Young People’s Views On The Media

The Broadcasting Standards Councils has published details on surveys it commissioned into Young People and The Media. The research was undertaken by Albermarle Marketing Research and the Centre for Mass Communications Studies at Leicester University and draws together various studies using questionnaires and qualitative interviews which focuses on the attitudes of those aged 10 to 16 years.

Some of the findings were as follows:

• Young people use the media widely but turn to their parents and friends for support.
• The media was generally thought to have an ‘influence’ and many young people, particularly girls, considered that younger children should be protected by television timing restrictions.
• For adolescents and teenagers, magazines were important but so was broadcasting. They provided information and a point of reference for fashion and style plus problem solving from soaps.
• In general, young people had a strong awareness of violence in society and about the availability of drugs. They felt that parental fears about drugs abuse were heightened by the media and that clear information on television about the consequences of drugs would be the most effective approach.
• Some groups of respondents felt isolated: eleven to thirteen years olds felt that the media did not cater for their needs. Afro-Caribbean respondents felt they had to look to American culture for a sense of identity not available from the mainstream media.

Full copies of the reports are available from the Standards Council on the number below.

BSC: 0171 233 0398/0402