The news generation
The Daily Mirror newsroom is always bustling in the morning, with reporters pitching their best stories to be presented to the editor. But things got a whole lot busier when a group of teenagers aged 14-19, from schools in Sheffield, Birmingham, Watford, Bournemouth, London and Belfast arrived to take the reins.
They were there to put the Mirror’s very special NextGen edition together – and there was a lot of interviewing, writing, editing and subbing ahead of them. This is how the day unfolded.
11.30AM: MORNING CONFERENCE
It was a crowded room as 15 youngsters gathered with Mirror staff to run through the daily news and features lists.
The students pitched their stories to editor Alison Phillips and were encouraged to join in the discussion – and help decide which stories were the most important.
Jake Baynham, 14, said: “It was good. I liked that the editors put global warming near the front – that’s a good thing as it’s the most important issue.”
Amelia McDowell, 16, said: “It was really good. Deciding the order allowed us to see how everything comes together.”
The teens also learned how conference can sometimes be a laugh – even if the news is gloomy.
“Conference was a lot different to how I thought it would be,” Saleem Akhtar, 16, said. “I imagined it to be quite formal but it was actually light-hearted and funny at times. Everybody had common ground and was open and honest about what they wanted.”
Sameer Khan, 17, added: “Conference was really sophisticated. At some points we needed to make sacrifices – for example, some articles lost words in order to make room for another story.
“It’s where all the key decisions were made. Before all this, I thought someone just wrote the stories and sent them to the printer. But it’s a lot more complex than that.”
And Aisha Malik-Smith, 19, enjoyed getting on the inside track. “It was exciting to hear all the news and see the pictures first,” she said. “I felt really trusted.”
1PM: INTERVIEW WITH PRINCE WILLIAM
Two lucky students, Arron Manning-Jack, 14, and Chloe Kennedy, 16, worked on the scoop of the day.
“I never thought I’d be interviewing the future king,” Arron said. “We asked him about mental health and young people, as that’s a topic we all care about. It was great to hear what the Duke thought about young people’s mental health.”
Chloe added: “We didn’t find out until the day that we were interviewing Prince William, so it was really exciting.
“It’s given me an insight into how things can work on a newspaper. The whole experience has been brilliant.” 2PM: PODCAST WITH HEAD OF POLITICS JASON BEATTIE Courtney Bradley, 17, was one of a group to record a Daily Mirror podcast with Jason. Initially quiet and nervous, Courtney quickly relaxed and enjoyed discussing interesting topics in a conversational format.
“We all talked about different topics like racism in football and social media,” she said. “I talked about youth homelessness and my own experience of it. It was terrifying at first but then I started to feel I had my own voice. It really developed my confidence.”
2.30PM: SHADOWING JOURNALISTS IN THE NEWSROOM
The young reporters spread out across departments, working across news, politics, showbiz and features. Lucas Bishop, 17, sat down with business editor Graham Hiscott to interview Iceland’s managing director Richard Walker over the phone.
“I had in mind that an interview would involve really grilling the person but this felt much more like a conversation,” he said. “Although this was very professional it was quite relaxed. I guess that’s a good way to get the information you need.
“We discussed the climate and pollution and Richard seemed to care about what I was saying, too.”
3PM: BRITAIN TALKS WITH MIRROR COLUMNIST PAUL ROUTLEDGE
Karina Tautkute, 17, and Yasmeen El-Mansoob, 16, sat down with opinionated Mirror legend Paul to find common ground, despite the near 60-year age difference. The teens were braced to fight their corner but ultimately found his views were
not a world away from the eir own. “I actuan ally enjoyed it more that I thought I would,” laughed Yasmeen.
“I thought he’d be more stubborn in open his views but he was more minded than I find some o older people. I feel we actually agreed on more topics than disagreed. It was nice to meet an older person who under stands the problems young people face.”
3.30PM: SHADOWING EDITORS
Some of the students sat on the news and features desks to see how copy is edited and sent to page designers and sub-editors. Amelia
Global warming was at the front... It’s important JAKE BAYNHAM ON PLACING NEWS STORIES
It was great to hear what the Duke thought ARRON MANNING-JACK INTERVIEWED WILLIAM
We talked about topics like racism in football, social media and homelessness COURTNEY BRADLEY JOINED JASON BEATTIE FOR HIS PODCAST
McDowell shadowed features editor Nick Webster. She said: “I watched him edit feature copy and he showed me how the process works. He acts as the bridge between the writers and page designers. It was really interesting. You don’t realise how many people create the paper.” 4.30PM: AFTERNOON CONFERENCE The day’s second and much shorter conference took place to update everyone on events which had moved on. Editors discussed with our young team what was going where.
Will Hughes, 15, said: “There had to be some last-minute changes due to breaking news to do with Brexit. It was a contrast to this morning’s conference, which was over an hour long.”
5.30PM: PAGE DESIGN
Tom Leman, 16, sat down with assistant night editor Peter Fenton to learn how pages are put together for the newspaper. Peter and Tom laid out a page which featured an interview with Love Island’s Megan Barton-Hanson. From the headlines, to the words, to the photographs, it was far more intricate than Tom expected. “It’s like a jigsaw being put together,” he said. “Some of the articles just didn’t fit in the space so would need to be cut. “Peter had to find the strongest angle in the article and he made that the headline. Then the right photos had to be chosen. He worked quickly and smoothly, but there was a lot more to it than I thought.”
6PM: SUB-EDITORS Shameelah Khan, 16, met the Mirror’s chief sub-editor Tim Pedley who taught her the importance of catching “typos” – spelling and punctuation errors – and polishing reporter’s copy.
Crucially, Tim explained how subs need to liaise with our lawyers in case there are any legal ramifications in a story.
“It was fascinating to see the process,” she said. “I then watched a sub-editor cutting down a 500-word story down to about 100 words.”
8PM: ANDY WHITAKER, ASSISTANT EDITOR (PRODUCTION)
Andy was putting the finishing touches to the newspaper’s front page. Even our masthead was designed by a young person – Kienan Greene, 17, who attends Canterbury School of Visual Arts at Canterbury College.
11.30PM: WATFORD PRINTWORKS Sixteen-year-olds Dimeji Sosimi and Chloe Kennedy watched the first copies of our amazing NextGen edition being published at our Watford printworks.
“It was so cool to see the paper hot off the press,” Dimeji said. “The highlight was getting to keep the metal plated version of my story they use on the presses – I’m going to frame it.”