British parliamentarians have been challenged by young people to say why it is worth supporting them at the polls.
Bite the Ballot campaigners organised a House of Commons event on the issue this week as part of a media debate taking place in the UK after a damning report by the Leveson Inquiry into press standards.
More than 50 young people took part joined by panelists John Leech MP, of parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, Ruby Mae Moore, of Amor magazine, Anthony Longden, of the Society of Editors, Ben Hall, of Hatch TV, Franklyn Addo, a sociology student wrongly called a "gangsta rapper" by The Sun after he turned down a Cambridge University place, and Marc Wadsworth, editor of The-Latest.Com.
Wadsworth said: "I was really impressed by the passion and knowledge shown by the young participants. They have a legitimate grievance about the way they are badly portrayed and otherwise ignored as positive news item by the media and this has rightly made them question the role of politicians in supporting them."
He added: "The-Latest is proud to have championed young people on its website, at its Media and the Riots conference and during the Divided by Race, United in War and Peace film and photography project. We will do the same, backed by our sister charity the Citizen Journalism Educational Trust, with the essay competition we're about to announce. Young people have a welcome home here as contributors whose voices are respected and valued."
Click here more information about Bite the Ballot.
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Thomas L. Blair is a sociologist and political blogger on the Chronicleworld 'for creative renewal in Black Britain and Afro-Europe'. His work is honoured in the British Library's archive of "social, historic and culturally significant web-based material from the UK domain". He won top prize in the blogging competition on The-Latest.
Sumantra Maitra is a freelance journalist from Mumbai, India. He is a correspondent for All Sports magazine, and a foreign affairs blogger for the Washington Examiner. He has written articles for news website Merinews.com and other regional publications. Sumantra runs a blog at DailyWorldWatch.wordpress.com. He provided exclusive eyewitness reports for The-Latest on the Mumbai bombings of 2008.
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