On Monday, 4th November 2025, NAPCAN’s Youth Advisory Group is officially launching its ‘Fair Youth Coverage’ campaign at Government House in Canberra.
The launch will feature a compilation of 100 young people’s voices from around Australia delivering a message to the media to lift its game and avoid unethical stereotypes in reporting, which damage young people. The Fair Youth Coverage campaign is a national initiative calling for better and more accurate reporting of children and young people.
NAPCAN’s media guide invites journalists and newsrooms to approach stories with accuracy and balance. NAPCAN is calling for the establishment of a national journalism award to recognise excellence in youth representation.
The way we frame younger generations impacts their own self-perception and reinforces harmful narratives in society that ultimately miss out on broader contributing social factors while generating impractical and expensive policy responses to the issues being covered.
NAPCAN’s Youth Speak Out Chair, Oliver White, says, “We are inundated with negative headlines about young people. From mental health, our financial choices, and youth crime, but solutions rarely accompany them, nuance is often missing, as are young people’s voices. We want to see solution-focused framing, not deficit-focused narratives. We want to see positive stories of young people, too, because there is no denying they exist. We are appealing to the media to collaborate with us and treat us with respect.”
The launch event will feature a keynote from Her Excellency the Governor-General, Sam Mostyn, followed by a panel discussion with award-winning journalist Emma Macdonald, framing expert Annette Minaux, two young people featured in the 100-day campaign, and a NYSO member. Together, they will explore solutions-focused framing, barriers for journalists, and the critical role the media plays in shaping public perceptions of children and young people, which influence policy and support services as well as broader cultural attitudes.
White says,”The campaign is a 100-day video series, sharing the stories of 100 young people from across the country doing good in their community. This series will run alongside a suite of actions developed for Australian media, including the adoption of NAPCAN’s media guidelines and practical tools to strengthen accountability in reporting practices.”
NAPCAN and NYSO are proud to launch this campaign at Government House as a symbol of the importance of our leadership. Child protection is a whole-of-community responsibility, and this includes the role of the media in shaping narratives that ensure every child and young person is supported and valued.
Leesa Water says: “NAPCAN champions the young people’s call for better framing and representation in media, and I believe society will be better for it. This isn’t about sugar coating the deeply rooted social issues we report on, this is about understanding the nuance behind them and also celebrating daily what we know is true – young people are doing amazing things in community. We all ultimately care about our young people, let’s help them elevate these stories and challenge us to think differently and challenge the traditional media and politicians in the way they speak about our kids.”
Contact:
Oliver White: oliver.white@napcan.org.au, 0484822858
Clare Walker: clare.walker@napcan.org.au, 0420507376
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On Monday, 4th November 2025, NAPCAN’s Youth Advisory Group is officially launching its ‘Fair Youth Coverage’ campaign at Government House in Canberra. The launch will feature a compilation of 100 young people’s voices from around Australia delivering a message to the media to lift its game and avoid unethical stereotypes
The National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) is urging Australians to take action to keep children and young people safe, with this year’s National Child Protection Week (7-13 September 2025) a reminder that child protection is a whole-of-community responsibility. The 2025 theme for National Child Protection
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