Out of line (From Penarth Times)

Out of line

REGARDING 'Youth Crime Blitz' (Penarth Times, March 28).

'Accurate' or 'unbiased' are not words that readily spring to my mind when considering the standard of reporting in your newspaper recently. But this week's offering on 'Youth Crime' seems to me seriously out-of-line.

It was proudly linked to an earlier, and I believe equally scurrilous, item on the problem of youth/vandalism in Penarth that again based its case on unsubstantiated evidence of photographs (that time of decaying street furniture that was subsequently noted to be more the result of neglect and lack of proper custodianship by the Vale).

I doubt whether the photograph on offer to illustrate youth crime was even taken in the UK?

Perhaps you could put my mind at rest by informing your readers as to exactly where and under what circumstances this (and any other photographs you plan to use in this way) were taken. The only comfort currently to be derived from this image is that it illustrates exactly what I feel like doing to the windows of your offices.

What you should properly be investigating is the obvious and continuing lack of positive provision for our young people; understanding that they too have rights and that, in fact, we have responsibilities towards them, equally as they to their community.

Shelagh Lloyd Victoria Square Penarth

* News Editor's note: the picture used was from our library as is standard practice in newspapers. As for the article we can assure the reader that it was accurate and based purely on fact.