If there's one thing I have learned from gnarled Motorhead frontman Lemmy (and believe me, there is only one thing I learned from him) it was regarding the importance of positive publicity. "No-one can succeed if people don't know you're there," he growled. "You've got to raise your flag to the top of the pole and see if people are willing to salute it."

In other words, PR is crucial. Since starting work for The National Youth Agency back in 1999, I've learned much about the way local authorities structure their services, and the differences between full-time youth workers and those that help out on a voluntary basis. One thing that seems to unite all, however, is that youth work doesn't really "do" PR. Frequently, there's no pole, let alone a flag to salute. While a small group of young people might be benefiting, the lessons aren't being spread very widely and the profile of youth work - from a general, media perspective - simply isn't there.

That's why it's important to support this magazine's Positive Images campaign, and it's also why I was so pleased to read Steph Green's recent Soapbox column (YPN, 12-18 January, p10). Green, director of services at YWCA England & Wales, points out that if we want positive publicity for young people and youth work, we have to give journalists the carrot, to hoist the flag up the pole if you like. Is it not understandable that left to their own devices, journalists are more likely to write about the problems - the rowdy, tracksuited youths drinking and fighting in shopping malls - than uncovering a story about a group that used computer art to steer their peers away from drugs?

Running a media campaign might seem light years away from what most workers would consider their duties, but the potential profit more than outweighs the sacrifice in time and resources. One of our recent publications, Act By Right, actually offers a toolkit for helping young people themselves to liaise with the media, as part of a broader, active involvement agenda.

We must learn to create the media hooks ourselves and farm them out in the right way. As Steph Green says, if we don't, who will?

- Steve Beebee is a writer at The National Youth Agency. He can be contacted at steveb@nya.org.uk.