Susan Phillips: The relationship between kids and politics – and kids and politicians – is a tricky one. Kids make great props, flanking their candidate-parents in campaign flyers, standing on stage in their best clothes while the speechifying goes on, sitting on the classroom floor while a visiting pol reads a story. But they have a genius for behaving in unscripted ways, and for speaking truth to power. They don’t vote, they don’t pay taxes, and they’re big consumers of government services.

Which is why the young reporters from Children’s PressLine and other youth media organizations, such as 8-18 Media and Y-Press, can represent the best and worst of all worlds for politicians running for office. Not only are they unpredictable and outspoken, but they have studied up on the issues that matter to children – the ones THEY decide matter to children. And they’re not shy about doing what it takes to get out front with their microphones, notebooks and webcams to get answers to their questions.

Connect for Kids has partnered with Children’s PressLine for a unique perspective on this political season, as George Bush and John Kerry battle for the presidency. How does all this talk about a long-ended war resonate with reporters still to young to vote – yet who as New Yorkers, experienced 9-11 more directly than most? And how does the rhetoric around education reform and achievement testing sound to the ears of those who actually have to sit down with a # 2 pencil and fill in all those bubbles on the test forms?

Reporters Tarissa Whitely (16), Laurence James (13), Natasha Kirtchuk (12) and Marie Ponset (11) covered the Democratic and Republican national conventions this summer for Children’s PressLine. They prepared by researching and reporting stories on issues that matter to kids, like the No Child Left Behind Law, the incarceration of children, the lack of health insurance for poor children, and more.

They’re joining us from New York City, to answer your questions about the conventions, politics, journalism, and kids’ issues.

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Rob, CFK reporter: What surprised you most about each of the conventions?

Laurence, CPL: At the Democratic National Convention I expected all the press secretaries to shoo us away, but instead they were nice to us and very helpful in getting us really good interviews. At the Republican National Convention I was surprised that New York would be so afraid of the after-effects of the convention.

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Andrea, Lexington, KY: Did candidates and/or other elected officials answer questions about continued funding for youth programs and initiatives?

Laurence: Most of them did, but a lot of them gave very vague answers. A lot of them didn’t say much about funding, because they all thought there was no problem with the funding.

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Susan, moderator: What is the most important issue for children and youth in this presidential election?

Tarissa, CPL: I think education, above everything else. Before you get a job, you need a good education. That’s the foundation for your whole life. Most jobs won’t accept you if you don’t have a degree. If you don’t have a high school diploma, it’s really hard.

Laurence, CPL: They all focused on education. All the politicians we spoke to were stressing on education.

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Andrea: Did the reporters learn about the American political process?

Tarissa: I learned about the whole election process and what it takes for someone to actually get in the White House.

Laurence: At first I didn’t really like politics at all, but when I went to the conventions, I started to like it, and after I started to like it, I started to understand it.

Tarissa: It was like that for me…by the time the convention was over, I was able to understand a little more about how people get elected and how they come up with their issues.

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Carl & Lynn: For those of you who covered both conventions, what was your biggest surprise?

Laurence: My biggest surprise from Republican Convention, I didn’t think so many New Yorkers would be upset about having it there. From the Democratic Convention, I was surprised at how helpful the press secretaries were.

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Andrea: Did the reporters learn about the American political process?

Tarissa: I learned about the whole election process and what it takes for someone to actually get in the White House.

Laurence: At first I didn’t really like politics at all, but when I went to the conventions, I started to like it, and after I started to like it, I started to understand it.

Tarissa: It was like that for me…by the time the convention was over, I was able to understand a little more about how people get elected and how they come up with their issues.

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From Rob at CFK: What was your training process like for the conventions? Did it differ from training you've had for other reporting assignments?

Laurence: The training was just like, for the Democratic Convention, a lot of interviews that also do work on our main issues. The Republican Convention was mostly briefing. For regular assignments, we usually just brief and debrief. This was the first time we really trained.

