In the Service of Young People? YB titelsida.pmd 1 2006-06-16, 12:42 YB titelsida.pmd 2 2006-06-16, 12:42 In the Service of Young People? Studies and Reflections on Media in the Digital Age Editors: Ulla Carlsson, Cecilia von Feilitzen YB titelsida.pmd 3 2006-06-16, 12:42 Yearbook 2005/2006 In the Service of Young People? Studies and Reflections on Media in the Digital Age Editors: Ulla Carlsson and Cecilia von Feilitzen We would like to acknowledge the support of UNESCO in producing this publication © Editorial matters and selections, the editors; articles, individual contributors (with two exeptions, see page 101 and 233) The authors are responsible for the choice, the presentation of the facts contained in these articles, and the opinion expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the organization. The designations employed and presentation of material throughout the publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the frontiers or boundaries. ISSN 1403-4700 ISBN 91-89471-35-0 Published by: The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media in co-operation with UNESCO Nordicom Göteborg University Box 713 SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG Sweden Cover by: Karin Persson Printed by: Livréna AB, Kungälv, Sweden, 2006 Environmental certification according to ISO 14001 YB titelsida.pmd 4 2006-06-16, 12:42 Contents Acknowledgement 7 Foreword 9 Divina Frau-Meigs Public Service on Digital Media. Letting Young People’s Situation Determine the Timing and Format? 13 Juliet B. Schor When Childhood Gets Commercialized, Can Children Be Protected? 27 Sonia Livingstone & Andrea Millwood Hargrave Harmful to Children? Drawing Conclusions from Empirical Research on Media Effects 49 Mustapha Masmoudi The Arab Child and the Information Society 77 Rasna Warah Divided City. Information Poverty in Nairobi’s Slums 101 Geoff Lealand & Ruth Zanker Dream Worlds and Media Worlds. Using Drawings for Insights into the Lives of New Zealand Children 117 Lilia Raycheva Bulgaria: Television versus Children 129 Lucyna Kirwil Does Polish Television Support the Socialization of Children and Youth? 137 Indrajit Banerjee & Kalinga Seneviratne Money, Ratings and the Kid. Children’s Television in Asia 159 Bu Wei Child Protection Issues in Chinese Media 167 YB innehall.pmd 5 2006-06-16, 12:42 Magda Abu-Fadil Lebanese Youth and the Media. Social and Political Influences 183 C.K. Cheung & Lee Rother Learning from the Pioneers. Development of Media Education in Hong Kong and Canada 197 Lee Rother Youth Media and Media Education as Agents of Social Transformation 217 Bonnie Bracey Sutton Twenty-first Century Learners. A Need for Tech-savvy Teachers 233 Wolfgang Schulz & Thorsten Held Together They are Strong? Co-Regulatory Approaches for the Protection of Minors within the European Union 255 Ulla Carlsson Violence and Pornography in the Media. Public Views on the Influence Media Violence and Pornography Exert on Young People 273 Vítor Reia-Baptista New Environments of Media Exposure. Internet and Narrative Structures: from Media Education to Media Pedagogy and Media Literacy 293 Raising Media and Internet Literacy. Activities, Projects and Resources 305 What is Media and Information Literacy? 307 I Media Literacy for Children, Young People and Parents 313 II Media Literacy for Children, Young People, Adults and Media Educators 331 III Children’s and Young People’s Own Media Production 353 IV Media Literacy for Media Professionals 377 V Internet Literacy 407 References 431 Authors 435 YB innehall.pmd 6 2006-06-16, 12:42 Acknowledgement We would like to acknowledge the support of UNESCO in producing this publication. 7 YB Acknowledgement.pmd 7 2006-06-16, 12:42 YB Acknowledgement.pmd 8 2006-06-16, 12:42 Foreword During the past decades, the media landscape and media culture have undergone major changes. Modern information technology has given rise to a constantly in- creasing supply of media products through many new channels, and our percep- tions of time and space, of the bounds between private and public, central and peripheral, have changed. A good share of the people in this world – albeit far from all – have access to an abundance of information, entertainment and games via tele- vision, films, radio, books, periodicals, the Internet and mobile telephones. Conver- gence, fragmentation, diversification and individualization are characteristics fre- quently taken up in the debate on our contemporary media culture. Communications satellites, digitalization and advances in online services – espe- cially the Internet – have meant an enormous expansion of the global market for media products. The categories information, entertainment and advertising are no longer clear-cut; neither are the bounds between hardware and software, and between product and distribution. An interactive media society has grown up along- side the traditional mass media society. Young people around the world have al- ready opted into