If you believe the media, teenage life is all about drink, drugs and sex. But a new campaign calls for more mature coverage, explain Maria Kellyand Stephanie Kelly

'The G-string round your ankle if you're up for sex." Have we got your attention yet? When journalists splash headlines like this across the front page of newspapers, that's what they are trying to do: shock readers at the expense of young people. And at a Dáil na nÓg council meeting last June teenagers gathered to discuss the effects of these appalling tactics.

One of the main recommendations from this meeting was that the media urgently need to amend the way it portrays teenagers and start giving us a say in how these issues are covered. From this meeting the Fairsay campaign was formed and this article marks the launch of that campaign.

However strongly we felt, we knew adults wouldn't just take our word for it, so we decided to back up our claims with research. Many of the delegates at Dáil na nÓg 2007 believed teenagers were negatively portrayed in the media coverage of Junior Cert celebrations, and this period was made the focus of our main research. For a week before the Junior Cert results day, and a week after, we monitored every national and local newspaper in Ireland, with the help of media monitoring experts.

The first thing we noticed was the difference in the approach taken by broadsheet newspapers as compared to tabloids. Broadsheets portray teenagers in a better light, concentrating more on the positive aspects of the Junior Cert results day. In fact, one of the most positive articles that we found - "We don't need drink to have fun" - was in the Sunday Independent and a very similar article which appeared in The Irish Times - "I don't need to drink for a good night out" - also got the Fairsay stamp of approval.

We should also tell you that the broadsheets weren't all on our side, with many articles giving far too much space to the issue of under-age drinking.

This confirmed for us the media's obsession with teenagers who binge-drink as opposed to teenagers who don't drink, or drink in moderation.

Tabloids, on the other hand, were more provocative in their reports of Junior Cert celebrations. We found their headlines to be over-the-top, and worded purely for shock value. Headlines like "the G-string round your ankle if you're up for sex" are obviously going to attract attention.

We were disgusted to read stories about sexual promiscuity on Junior Cert night which contained lewd descriptions, hearsay and innuendo. It was noted that female students were treated more unfairly than male students in this context.

Sex wasn't the only hot topic. Along with the broadsheets, tabloid newspapers appear to be obsessed with underage drinking and drug use. One particular tabloid article that stood was the story whose headline alone caused a stir: "Straight Es" was labelled as one of the most sensationalist articles by Fairsay. The article recounted how three young girls went to a dealer to buy Ecstasy to help celebrate their results. The article quoted what we would question was a reliable source.

We in the Fairsay campaign are realists. We know the print and broadcast media have a duty to report that some young people choose to spend their Junior Certificate results night drinking and behaving in an irresponsible manner. But we believe that these young people are the minority and we question whether it is right to take advantage of young people who don't celebrate wisely.

So what do we want? We want a voice. We want to be heard. We want print journalists, television and radio presenters and editors to get in contact with us about the Fairsay campaign, so they can hear what we have to say.

We are tired of listening to adults talking, often negatively, about teenagers. We want to be talked to, not just talked about. We want an end to the media negativity that is creating a false portrayal of Irish teenagers today.

Perhaps these commentators think teenagers don't read the papers, but many of us do. We also watch the news on television and listen to the radio. We don't think our own issues are any more important than those of adults but we do think they deserve equal recognition. The Irish Times is generally to be praised for its allocation of space for teenagers, with weekly slots such as Transition Times. However, the scrapping of the newspaper's weekly Teen Times column was disappointing for Ireland's budding young writers and curious young readers alike.

The Fairsay campaign doesn't claim to represent the whole teen nation. There are teenagers who may disagree with us. There are still others eager to be heard who can be found easily through student councils and local Comhairlí na nÓg in every city and county. We are growing up in a different society compared with previous generations. Our experiences are unique to us, yet journalists analyse these rites of passage as though they were their own.

With the launch of the Fairsay campaign we are trying to change this. So that the next time journalists want to write about our underwear they might think to ask us first.

• E-mail Fairsay07@gmail.com See also www.bebo.com/fairsay-dail-na-nogand  www.dailnanog.ie