Two young journalists, from Children's Express News Service in the United States, at the UN Special Session on Children. Young people say they want more of a role in the media.
UNICEF/HQ02-0091/Donna Decesare
Young people have the right to reliable, understandable information from newspapers, the radio, television and the internet. You’ve also got the right to be protected from information that could harm you.
In the last few years, the debate about what young people should and shouldn’t be allowed to watch, read or hear has been splashed all over the papers. Debates about the effect of gangsta rappers, pop videos and violent video games on young people are rarely out of the headlines. But it’s not often that young people get a say about what goes on in the world of the media.
Voices of Youth
Voices of Youth, UNICEF’s international website for young people, has been asking young people what they want to see in the media. Overall, young people believe the media has the power to educate a wide group of people, provide direction for both adults and young people, and encourage people to be involved and active in the global community.
However, young people say the media often misuses its power. A survey conducted by Voices of Youth showed that 91.7 per cent of the young people who responded think that the media stereotypes young people.
A 16-year-old boy from the USA felt that “… the media only portrays teens as one of two extremes. There are the good teens who contribute all their time for beneficial causes. Then there are the troublesome teens that you hear about… It seems, though, that the stories of the bad kids get blown way out of proportion and are covered with more intensity.”
Young people from developing countries also complained that they are stereotyped. A 17-year-old girl from Kenya said, “As an African youth and a girl, I feel disadvantaged several times not because of my circumstances but because of the images and stories created by others and distributed about my life, my past, my dreams and even my future..”
One of the biggest debates on Voice of Youth was about censorship -young people’s opinions are divided on this issue. Those who felt the media should be censored said young people can be easily swayed and impressionable and government should prevent children from seeing inappropriate content. Young people who were against censoring the media stated that “everyone has a mind of his or her own and they are capable of making the right or wrong decision.” .
Young people want more of a role in creating media that’s aimed at them. A 17-year-old boy from the Russian Federation said: “I think only youth can understand youth. It seems to be impossible for adults of 30-40 to publish a newspaper aimed at teenagers and youth because they cannot understand the lifestyle of teenagers; they can try to remember themselves at the same age but they cannot understand us COMPLETELY. We need a newspaper published by youth aimed at us youth.”
Young people are saying that they feel it is time for the media to focus more on positive representations of young people, give a greater voice and a stronger role to young people in the media, and use the media as an educational tool for both youth and adults.
Find out more about young people and the media, and have your say, on the Voices of Youth website.
Thanks to Voices of Youth for the information in this article.