Wie die Medien männliche Teenager dämonisieren

Wie eine britische Studie herausgefunden hat, werden Jungen und junge Männer in den Medien inzwischen so sehr verteufelt, dass die männlichen Teenager bereits selbst Angst vor Geschlechtsgenossen ihres Alters bekommen:

The portrayal of teenage boys as "yobs" in the media has made the boys wary of other teenagers, according to new research.

Figures show more than half of the stories about teenage boys in national and regional newspapers in the past year (4,374 out of 8,629) were about crime. The word most commonly used to describe them was "yobs" (591 times), followed by "thugs" (254 times), "sick" (119 times) and "feral" (96 times). Other terms often used included "hoodie", "louts", "heartless", "evil" "frightening", "scum", "monsters", "inhuman" and "threatening".

The research – commissioned by Women in Journalism – showed the best chance a teenager had of receiving sympathetic coverage was if they died. "We found some news coverage where teen boys were described in glowing terms – 'model student', 'angel', 'altar boy' or 'every mother's perfect son'," the research concluded, "but sadly these were reserved for teenage boys who met a violent and untimely death." (…)

As a result of the negative press, 80 per cent felt adults were more wary of them now than they had been a year ago. However, the most striking finding, according to the research, was that many were now more wary of boys of their own age. "It seems the endless diet of media reports about 'yobs' and 'feral' youths is making them fearful of other teens," it said. "Nearly a third said they are 'always' or 'often' wary of teenage boys they don't know. (…)

Nearly three-quarters said they had changed their behaviour as a result of this wariness. The most common change, cited by 45.7 per cent, was boys avoiding places where teenagers hung around. Others included dressing differently (14.2 per cent), and changing who they were seen with (11.9 per cent). "For much of the press, there is no such thing as a good news story about teenagers," it added.

The research found that – for all the coverage of teenage issues – the boys' voices themselves were rarely heard in newspapers. Fewer than one in 10 articles about young people actually quoted young people or included their perspectives in the debate.

Im Independent findet man den vollständigen Artikel.

(Abschließend sollte ich vielleicht zumindest die weniger bekannten Vokabeln übersetzen, mit denen die jungen Männer in den Medien belegt werden. "Yobs" sind Rowdys oder Rabauken, "thugs" sind Schläger, "feral" bedeutet barbarisch oder verwildert, ein "hoodie" trägt einen Kapuzenpullover wie auf dem Foto des Artikels, ein "lout" ist ein Rüpel und "scum" bedeutet Abschaum.)