who are candidates oftenlike to be seen with their children. They believe this shows thatthey support strong families. But children themselves do not oftenhave a chance to be news reporters writing their own stories aboutpoliticians. That is exactly what happens at Children's Press Line,an organization in New York City.
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Hundreds of news reporters from all over the world went toBoston, Massachusetts and New York City this summer. They reportedabout the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Theseconventions chose the candidates who are running for president inthe election next Tuesday –John Kerry and George W. Bush. Childrenwearing bright yellow shirts also attended the conventions. Theywere reporters for Children's Press Line.
VOICE ONE:
Young people make almost all the decisions at Children's PressLine. One young reporter says: "The children do the work, while theadults pay the bills and buy the pizza for us to eat."
Money to operate Children's Press Line comes from individuals andbig businesses. Children's Press Line reporters are eight toeighteen years old. Most of them are not able to vote, but they areable to ask difficult questions. One reporter is Emily Olfson, asixteen-year-old student at the United Nations International Schoolin New York City. Emily says the young reporters want to "questionadults who have power about issues that are important to kids."
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The young reporters wrote onestory about how they prepared for the national conventions. Theseyoung people said they want to ask questions that will cause adultsto make changes. They also want to inform as many people as possibleabout issues important to children. They wrote "if we do not knowsomething we will try to find it out, and if someone is stopping usfrom finding out, that means trouble."
The young reporters decided to research five issues important tochildren: Education. Homelessness. Children who do not have healthcare. Young people who are in prison waiting to be executed forcommitting murder. And the rights of young people who love otheryoung people of the same sex.
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The young reporters spent several months learning about theseissues. They talked to children who had no homes. They talked tomothers who could not pay for health care for their children. Theytalked to two young people in prison who were waiting to beexecuted. All of these talks were written and published for adultreaders.
Then the young reporters wrote twenty questions about each issue.They knew they wanted to ask these questions in discussions withmembers of Congress and elected officials who would be at thenational conventions.
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Emily Olfson says many of the people being interviewed expectedthe children to ask easy questions. However, Tarissa Whitely says itis important to write good questions that will get good answers.Tarissa is a sixteen-year-old reporter from New York City. She saysthe young reporters must ask questions like "why?" or "why not?" Shesays they should not ask questions that allow a politician to justanswer "yes" or "no".
"We want to go deeper. We want to make politicians think," saysTarissa. "We do not want them to give us an answer from a speechthey give every day."
She says most politicians at the conventions did answer questionsfrom the young reporters as if they were adults.
VOICE ONE:
In one story, the young reporters wrote: "If the politiciansstart giving us the same speech they give every day, we say that wedo not understand. We ask 'can you explain it in a different way?'Or 'how can you solve this problem?' We want to make them agree tofix the problem. We want to know exactly how they will help kids."
Tarissa says it is important to get people to look at you whilethey answer your questions. She says: "If someone does not look youin the eye, he may not be telling the truth. Or if someone playswith his fingers, he may not be telling the truth." But Tarissa alsosays she tries not to let her opinion about a person affect herreporting.
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The Children's Press Line reporters do not always get the answersthey want. The children told about one experience at the DemocraticConvention in Boston. They were talking to Lieutenant Governor JohnMoore of Kansas.
When they asked what children's issues were important to him,Mister Moore said "education, education, education." The youngpeople said that is what politicians always say to children. Whenthey tried to ask more questions, a band began playing music. MisterMoore said, "nice talking to you" and walked away. The youngreporters tried to find Mister Moore again but he was already lostin the crowd.
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VOICE ONE:
Children's Press Line reporters write stories about many kinds ofissues. Every idea comes from a young person and must be an issuethat affects children. All the reporters together choose the storiesthey find the most interesting.
They research the stories, write questions and find people whocan answer their questions. They write stories about what theylearn. The stories are published in the New Amsterdam News in NewYork City. Some of the stories are published online and in othernewspapers in the United States. Children's Press Line says morethan sixty thousand adults read their stories.
Tarissa Whitely has written andresearched stories about hip hop songs that support fair treatmentfor people who have the disease AIDS. She has written stories aboutcuts in government money for programs helping young people. She saysChildren's Press Line has given her a chance to meet many new peopleand do things children do not usually do.
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Sometimes Children's Press Line reporters talk about importantissues with young people from other countries. These talks are onthe Children's Press Line Internet Web site. The address iswww.cplmedia.org.
The Web site also has movies of the talks among young people fromdifferent countries. In one movie, young people in the United Statestalk with young people in Iraq about the war there.
Also on the Web site, young people from the United States,Britain and Japan talked about differences in punishment whenstudents do something wrong in school. Now, Children's Press Line istrying to open a high school in New York City for students who wantto study the media.
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Marie Ponsot (PON sott) is eleven years old and is in the fifthgrade in New York City. She has been a Children's Press Linereporter since she was nine years old. Her first story is still theone she likes best. The young reporters wrote about security camerasin Greenwich Village, an area in New York City. Marie says thecameras invade people's privacy.
Her stories reported about protestors who performed plays infront of the security cameras. She said the protestors were usingthe plays to tell other people what they thought about the securitycameras.
Marie says writing these stories helped her learn about issuesand problems in society that affected her.
Later, she talked to a student her age who could not read. Mariesaid that concerned her because she felt it was not fair. Marie saysa society that has news reporters who are free to ask questions andwrite stories helps people know what is happening where they live.
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Emily says she knows that the media have a very big influence onwhat people know and think about issues and problems in society. Sheattended an international meeting of students at her local school.
Students listened to news reporters from the British BroadcastingCorporation and the Arabic news company Al Jazeera. The studentscompared the same stories told by different media in differentcountries.
Emily says the more people know about a problem, the more theywill want to know how they can help solve the problem. Children'sPress Line says twenty-five percent of the people in the UnitedStates are younger than eighteen years old. But only ten percent ofthe news stories are about issues important to children. Emily saysChildren's Press Line gives children a voice since they do not havea vote.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Karen Leggett. It was produced byMario Ritter. This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for Explorationsin VOA Special English.