Marie: We really don't get trained for most of our assignments, we brief, we debrief, we talk, we read things. We never really get trained, its mostly reading stuff off the internet. But now we had adults coming to us, like reporters giving us training for the convention.

Tarissa: We had flash cards to try and memorize different politicians, with their names and accomplishments. Before going to the conventions, we studied the flashcards and tried to remember.

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Susan, moderator: Like you, I grew up in New York City. The images I saw of the city during the Republican Convention surprised me - it seemed so locked-down, like the delegates were in a bubble. Is that really what it was like?

Laurence, CPL: I don’t think so. The delegates were moving around the city freely. They had lots of places to go and they had tour guides to take them around.

Marie: Yes and no. Yes, it was in lock-down because the city got carried away. The police were supposed to stop at 31st Street with the barricades but they went all the way down to 17th. Our office is on 29th Street. It didn't really affect us for the first few days because they didn't block us off. But then, the police cars starting parking here and they blocked up almost the whole street and the opposite sidewalk.

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Barbara Cervone, What Kids Can Do, Providence RI: To what extend what your experience disillusioning – in relation to both the political process and the way adults view youth?

Tarissa: I didn't’t go in there really expecting anything, so everything that happened, I expected it to happen. Anything that happened, it wasn’t strange to me.

Laurence: It was exciting to me but in a way, after all that training we did, I expected to see what we saw. We were prepared for everything.

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Carl & Lynn: If you were offering interview advice to young people who had an opportunity to speak with politicians, what would it be?

Tarissa: I would tell them to make sure you have good questions prepared, not so much good questions, but questions that make sense and will get a good answer. You want to be respectful and listen, that way you will be able to ask a follow-up question.

Laurence. You want to try to seem neutral and unbiased, you want to try to keep any attitude that you might under control.

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Barbara: And what do they take away from their experience that makes them feel hopeful?

Tarissa: Wow. Maybe the fact that I might be able to do that one day…I never really thought about it before, after going to the c, thought about what it would be like to become maybe a delegate, a young delegate.

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Kathryn, youth mentoring program director, Angels Camp CA: How do you tell if someone is answering your questions honestly? What clues do you look for?

Laurence: We usually have information ahead of time, we’re expecting a certain answer, or we have some thing we think will really get them.

Tarissa: During training, we’re always told to make eye contact with them. If someone doesn't look you in the eye, that means they may not be telling the truth. Or sometimes, if someone plays with their fingers, they may not be telling the truth.

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Susan, moderator: There was a lot of attitude in some of the copy you filed with Connect for Kids from both Boston and New York. I got the sense you don't think much of politicians. Is that true? How does that affect your reporting?

Tarissa: I don’t think much of them. For some reason, I basically feel like most politicians just use stump speeches. They make promises and then they have reasons for not keeping them. They have excuses for everything, why they couldn’t do it, they say they’ll try again. I think when people re-elect them, they are just giving them another chance to do the same thing. I like people to do what they say and try their best. I try not to let it affect my reporting, I try to listen and keep my opinions to myself.

Laurence, CPL: I don’t think that attitude is a good thing for a reporter when asking questions, especially when asking a politician. This will make the reporter seemed biased, but we’re supposed to be neutral.

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Andrea: Did the candidates and/or other elected officials seem concerned about youth issues?

Tarissa: Most of them did. We were trying to bring up the fact that children ’s issues are becoming nonexistent. They all mentioned they were trying to get children’s issues back in the news. I guess they were going to try to help children out more as far as education goes.

Laurence: Arnold Schwarzenegger was really big on children’s issues. He thought education was really important. He thought children should have a life like he had, so they could go home and have their parents be home instead of being on the street.

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Keshia, National League of Cities, DC: Did you notice any major differences between the two parties? What would you say distinguished Republican from Democrat?

