How are British youth represented in the press? • “the true horrors we fear day to day are not supernatural bogeymen or monsters created by scientists. They're our own youth.” Daily Mail
How are British youth represented in the press?
How are British youth represented in the press? “What word other than “feral” better describes the swarms of hooligans abandoned to their own devices by slattern mothers and absentee “babyfathers”?” Richard Littlejohn, DailyMail,18 November 2008
“Hoodies may be told to ‘show your face or leave’ ‘Hoodies could soon be challenged in every Bodmin store in a bid to catch more criminals who have been covering their faces.” This is Cornwall, 25 February 2009
“Enforced conscription is the answer to sick yobs” Sue Carroll, Mirror, 2 March2009
‘A war veteran has been left housebound after vandals stole his £1,200 mobility scooter – and TORCHED it…Greatgrandad Reginald [Hopton, 89], who served in Belgium, Holland, Egypt, Sri Lanka and India during the Second World War, wants the yobs to have a spell in the Army.’ Sun, 3 March 2009
How are British youth represented in the press? ‘Heartless hoodies have snatched a cherished pet chicken from a Barnstable home...A gang of youths broke into the shed, stole several eggs, and tried to make off with a large white rooster, before setting for the small friendly bantam. The youths were then spotted the following day, chasing the chicken around Pilton. PC [Andy] Greenslade said: ‘…We won’t tolerate an innocent and friendly animal being tormented by a group of terrifying hoodies.’ 25 February 2009, This is North Devon
‘A battling Women’s Institute member was handed a criminal record yesterday for clipping a teenage vandal round the head with a roll of papers.’ Sun, 25 February 2009
Teenager given life sentence for stabbing over XboxBoy boasted ‘I’m the man’ as victim lay dying Times, 21 February 2009 "Like a plague, the city seems to be in the grip of lawlessness among the young."Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Representation of Youths through history • 'Kids are out of control... They're roaming the streets. They're out late at night.‘ Gordon Brown (2008) • “The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” Plato (c. 400BC)
Have the narratives of youth/ representations of youth changed? • 'They wore peaked caps, neck scarves, bell-bottom trousers and a hairstyle cropped close to the scalp. There were pitched battles between rival gangs, armed with iron bars, knives, powerful catapults and even guns. They patrolled their neighbourhoods shouting obscenities and pushing people down.' 1898
‘Hoodies or Altar Boys’ • 2009 study • “Hoodies or Altar Boys?” What is media stereotyping doing to our British boys? • Analysed newspaper articles about youth • Interviewed 1000 young men/ boys aged 13-19
‘Hoodies or Altar Boys’ • “When a photo of a group of perfectly ordinary lads standing around wearing hooded tops has become visual shorthand for urban menace, or even the breakdown of society, its clear that teenage boys have a serious image problem. The teen boys "brand" has become toxic. Media coverage of boys is unrelentingly negative, focusing almost entirely on them as victims or perpetrators of crime - and our research shows that the media is helping make teenage boys fearful of each other.”
‘Hoodies or Altar Boys’ • Analysed 8629 stories in national and regional papers – 50% were about youth and crime – "yobs" (591 times) – "thugs" (254 times) – "sick" (119 times) – "feral" (96 times)
‘Hoodies or Altar Boys’ • Positive phrases: ‘angel’, ‘high-achiever’, ‘model student’, ‘talented sportsman’… – Only used where the young person had died
• Fewer than 1 in 10 articles about young people actually quoted young people or included their perspectives in the debate
‘Hoodies or Altar Boys’ • What are the effects of these representations? – 85% of boys surveyed said negative images in media had made them afraid of other teenage boys. • In comparison, 40 per cent said their wariness was based on their own or friends' bad experiences of other teens
– Internalising stereotypes?
Internalised Stereotypes • Youthful search for collective identity could result in these representations being internalised and accepted: a self-fulfilling prophecy? • ‘Kidulthood’ • ‘Harry Brown’ • ‘Anti-youth’ films? Accurate to actual experiences of teenagers? • Or conforming to stereotypes circulated by news media?