How Are Teenagers and Young People in the Media Portrayed?

With some exception, young people in the media are traditionally portrayed in a negative light through TV programmes, films and news articles. Some of these portrayals tend to be inaccurate which changes the way older and younger generations view the youth as a whole.

The posed image with  the Daily Mail article

For example,  the Daily Mail in 2008 published an article entitled " Decade-long £650m push to cut youth crime has had 'no measurable impact' " which gives the reader information on just how ineffective the government have been at cutting the number of young offenders in the UK. The picture with the article, although posed by models, depicts 3 boys of around 12 years old standing next to a derelict wall and drinking alcohol dressed in a stereotypical 'chavvy' way. This negative image is what most of the audience will see before even reading the article and it is a very negative view of British youth, a portrayal that the Daily Mail have deliberately constructed.  The article goes on to use facts, figures and other statistics from highly academic sources such as Kings College to further support their points which makes the research appear to be more trusted to the target audience. With this negative portrayal, it categorises all youth into a collective identity of offenders and with the vast amount of articles written in this light, the general representation of youth is distorted so much that it almost becomes a reality for those in other generations who know no different and in some ways glamourises the criminal lifestyle because of the attention it receives. This may urge other youngsters to get involved with the 'in group' because they can see that the rate of young offenders is rising and the government haven't yet found an effective way of dealing with them. Theorist Stuart Hall once said 'the media appear to reflect reality whilst in fact they construct it' and this is true regarding this article.

Chris Miles (right)

On the other hand, youth can be portrayed in a different light which is more accurate than the constant one as a group of delinquents. For example, in the popular TV drama 'Skins' there is a character called Chris Miles. He is initially shown in a negative light to just 'smoke/screw/rob/snort anything' and not succeed in life but as the series continues different aspects of his personality are revealed which in a sense counteracts his initial stereotype as a 'hedonistic skater'.  The creators of the show make the audience feel that his reckless behaviour is justified because of the way his character developed as being kind, gentle, welcoming with a positive attitude towards friends and relationships. This is a juxtaposition and it shows the audience that the less favourable actions don't ultimately make people who they are.