research

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hoodies-louts-scum-how-media-demonises-teenagers-1643964.html

"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".’

"best chance a teenager had of receiving sympathetic coverage was if they died."

 "some news coverage where teen boys were described in glowing terms – 'model student', 'angel', 'altar boy' or 'every mother's perfect son"

"nearly 1,000 teenage boys found 85 per cent believed newspapers portray them in a bad light."

"The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent – portrayed them in a better light"

''80 per cent felt adults were more wary of them now than they had been a year ago. "Nearly a third said they are 'always' or 'often' wary of teenage boys they don't know."

 ''cited by 51 per cent was 'media stories about teen boys' compared with 40 per cent who said their wariness was based on their own or friends' bad experiences of other teens."

''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,"

''Fewer than one in 10 articles about young people actually quoted young people or included their perspectives in the debate.''

''Fiona Bawden, "When a photo of a group of perfectly ordinary lads standing around wearing hooded tops has become visual shorthand for urban menace, or even the breakdown of society, it's clear teenage boys have a serious image problem''

"The teen boys' 'brand' has become toxic. Media coverage of boys is unrelentingly negative, focusing almost entirely on them as victims or perpetrators of crime"

The research, Hoodies or Altar Boys?