it. These technological changes have made truly global flows of information possible, while they have also opened up transnational markets for global media companies. The production and distribution of media products are heavily concentrated, with respect to both ownership and content. Without media and modern information technologies the globalization we speak of would not be possible. Access to a variety of media, telephony and online serv- ices are increasingly recognized as vital factors for political, economic and cultural development, and in the midst of the global development of communication and media are children and youth. But research shows that the situation of children’s and young people’s programmes on radio and television in most countries is deteriorating rather than improving. Like- wise, spaces dedicated to children and young people on the Internet are overwhelm- ingly created by agencies driven by avarice rather than young people’s interests. 9 YB foreword.pmd 9 2006-06-16, 12:42 Foreword At the same time, children use adult programming and adult sites from an early age – meaning that many come into contact with too much media violence and other potentially harmful media traits not addressed to them. Although persons under the age of 18 constitute one third of the world’s population (in some countries more than half), they are also severely underrepresented in the media output (apart from in advertising) – they are seldom seen or heard, and their participation in media production is negligible or non-existent. Thus in national public media, freedom of expression is reserved for a small number of society members, mostly adult members of the economic, political and cultural elite. Regarding private commercial media, which aim at selling as large an audience as possible to advertisers, the issue of freedom of expression may be generally questioned – it is the freedom of the media and not that of media users and citizens that is safeguarded. Even if there are huge divides as regards access to media and information, peo- ple’s everyday lives are increasingly medialized in most corners of the world. How- ever, the current media globalization process favours the interests of richer coun- tries and, above all, the interests of media conglomerates based in the U.S. and to a certain extent in Western Eu- rope and Japan. Countries with fewer resources, such as many nations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, often testify to having been taken by surprise or unawares with regard to this swelling media flood. These countries have few pos- sibilities to counteract or balance the flow through regulations or by producing rel- evant national media contents that can fulfil the country’s basic needs for educa- tion, cultural identity, democratic development, etc. How, then, can television, radio and the Internet in different countries pay proper attention to the rights of children and youth? Might, for example, the public service ideal of certain national Western media contain elements that could serve as a source of inspiration to cultures or nations – or a source of critique that, on the contrary, gives rise to new thoughts on how media can become, to a greater extent than they are today, platforms for increased freedom of expression and democracy for all population groups? Media in the service of the general public and young people should be avail- able for all, make available to all the information and knowledge necessary to be citizens in a democracy, and provide for all users’ many varying interests. Media in the service of the general public and young people should provide freedom of expression for all, thereby facilitating continuous communication through the media – participation in the media by all groups in society is one of the foremost prereq- uisites of democracy. At the same time, media for the general public and young people shall protect the young from injurious information and material. Many parents, teachers and policy- makers are concerned about the negative influences they believe media exert on children and adolescents. Such concerns have been voiced as long as mass media have existed, but the concern has grown in pace with developments in media tech- nology. There is particular concern about depictions of violence in the media and 10 YB foreword.pmd 10 2006-06-16, 12:42 Foreword in computer games. Concern is also expressed about pornographic films and images, and other potentially harmful content that is being distributed more widely via sat- ellite/cable television, the Internet, computer games and mobile telephones. The content takes the form of violent and pornographic fiction and non-fiction, offensive and too many advertisements, stereotypical and disrespectful depictions of young people, women and minorities, hate-mongering messages, and so forth. Interactive media like the Internet also imply invitations to risky behaviour in real life in con- nection with media use.