'...Negative coverage about involvement in anti social behaviour and crime should be well balanced with the positive contributions of the vast majority of young people...  This includes media stories on children's rights and equality issues.'  Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

In October 2008, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern at the 'general climate of intolerance and negative public attitudes towards children, especially adolescents, which appears to exist in the [UK], including in the media, and may be often the underlying cause of further infringements of their rights'.

Journalists can play an important role in helping to bring about change in the way children's rights are perceived and enforced.  We have worked with journalists and children to put together NUJ-endorsed guidance on how journalists in the UK can help promote children's human rights and equality.  We are grateful to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for funding this publication. 

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Recent weeks have seen constructive media coverage of a number of issues relating directly to children's rights, including The Guardian's coverage of the young person-led Sharing Secrets Safely campaign, seeking better counselling services for children in schools, and Channel 4 News interviewing CRAE legal director Katy Swaine on 27 May, about the rights of young child witnesses to give evidence in criminal trials, in the context of the Baby P case. 

We look forward to seeing more positive media coverage of children's human rights and equality issues, which we will feature on these pages.