Cynical hacks? I don't think so.

Watch any television soap or documentary and the press are always portrayed as cynical hacks without a social conscience only interested in ruining peoples' lives.

The truth, as anyone who has ever visited the Birmingham Mail's headquarters will testify, is very different.

And anyone who happened to be in the office when the news that Shannon Matthews will have seen that we get as excited and elated by good news as the rest of the nation.

"Shannon's been found alive," someone shouted and within seconds you could feel the buzz around the office as reporters - many of them with children of their own - smiled their way into the weekend.

When I was a reporter I thought I knew it all - a fairly confident young hack with a bright future ahead of him (well I thought so at least).

Then I had children and I quickly realised how little I knew and how much I still had to discover about the world - children make you whole, they make you a better person and they add the finishing touches to you emotionally.

So whether it's a good news story like Shannon's or a sadder tale about a brave youngster (I can't watch that Mirror Children of Courage show without blubbing) you can bet we put our soul into it on the Mail.