Kids these days... criminals or celebrities

How do young people appear in the news? Are they anti-social troublemakers? Dangerous knife-wielding hoodies? Or are they vulnerable and at risk from predatory strangers?

On Thursday, thousands of young people across the U.K will be participating in the BBC school report, where youngsters get to present their own news on live television.

Tia, one of this year’s school reporters says “When you see an item in the news about a teenager being murdered by a gang of other teenagers, people immediately think that all teenagers are like that and stay away from them,”

Tia, a pupil at St Marylebone School in Westminster, London, is part of an articulate group of 12 and 13 year olds exploring the process of making news - for the young journalist scheme involving teams from 280 schools around the country.

"It's not fair on those teenagers who are good and those who are friendly to other people," says Tia. And adults are particularly likely to assume the worst about them when they're out in a group, they say.

By John Ryan