Marie: Republicans are rich and Democrats are pretty poor. I know that sounds pretty lame in terms of wording, but there’s no other way to put the fact that the Republicans are rich ., They have all this money . They can build huge stages like they did for their convention, they can afford the fancy lighting and all the lovely decorations that they had. And the Democrats, they’re pretty laid back, they don’t have the money for that kind of stuff. In terms of topics, no matter what party you’re from, you’re going to say the same stuff: “We’re going to get universal health care for children, we’re going to get children off of death row, " but there’s really no major difference. It’s what they want to hear.

Laurence: The major difference I noticed is that the majority of Democrats are pro-choice, and a lot of Republicans are pro-life.

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Katina: Are there any adults at Children's PressLine? What do they do?

Tarissa: this is how we like to think of it. The kids do all the work and the kids pay the bills.

Marie: Mike is standing here at the door. He and Katina, who's not here right now, are basically the ones who get us on track, they pay the bills, buy the equipment...

Tarissa: And buy the food.

Marie: And besides that they are on the sidelines typing everything up.

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Kathryn: Who do you think was the most honest person you interviewed?

Tarissa: There was a lady we interviewed, her name is in the back of my head right now. We went to a big meeting at Planned Parenthood. She was telling us, we asked her about abortion issues. We asked if a 15 year-old was having a child, would she let that child have an abortion. She said yes. You could tell she believed what she was saying and what she was working for.

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From Rob at CFK: What did the stages really look like at the GOP and Democratic conventions? On TV, they looked similar, but a lot was made of Bush speaking "in the round." What was your perspective?

Laurence: Before the conventions started, we got a tour of the conventions being built. The stages were electronic so they could come up and go down. They both put a lot of money into it.

Marie: At the Democratic Convention there appeared to be more balloons, but at the Democratric all the balloons were supposed to fall at once, but at the GOP, it went fine.

Tarrisa: I think more was expected out of the convention in New York because people think that's how it's supposed to be in New York.

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Jeremy: Do you all want to be reporters when you grow up?

Marie: No

Tarissa: No

Laurence: Yes.

Marie: Because I have other ambitions in life, I want to be a cinematographer or Egyptologist, an archaeologist who studies ancient Egypt.

Tarissa: I want to be a dancer. I love theater . As far as journalism, that’s just for now. I don’t want to make a career out of it.

Laurence: I want to be a journalist, or anything to do with writing, because that’s really what I’m good at.

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Kendra, youth editor, NY: I would like to know: Which party (if either) do you think takes teens' interests and concerns more seriously? Why?

Tarissa: I only went to the Democratic convention in Boston. But a lot of delegates seemed interested and concerned.

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Susan: We can tell that a lot of people are logged on for this chat, but we could use more questions! Please email your questions to onlinechat@connectforkids.org

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Susan: Marie, could you answer my question about “attitude” in the copy you filed for Connect for Kids from both Boston and New York. I got the sense you don't think much of politicians. Is that true?

Marie: SOME politicians we really DO like because they are fighting for one of our five issues (Kids on Death Row, No Child Left Behind, LGBT Kids, Homeless Kids, Uninsured Kids).

The other politicians we brutally hated. For example, Rick Perry who is The Gov. of Texas. He has done NOTHING about Kids on Death Row because, as he says, "it's not my responsibility." Texas has the most juveniles on death row and leads the world in executing juvenile offenders.

Susan: Does that affect your reporting?

Marie: No. I mean, I basically look at them, and give them respect because whether I think they are demons or humans, I still can recognize that they are an elder and that, at that point, they require some sort of respect.

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Jerrie DeRose: Which candidate seems more knowledgable and sympathetic to the plight of families, about Early Head Start and Head Start, about the real economic crisis affecting families in the form of low wage jobs that will not provide a decent standard of living for them or their children, about the severe economic crisis towns and cities across America are in?

Tarissa: I think John Kerry, because Bush is basically concerned about the war. I feel that before you can focus on anywhere else, you should focus on your own country and the problems in your own country.

