Young People And The Media
Ipsos analysed local and national press for all mentions of children and young people during the week 1-7 August 2005. This project was designed to update similar research carried out in 2004 between 2-8 August. A mix of 17 tabloid, broadsheet and local papers carried a total of 684 "youth" — related articles (in 2004 there were 603). Newspapers studied were: The Sun, The Mirror, The Mail, The Express, The News of the World, The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Evening Standard, The Manchester Evening News, The Glasgow Herald, The Yorkshire Evening Post, The Western Mail, The Birmingham Post, The Eastern Daily Press and The Belfast Telegraph.
Background
Ipsos analysed local and national press for all mentions of children and young people during the week 1-7 August 2005. This project was designed to update similar research carried out in 2004 between 2-8 August. A mix of 17 tabloid, broadsheet and local papers carried a total of 684 "youth" -- related articles (in 2004 there were 603). Newspapers studied were: The Sun, The Mirror, The Mail, The Express, The News of the World, The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Evening Standard, The Manchester Evening News, The Glasgow Herald, The Yorkshire Evening Post, The Western Mail, The Birmingham Post, The Eastern Daily Press and The Belfast Telegraph.
Key Findings
Has the tone of media coverage of young people altered over the past year?
The research carried out in 2004 showed that 71 per cent of stories about young people were negative, 14 per cent positive and 15 per cent neutral.The update shows that while the number of positive stories has remained about the same (12 per cent), there is an increased middle ground of neutral stories (30 per cent) that feature young people but do not portray a clearly positive or negative view of them.The majority of stories that feature young people are still negative (57 per cent).
Some stories are classed as neutral because they are informative articles about education, parenting or lifestyle, which are about young people but do not seek to comment on them. These stories made up the neutral category in 2004. But a new style of writing is in evidence since the previous study: stories that portray young people both positively and negatively, leaving the reader with an impression of young people that is more ambiguous but more balanced.
This may mark the emergence of a more balanced portrayal of young people in the media, or it may be a reaction to the Anthony Walker case (see download), which seems to have prompted discussions of wider social issues where young people are presented as neither wholly positive nor wholly negative.
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