Youth

There is no terminology for YOUTH yet.

Research recommendations

• When reporting on young people in the local communities where young people saw adults associating them with ‘hassle’, contextualised the situation (what services and amenities are there for young people, what percentage of youth is involved in the hassle, etc)
• Verify the credentials of any organisation purporting to speak for or to represent the interests of children.
• Ensure independent verification of information provided by children and take special care to ensure that verification takes place without putting child informants at risk.
• Use fair, open and straightforward methods for obtaining pictures and, where possible, obtain them with the knowledge and consent of children or a responsible adult, guardian or carer.

Recommendations concerning sources

• Give children, where possible, the right of access to media to express their own opinions without inducement of any kind.
• When reporting on Youth and Education, students shall be shown as active participants

Content recommendations

• Provide balance when reporting intergenerational conflict: include views from older people who support the young, as well as those who complain about them.
• Guard against visually or otherwise identifying children unless it is demonstrably in the public interest.

Ethical recommendations

• Avoid generalisation and stereotyping when reporting on youth. Media portrayal of young people tends to be simplistic, unfair and very negative, especially on issues related to violence, crime or drugs.
• Don’t compare the youth with other social realities that do not keep symmetries with their social conditions, avoiding to throw on responsibilities that are only results of problems of the society, such as the lack of employment or the greater relaxation in consumerist attitudes in which they have been educated.
• Strive for standards of excellence in terms of accuracy and sensitivity when reporting on issues involving children.
• Avoid programming and publication of images which intrude upon the media space of children with information which is damaging to them.
• Avoid the use of stereotypes and sensational presentation to promote journalistic material involving children.
• Avoid the use of sexualised images of children.
• Never make payment to children for material involving the welfare of children or to parents or guardians of children unless it is demonstrably in the interest of the child

Bibliography/Links

• National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI)
• National Union of Journalists: NUJ guidelines on reporting age