For young people living in a British forces community in Germany, "the local media" is mainly represented by Sixth Sense, the weekly newspaper for the British forces and their families serving in Northern Europe, and the British Forces Broadcasting Service (radio and TV).
But this has not stopped a group of teenagers stationed there with their parents from reading about Young People Now's Positive Images campaign (www. ypnmagazine.com/campaign) - they can access the magazine through their info-shop - and acting on it.
The teenagers, stationed in the Rhine & European Support Group - a section of the forces community that covers parts of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium - last month invited a reporter from Sixth Sense to take part in a debate on the media. There are about 4,000 young people and children in the support group. Professional youth and community workers from the Army Welfare Service facilitated the debate as part of a series enabling participants to express their views.
Home and away
The debate opened with a discussion on the differences between how young people are portrayed in the media in the UK and the press coverage provided within the service community.
Everyone agreed that both Sixth Sense and the British Forces Broadcasting Service are very positive in their coverage of young people. In fact, some young people thought the media outlets go too far in that direction - they want a balanced representation.
Richie, 15, said: "The articles are too positive and ignore stories where young people have been stopped or cautioned by the Royal Military Police."
He added:"The local media do not report on underage drinking and so on as they do in the UK. They prefer to report on young people's successes, as this is what the families want to read about."
Other members of the group stated that media coverage was often patronising and did not give the young people enough credit for their achievements, focusing instead on the adults or volunteers who helped them. The young people said it seemed to be the same youth clubs and groups featured every week.
When Sixth Sense reported that this was a result of the adults being the ones who contacted the press, several young people indicated that they did not know how to access the media machine.
The young people in attendance asked many questions about the statistics recently published in Young People Now (YPN, 13-19 October 2004, p16-17) concerning press coverage, and related them to their own experiences. The majority felt that young people were treated more fairly in the UK's local press, but 15-year-old Becky said the media in the UK often appeared harsh. Andy, 14, said the UK media make it look like "young people are a problem rather than some young people having problems".
The responsibility of the press towards young people was a controversial topic of discussion. The representative from Sixth Sense claimed that editors encourage journalists to exaggerate the language used, which the young people felt was highly unfair.
Michelle, 14, said: "Sensationalism leads to people misinterpreting the truth in the story." Everyone agreed that it was important that the press reported stories fairly, but there were disagreements over whether journalists had to report young people in a positive light. While Richie thought journalists do have a responsibility to write positive stories, "as you rarely see negative stories about old people", other young people decided: "As long as the story is truthful, the tone doesn't matter. Many young people cause problems and the papers need to show that."
Challenging stereotypes
Becky, 15, and Natalie, 13, blamed other young people for causing negative media coverage, saying that their perceived antisocial behaviour had led to all young people becoming stereotyped. Many of the young people gave examples of how they had been victims of this prejudice towards young people. While this mainly related to experiences in the UK, one young person mentioned a letter published by Sixth Sense from someone complaining about young people being noisy and disruptive in the local cinema.
For the Army Welfare Service, this work has raised important issues about how young people within the service community access and influence the local media. The service has addressed this need by helping the young people to respond to articles in Sixth Sense and the wider media. It has also persuaded the local youth forum, Respect, to produce a page on young people's activities in the monthly magazine Bulletin, which covers the Rhine & European Support Group.
Nicholas Turk is armed forces community development worker for the Army Welfare Service.
