Do you want to change how society sees you?
Wednesday 14th July 2010
99 out of every 100 young people in London lead positive lives yet the media always seems to concentrate on the negative side.
Constant negative media coverage really adds to society’s fear and misunderstanding of young people. A quarter of adults surveyed thought almost 1 in 3 young people were involved in violent crime.The ‘99 percent initiative’ has been set up to help put this right. You can find out more and send in your positive stories here: http://www.99percent.org.uk/
This links with activities our PeerLink volunteers have been running recently. Abdul, Natasha and Najma ran a workshop at the PeerLink Awards called ‘Young People + Media = Bad’. Najma explains a little more about it here:
“Our workshop was all about how the media presents young people and how this affects attitudes about young people and has an impact on young people’s behaviour. We had about 20 people in our workshop and I really enjoyed working with new people and hearing their opinions. Everyone got really involved with the discussion”
The volunteers ran an exercise where the same news story was given two headlines, one positive and one negative. The group discussed the affect of negative news on young people and how they are viewed. They also discussed the influence of music, playing a song with negative lyrics and one with positive lyrics, exploring their affect on young people and society. Very interesting debates with plenty of strong opinions – really thought provoking stuff.
If you’re doing positive work in your school or community it deserves to be recognised! you have the power to change how young people are viewed. Send your stories to us and we’ll spread the word, get involved with initiatives such as the ‘99 per cent’ website above or just tell anyone who’ll listen about the great work you all do!
PS: On a similar note here’s a really interesting report just published by NFER: ‘Positivity in practice: approaches to improving perceptions of young people and their involvement in crime and anti-social behaviour’
Archive
