Improving the media representation of young people
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Breaking News: Break the Stereotype, Fix the Impression, Brent
Youth Parliament (BYP) have launched a nationwide survey called
‘Break the Stereotype, Fix the
Impression’.
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What do Young NCB members think about this issue?
- Negative portrayals of young people are fuelling hate.
- Petition and write to media because we want to promote learning
and reward success not put good students down.
Editors of newspapers have the power to change the way that young
people are portrayed in the media as they are the ones which are
putting stories into the newspapers and convincing people that all
youth are bad.
- Speak to directors of news reports, magazines and
newspapers.
- Negative portrayals make people less respectful towards
children.
- Newspapers and TV reports affect people’s views on youth as
they are constantly showing stories about teenagers that have done
something wrong whereas instead they should present a mixture of
negative and positive images of young people so that other people
can make up their mind how they feel.
- The difficulty is that people are more likely to listen to
stories that are more dramatic and therefore media put in stories
with violence to attract more viewers.
- Once a person has an image in their head that youth are bad
nowadays it is hard to make them change their mind. It will also be
difficult to stop magazine and newspapers and TV shows from feeding
out negative images of young people as people like reading stories
and watching programmes which include this type of content –
therefore the companies will make more money.
- Older people don’t respect me – never say thank you when you do
something polite, you’re followed when you’re shopping.
- You read negative stories about young people who are travelers,
gypsies, refugees, asylum seekers, black and ethnic minorities,
vulnerable groups.
- One thing really important is how to complain. If you
don’t like these issues and it’s really serious so that you can
help us or you can send an e-mail or letter about these issues or
broadcasting.
- To research the story you think is unfair before making a
complaint and to try and see both sides of the argument.
I would write to the journalist and complain that no one has taken
any care about and that he should write about it and then more
people would realise how bad it was.
- If you want to complain use a letter or e-mail to keep a
written record. Keep it short and snappy.
When an organisation receive a high volume of complaints they have
to respond – it could be you that makes that final number.
- How to go about complaining, about the media is through
editors and media regulators like OFCOM or the PCC.
We can tell the young people to campaign. We can send a
letter to the newspaper company get your school involved using the
regulator.
- Always think about both sides to the augment assess credibility
of your / their evidence before filing a complaint. This will
help you make more of a difference to the views of the reader.
- Invasion of privacy – turning adults against them – splitting
up the community. Ask the journalist to come an do a more
positive, truthful story. Write the story on how the
survivors rebuilt their lives after the attack. Get the older
villages and the younger to work together on the story to rebuild
the community. Apologize.
- Young people should be given the chance to show their
achievements not just about exam results like voluntary work.
Young people should get a chance to say their thoughts.