Abstracts

Carter, Cynthia. "Growing up Corporate: News, Citizenship, and Young People Today." Television New Media. 2009; 10; 34

This article advocates that media producers should create youth-oriented news programing in the aim of encouraging political citizenship in young people, as opposed to the consumer citizenship encouraged by corporate media. It sites several current studies, including ones underway in the U.K., and draws from academics' work on corporate media effects and political involvement. Siting notable programs like Newsround, this article affirms the attraction younger children have towards news media, but points out the lack of relatable news sources for adolescents, who are expected to transition from children's news directly to adult news. If acted upon, this article's insights could lead to more teenage-oriented news programming and less consumption of corporate media.

Nuttall, Sarah. "Stylizing the Self: The Y Generation in Rosebank, Johannesburg." Public Culture. 2004; 16; 3

This research article critically examines the highly transfigurative culture of middle-class youths based in the commercial area of Rosebank, Johannesburg, South Africa known as the Zone and propagated by such media outlets as YFM, Loxion Kultra, and YIRED. Specific cultural practices are explored to elucidate on the nature of self identification in the Zone and in the Y Generation youth culture that has emerged from around that area. It critically examines the media produced by companies associated with the culture, focusing on Y Magazine, an iconic Y Generation publications. Also included are analysis of theories relevant to emerging cultural practices. Throughout, Nuttall asserts the transfigurative nature of the culture, in which class, race, education, history, and tastes are subject to redefinition and use as accessories to fashion personal identity. Y expressions are said to represent drastic shifts in the culture of South Africa from what had been during the apartheid era. The article offers a direction for cultural studies, away from meaning and translation and towards circulation and transfiguration, asserting that modern cultural practices should be understood in flux, so that the particular meanings behind signs such as race and style, are viewed as unstable material for expression. More of a cultural analysis than a social one, there is little said on the relationship between Y culture and the poverty and epidemic surrounding it, except to acknowledge the use of popular media as escapism and also the radical potential of such dynamic cultures.

Paron, Katina. "It's About Audience: How Adult Audiences can Benefit Youth Media Organizations." Youth Media Reporter. 2008; 2

This article advocates for the implementation of youth media practices towards adult audiences to encourage higher standards, more effective results, empowerment among the youths involved, and awareness among the adult consumers. Real world experiences from youth media organizations, including CPL, Radio Rookies, and Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, are related to reveal the benefits of having adult audiences in mind when producing youth media and the social gains that can be made from engaging those audiences. This article asserts that adult audiences should be engaged for their political currency, their ability to raise the production standards of the participating youths, and to build scare equal settings for children and adults to communicate. If adopted, the suggestions made could improve the significance of youth media organizations, improve their funding potential, and diminish the negative stereotypes of young people among adults.