Challenging stereotypes: a revised news agenda for children s online participation. Brian O Neill Dublin Institute of Technology

Transcription

1 Challenging stereotypes: a revised news agenda for children s online participation Brian O Neill Dublin Institute of Technology

2

3 Framing digital youth

4 The Helpless Victim

5 The risky explorer

6

7 Bad parenting

8 Digital Wunderkind

9 A Legacy of Concern

10 Payne Fund Studies ( ) on the role of film Studies of impact of radio (Herzog, 1941 et al) Television (1950s -)

11 The popularity of this new pastime among children has increased rapidly... This new invader of the privacy of the home has brought many a disturbing influence in its wake. Parents have become aware of a puzzling change in the behavior patterns of their children. They are bewildered by a host of new problems, and find themselves unprepared, frightened, resentful, helpless. They cannot lock out this intruder because it has gained an invincible hold of their children. [Eisenberg, Children and radio programs: A study of more than three thousand children in the New York metropolitan area, 1936]

12 It brought the world to everyone s living room, but most particularlyit gave children an earlier look at far places and adult behavior. It became the greatest and loudest salesman of goods, and sent children clamoring to their parents for box tops. It created heroes and villains, fads, fashions, and stereotypes, and nowhere so successfully, apparently, as with the pliable minds of children. [Wilbur Schramm, et al., Television in the lives of our children, 1961]

13 COMPARING MEDIA COVERAGE

14 Surveying Europe EU Kids Online ( ) Random stratified sample year olds per country Interviews at home, face to face Self-completion for sensitive questions Directly comparable across countries

15 Classifying risks (exemplars) Content Child as receiver (of mass productions) Contact Child as participant (adult-initiated activity) Conduct Child as actor (perpetrator / victim) Aggressive Violent / gory content Harassment, stalking Bullying, hostile peer activity Sexual Pornographic content Grooming, sexual abuse or exploitation Sexually harassment, sexting Values Racist / hateful content Ideological persuasion Potentially harmful user-generated content Commercial Embedded marketing Personal data misuse Gambling, copyright infringement Note: risks in bold are included in the survey

16 Media Coverage of Children & Internet Literature Media shape and are shaped by social representations and are involved in the construction of social problems (Griswold,1994) Media can create moral panics (Drotner, 1992; Barker and Petley, 1997) Media can frame reality, influencing perceptions of the world (Meyrowitz, 1995; Morley 2000) Cultivation analysis (Gerbneret al. 1986) can lead people to overestimate incidence of risk or crime

17 Social amplification of risk (Kasperson et al., 1988)

18 Methods Media analysis conducted over two months in 14 participant countries. A total of 1055 news stories analysed Coding: Overall evaluation of what is being discussed in the article Relevance of the article Which part of the Internet is discussed? Risk and Opportunity National vs. Foreign What area of life does it relate to? Origin of the research The views of what agency/spokesperson, if any, is reported

19 Key Findings The average number of stories per newspaper was 20 over the two month period Low levels (8-9) in Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece and Portugal Italy and Spain had higher levels with an average of 40 per month 19% were positive, 37% were negative. The rest were neutral or contained both positives and negatives Two thirds (64%) of stories referred to risks, one fifth (18%) referred to opportunities

20 In many countries content risks count for over half of all risks cited in the press: in Greece and Spain, then Portugal, Belgium, Ireland, Estonia, the UK. In contrast, the reporting of conduct risks is noticeably higher in Norway, Austria (then Italy and Germany). Only in Denmark and to an extent Slovenia do contact risks form a substantial minority of all risks discussed in the press.

21 Country variation in risks coded

22 Comparing Media Coverage

23 Factors influencing press coverage Choices within national media Choices within national media National Press Coverage (Stories) National and International Events and Trends Broader public discourses influenced by various agencies (Haddon & Stald, 2008)

24 Limitations Describes patterns of coverage rather than causal relationship Patterns do not account for why there are country differences Methodological challenges in interpretation and comparative media analysis

25 TOWARDS A REVISED NEWS AGENDA

26 Towards a digital rights agenda How are children gaining access to and using ICT in their daily lives? To what extent does the use of ICT enable children to have greater access to information, education, participation and other valued resources and opportunities? To what extent does the use of ICT by children compound existing vulnerabilities or introduce new risks of harm to children s well-being? Which initiatives, policies and practices are effective in maximisingthe benefits and minimisingthe harm for children in relation to ICT use?

27 Guidelines for awareness raising and media reporting Increase public understandingwithout being alarmist or sensationalist; Focus first on opportunitiesand only secondly on risks Represent young people s perspectivesin ways that respect their rights and their privacy. Ensure reporting is based on reliable evidence and robust research Embed children s digital rights as basis for awareness raising and digital media

28 The EU Kids Online Network EU Kids Online is a multinational research collaboration. Reports and findings can be freely accessed from: