Journalist v children's rights

A disconcerting experience, reading the Children's Rights Alliance for England's new guidelines on how journalists can promote children's human rights and equality. As I perused the document on the tube (which I think is really interesting, and I will be forwarding bits from it around the office and considering how we can adopt bits of it), an argument started going on in my brain between my inner hackette  - let's call her Glenda - and my inner children's rights supporter - let's call her, oh I don't know, Lisa. It went something like this:

GLENDA: OMG like these people totally have no idea how the meeja works yeah? [I have no idea why my inner hackette is a kind of text-speak Vicky Pollard].  They say we should be quoting children and young people more. But then they are all "Yeah but you have to make sure you build trust with them first, and explain exactly how their words are going to be used, and look to see if they look a bit like they might want to stop the interview even if they don't say so" - as if a busy news desk has time for all that! They want it both ways - they want you to treat children like anyone else, but also treat them specially!

LISA: But children are special - that's why they have special rights. Can't journalists be decent as well as getting the story?

GLENDA: Yeah, but isn't it the job of the organisation putting the kid forward to brief them about all that stuff? Why should we show children their copy before printing when we don't do that for anyone else - that's not the way the media works.

LISA: But some children in vulnerable circumstances might not understand what they are telling the media.

GLENDA: And I'll tell you what really gets my goat. Organisations that keep on about how there should be more voices of children in the media then refuse to give you access to them unless their copy is completely vetted by their PR department which completely takes the life out of it. And it's really patronising to the children as well.

LISA: Er..OK, I'm with you on that one.

Disclaimer: I am neither Lisa, nor Glenda, but they both seem to have residence somewhere in my brain.