The publication recruits teenagers from across the country to take control of today’s special edition of the paper.
Every element of today’s Daily Mirror – from the website to the front page – has been taken over as part of its ‘Next Gen’ edition. The paper will feature various youth focused content including high profile interviews – conducted by the young journalists – with Jeremy Corbyn, Prince William, the Education Minister Damian Hinds and Love Island’s Megan Barton-Hanson.
Editor Alison Phillips who was inspired by meeting one of the students striking for climate change earlier this year and wanted to go further than simply reporting on teenagers said: “The Daily Mirror has a long history of giving a voice to those who may otherwise go unheard. So often nowadays teenagers are dismissed as not doing much beyond staring at their phones or their trainers. They’ve been derided as ‘the snowflake generation’. So we asked them to tell us what are the issues they really care about. For one day we have handed over the keys – or keyboards – of the Daily Mirror to let them run our news and features coverage in print and online.”
Highlights from the ‘Next Gen’ edition include:
- Editorial column page taken over by 16-year-old Amelia McDowell, who went viral recently for her no-nonsense take on Brexit from the Belfast Question Time audience.
- Interviews with Jeremy Corbyn, Chris Packham, Prince William, Education Minister Damian Hinds, Frances O’Grady and Love Island’s Megan Barton-Hanson
- Report on young people and trade unions, including the recent Wetherspoon’s strike, by Aisha Malik-Smith, who ran for local council at age 18.
- Report on social media and mental health, including an interview with Molly Russell’s father, led by Ross Forman from Watford.
- First person piece, interviews and exclusive new stats on teen homelessness, led by Courtney Bradley from Bournemouth, who at 14 stayed in a hostel with her family for 6 months while awaiting social housing.
- First person piece by Abel Harvie-Clark, 17 year old former head boy from Newcastle who was expelled for his part in Extinction Rebellion.
- Exclusive new quotes from Greta Thunberg
- The ‘Next Gen manifesto’ for a better Britain
- “10 things we wish adults understood about teens” compiled by the teenagers
The initiative will be followed by a renewed apprenticeship scheme for Daily Mirror journalists, allowing the team to continue to canvass a wider range of young voices. The updated approach will continue to see the Daily Mirror hiring two trainee journalists a year but will formalise their commitment to reflecting Britain across the class divide, including new measures such as blind applications and more active recruitment of talented candidates who may not have attended university.
View the online hub of content and the very powerful launch video.