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Susan: Marie, what do you think is the most important issue for children and youth in this presidential election?

Marie: For ME, I think what should be brought up is Kids on Death Row, because everything else is being faced by politicians, but out of all the issues, Kids on Death Row has been kind-of forgotten. And yes, it's being handled by the Supreme Court, but I didn't hear one politician bring it up on their own.

What I think is the most important thing to the politicians is: No Child Left Behind. The Democratic Party wants to change it entirely while the Republican Party wants to improve it.

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Rick: Are any of your parents journalists, or what do they do?

All three: No.

Laurence: My mom is a secretary.

Tarissa: My mom works for Verizon.

Marie: My mom is a teacher. She teaches fine arts, and she has a special license to teach any subject. My Dad works for a calling service. My Dad is a newspaper fanatic, my Mom follows the news. They thought it was weird I wanted to join this program.

Tarissa: My mom reads the newspaper every day.

Laurence: My mom also gets the newspaper a lot.

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Keshia, National League of Cities, DC: What do you think the Presidential candidates can do to reach out to youth and make them feel like an important part of their campaigns or administrations?

Tarissa: I think they should at least get a child’s opinion. I know we are not old enough to vote, but we deserve to be heard. By any means necessary, someone should try to get our vote.

Marie: I agree with Tarissa.

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Susan: Were any of the convention delegates surprised at how well versed you all are on the issues?

Marie: There weren't any particular comments during the interviews, but after afterwards, they would always say something like, "keep up the good work!" I don't they that they were surprised because most of the politicians that we interviewed had seen us in action before.

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Susan: Which party (if either) do you think takes teens' interests and concerns more seriously? Why?

Marie: Democrats, from my point of view anyway, because they have a plan for universal health care, or at least, that's one of the things that's been brought up during the Democratic Convention, as opposed to the Republican Convention. The Democrats, on their own, without being asked a question about health care, said that we need to get universal health care for children, whereas you have to push a question in front of the Republicans, such as, "What is going to be done to notify the families of the 70% of uninsured kids who are eligible for programs like SCHIP and Medicaid.

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Jerrie DeRose, via e-mail: How do you see the huge deficit from the president's first term in office affecting families and children in the funding, quality and delivery of needed services such as affordable child care for all working families and ncluding low income wage earners and single parents?

Tarissa: If low-income people can’t get the things they need, then there will be more homeless people. Children won’t get the things they need for their education, like supplies and books. And if children don’t get educated, then their families won’t have a better life.

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Rob: What's next? What are you all covering next?

Tarissa: As more stories come along, I guess we'll decide what we want to cover. For now, I guess we'll sit back and wait.

Marie: Random stories on kid's issues, whatever really comes up.

Tarissa: I'm a junior in high school, I'll be going to college soon, I'll have more college stuff to do now.

Laurence: I'm going to have enough time, it's usually after school that we work on this.

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Susan: If you could vote, what would you like to hear from the candidates ?

Tarissa: I would want to hear candidates say that they would have more funding for education: more books, better schools, more teachers, better teachers.

Laurence: I would like to hear them say that we had school four days a week nstead of five.

Marie: I would like to hear that the schools are going to be given more after school programs, that there are going to be better-trained teachers. I’d also like to hear about universal health care. That’s really about it.

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Jason Smith, via email: What advice would you give a kid going as a reporter to the conventions?

Marie: I would say, don't be intimiated by these politicians, and even if you think they are very important, don't be star struck, either. They are normal people. Don't go flabbergasting over them.

Tarrisa: Another thing, when we were getting trained, one of the guys told us to pretend the politicians are like your grandmother. They put on their pants one leg at a time.

Laurence: Appear neutral, be unbiased and don't show any attitude.

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Susan: Thanks, Tarissa, Laurence and Marie, and good luck. It’s been great hearing from you. And thanks, those of you who logged on to our discussion. Hope you’ll join us for our next TalkTime Live! chat.