The media and social inclusion. Young people’s contribution

 Many of the black and Asian young people I meet in my day job as social worker are probably socially excluded, not really part of mainstream society. Exclusion can lead to unemployment, poverty, depression and for some kids a temptation to join a gang to find some sense of belonging.

What makes us part of society is often to do with how we experience media messages. Hagel, the only philosopher ever to edit a newspaper, once said that reading the papers was like ‘morning prayers’. I think I know what he means, we feel part of the world through news and the media, we know which celebrity to copy – or which one to have fun looking down on. A ritual that makes us part of things.

For some minority groups, having special papers has been a way to communicate and share experiences, to be part of a community within the community. But this year saw the black newspaper ‘New Nation’ go bust, the Asian paper ‘Eastern Eye’ is teetering, ‘The Voice’ has a dropping circulation and made staff redundant and the gay ‘Pink Paper’ is now only on the web as the printed version collapsed. These excellent papers served have their readers well for many years. But as Haroon Siddique argued in the Guardian (25/01/10), maybe these mainstream papers did their job for the Windrush and first generation immigrants or in the days when homophobia was rife. But now things have changed. The media was almost unanimous in its condemnation of the appearance of the BNP leader Nick Griffin on TV and Jan Moir, the Daily Mail columnist who wrote an article linking Stephen Gately’s death to his sexuality, was bombarded with a huge number of complaints from inside and outside the media.

It is not that the battle against discrimination is won, far from it, but the big audiences for ethnic or minority press seem to have faded as at least some progress has been made. It may also be that some of the established ethnic press are not connecting with the younger generations with relevant or positive enough content. The journalist Lola Adesioye recently wrote (5/5/09  http://www.lolacreative.com) “Black media that perpetuates stereotypes and limits the scope of our interests to crime and entertainment stories, and doesn’t take into consideration the changing nature of the black experience, is a waste of time in my opinion”. 

 Lester Holloway, editor of ‘New Nation’ wrote in the Independent 5/5/2008, not long before the paper closed; "Stories with an emphasis on victimhood – what they have done to us – have had their day. There are stories on racism that have to be done, but they have to be quite spectacular really, we don't want to get into the situation where we are running victim of the week," he added "We have emphasis on empowerment stories and historical stories, stories that uplift and offer food for thought."

The black and ethnic minority mainstream press are aware of changing times and the need to update their content, but on reading the latest editions I could not see much evidence of change, and the circulations keep dropping.

So where does this leave black and Asian young people? On the internet is the usual answer and certainly not reading the Voice or Asian Eye in large numbers. This was highlighted for me when I spoke to some young people recently about their media tastes. I found they did not even look at news or features on the net. Talking to Justin (aged 16), he told me he gets his news from Facebook, or from his mates (some of whom are members of a gang Justin is unfortunately involved with). He had some odd ideas about current affairs. He did not know who Gordon Brown was but did know George Bush (“he’s evil…but I don’t know why”). A few minutes of chat though and he was getting interested and voiced opinions. He disliked the usual media presentation of black young men “it’s like we are all about music or sport or something - you don’t see pictures of black men flying aeroplanes in the paper” he says.

 Yasmin, a 16 year old Syrian asylum seeker, told me she looks at the news – the Syrian papers on line. She knew all about what was going on in Damscus but a frighteningly small amount of what was happening in her home borough. She was fizzing with ideas and questions though. 

Yvonne, a 14 year old young British Caribbean woman, told me about the websites she visits. “They talk about stuff I want to know about” she told me “Like about boys”. Her parents read the Voice – she never does “it's all about ‘back home’ stuff” she says. But she too had lots of opinions about money, fashion, gangs and some things very personal to her. She showed me a website discussing skin colour called ‘Not bad looking for a dark skinned girl!’ “You won’t get that stuff in the paper” she said “but that’s what girls talk about though”.

 So I came away impressed at the voices these young people had, but sad that they felt their sort of views were not heard and did not see much in the media that spoke to and for them. I also felt a bit depressed, these are great young people but I wondered how they would perform in interviews and at work, they were not very connected to the mainstream. They are excluded, or rather find themselves excluded because they feel unheard or that their voices have little value. Why invest in a society that ignores you or worse stereotypes?

 So is the media failing black and ethnic minority young people? A quick look at who writes in the mainstream press and one will struggle to find many black or ethnic minority writers. On can, however, find plenty of stories that demonise or stereotype young people. The National Union of Journalists 2009 conference was told by the News International Branch representative they should pass a motion to say “ There’s very few black faces on the editorial staff and we need to do something about it”. Carried unanimously! But it is not clear what the “something” is.

 Perhaps though there is another approach. Oddly, the Government seems to be ahead on the media on this issue. Gordon Brown, in 2006 as chancellor, agreed £6m for media projects aimed at ‘disadvantaged’ young people. One such project benefiting from grant aid is Headliners who cover a lot of the UK with offices in east London, Belfast and Foyle. Their mission is: “To inspire children and young people to investigate and challenge the world around them, enhance their personal development and promote their right to be heard as equals.” Rather than have journalists write stories about young people, Headliners enables young people to write and broadcast about themselves.

 Another good project is Social Spider, based in Hackney where I live and work. Amongst other things, Social Spider produces a magazine ‘Contrast’ for young people in the borough, written by some very young journalists (with a bit of help from the project staff). The last edition (December 2009) had some great pieces: For example ‘What makes a man’ – some very telling interviews with teenage girls; a funny interview with Eddie Kadi, the comedian; and very pertinently, interviews asking kids ‘Do you think young people are stereo type by the media?” -  One respondent, Renee, said “Yeah, because even if we don’t do something, we’re still always shown in the newspapers doing something bad”. Alongside the magazine is a useful website with lots of links on it.

 So mainstream printed black and Asian papers (like many papers) are in decline, and are themselves aware that the audience is changing fast but seem slow to respond. Websites are proliferating and some give pretty skewed views of the world but others are speaking to young people about things that you cannot find in the open press. Mainstream national papers still seem dominated by white, middle class writers. However, down in the youth projects, some really interesting work is being done. Young journalists and contributors are lining up to speak out, do interviews and have their say.  Perhaps the media should be less hung up on how they write about young people from minority groups and start writing with them. Maybe journalists should get out more.

 As for the young people I know, I went and got lots of copies of ‘Contrast’ and weblinks to other projects and am off to have another chat with them about speak up and speaking out, getting engaged. It may be the best therapy I can offer.

Stephen Vaudrey                                            February 2010