Young People in the Media
By Eva Lawrence, Just Focus Coordinator
Young people in Aotearoa and around the world are a diverse bunch of people doing a range of exciting, positive things. But the media in Aotearoa New Zealand, and globally, creates an image of young people that is uniform, unreal and unfair.
News articles show you as out of control, violent and hooked on drugs. TV programmes show stereotypes of teenagers who are only interested in image and hanging out with friends and don’t care about whanau/family, communities or the world. At the same time, ads tell you what you have to do, buy and look like to be cool and happy.
The average young person in Aotearoa New Zealand sees 20,000 TV ads a year!
Every day multiple images are pumped out that tell you what young people are, should and should not be. But these images don’t represent reality. Young people are not asked to speak for themselves.
In the United Kingdom recently, a study was done of how young people are shown in articles in newspapers. It found out that
- 71% of newspaper articles showed young people in a bad way
- 1 in 3 of articles about young people were about crime
- And only 8% of articles about young people actually quoted young people themselves!
No wonder heaps of adults stereotype young people as ‘out of control’ and ‘troublemakers’ if most of the news they hear about young people is bad!
Young People Challenging Stereotypes around the World
Situations for young people around the world are very different. But there are lots of influences and experiences that are common to young people in many different countries. We now live in a globalised world. Through movies, music clips and surfing the net, we see the same images as do young people in Morocco, Japan and Argentina. The world is virtually a mouse-click away. The forces of the media affect us all.
The things that young people are experiencing and doing around the world can provide us with ways of tackling the issues we face here in Aotearoa New Zealand. Connecting with young people around the world can inform, inspire and strengthen us all.
Young people around the world are doing a range of things that challenge the stereotypes of young people. They are working to support other young people, expressing their opinions in lots of different ways and actively participating in the media. Here are just a few examples.
In the United Kingdom
Children’s Express - Young people are creating their own news. Young people are supported by this news agency to write articles for mainstream news.
In Colombia, South America
In a country of civil war and huge drugs trade, young people are using Hip Hop as a way to express their views and work towards change. You can find out more about this through a new documentary called Resistencia: Hip Hop in Colombia
In Fiji
Kaila! - This is the first youth newspaper in Fiji. Young people express their views about what is going on in Fiji and the world. The newspaper is now going out to more places than the main newspaper!
In the USA
YAAMS – Young African-Americans Against Media Stereotypes
This organisation works to challenge the narrow image of young African-Americans shown in the media as rappers, sportspeople or criminals.
In Bangladesh, Southern Asia (next to India)
Bangladesh Young Journalists Forum – This organisation of young journalists works to protect journalists’ rights and provide support and training.
Take Action!
The best people to challenge stereotypes of young people are young people themselves. YOU!
Be the change! Don’t let the images get you down, just show that they are wrong by living your life.
Challenge the stereotypes of young people that we see every day. Become informed and participate in decision making about issues that affect young people.
Here are some ideas about how you can challenge youth stereotypes.
- Look for alternative images of young people in the media. Look in different places for your information. Check out websites, magazines, papers and films that move away from your mainstream stuff. Mainstream? What’s that? For example, mainstream magazines are normally found out the local dairy and supermarket and are more focussed on making money than giving you information. To find things that aren’t mainstream, you may need to look a little harder but the information you get makes more sense.
- There are some great overseas and local media that promotes these alternative images of young people so support them by reading their stuff. In New Zealand, as well as Just Focus of course, there are other ways for young people to have your say. One great example is Tearaway magazine. It provides an opportunity for young people to express opinions and develop writing skills: http://www.tearaway.co.nz.
- Read between the lines – get critical! The media often shows inaccurate and negative images of young people, so what else do they get wrong? What other stereotypes are we being fed?
- Create your own media – there are heaps of opportunities here and internationally to put out your views.
This article was first written for the Ministry of Youth Development Provoke Newletter
