claude-andrew Oct 1, 2011:

My wife says it's obviously because 18 is the age of consent and majority

Carol Gullidge Sep 30, 2011:

It COULD be relevant! Since these girls were victims and not the perpetrators, in my mind, 'teenagers' or 'teenage girls' sounds far more emotive than 'young women', which somehow also sounds rather demure (which is no doubt beside the point!). Conversely, if the girls had been the aggressors, 'teenagers' would have carried connotations of teenage violence and thugs

Tina Vonhof (X) Sep 30, 2011:

Not relevant I think a differentiation by age is not at all relevant to the story. Since all three were older teenagers (and only one was a minor), "three young women" is the most appropriate i.m.o.

Carol Gullidge Sep 30, 2011:

news update fresh off the press! The oldest girl (who was clutching her baby" has again been referred to as "the teenager" on Radio 4.

I'm rather comforted to hear that a teenager is still a teenager (or whatever) regardless and that there seems to be no strict rule. Whether the original term - with its implication - was intentional or not will probably never be known. But you could always raise it with the BBC... They might even interview you!

mediamatrix (X) Sep 30, 2011:

@Alison and Carol Thank you Ladies (I choose my words carefully ... I hope!) for these updates. They give interesting insight into how news perspectives change and stories can be nuanced/slanted/(call it what you will) to give more or less sympathetic treatment of people in the news.
There's a related story, where it turns out that one of the victims is a mother with babe in arms when she was shot:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-15124784

I imagine that in the next 24 hours this parallel report will also evolve - the 'three men on pedal cycles' will turn out to be two youths and a boy and the bikes will become two skate boards and a moped.

Coming back to my original question: my own impression at the time was that the journalist was making that distinction in a way that might be appropriate if the 3 'girls' had been the attacker(s), and that it might be related to the degree of legal responsability based on precise ages. Applying that distinction to the victims seemed to me to be discriminatory, in a manner that's entirely unwarranted in the circumstances; it looks as though the news editors may have shared my view, and have now sought to put all 3 on equal footing.

Carol Gullidge Sep 30, 2011:

@ mediamatrix just heard the story again on the news (BBC radio 4) and they were all referred to as "teenage girls"

Alison MacG Sep 30, 2011:

Latest version - authors still can't decide At 8.20 this morning, "two women and a girl" became "three teenage girls" and "a teenage girl and two young women" became "three young women", one as the headline and the other as a sub-heading. You can follow the changes here http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/439974/diff/4/5

Here is one newspaper style guide:
age - technically at 18 you are a man/woman. However, other words may be more suitable depending on context, eg teenager, youth, boy/girl.
http://www.theargus.co.uk/yourargus/style_guide/style_guide_...