MEDIA RESEARCH AND YOUTH

BY DR. NAYIA ROUSSOU

______

During the break of a recent lecture I was giving on Media theory, one my students, a little awed, I believe by the different media theories suggested by Denis McQuail in his relevant publication, turned to me in wonder and asked me: “How come you got involved with Media Studies?” I caught the discourse allusions, of course behind her words: You seem rather like a reasonable or conventional type of person, so how come?

Yes, I often ask myself that question and the answer is difficult and complex probably. But I can only fall back on one very strong argument. Television’s arrival in our lives struck me with a blow of wonder, respect, and a thousand questions and concerns especially for the more sensitive part of our population: Children and Young people. This concern I have been embodying in research about children and young people for quite a number of years now. I will try and trace the research I have done for young people by topic, rather than by date, as this will give you a more compact picture of my contribution.

So, in a backtracking movement I should, I believe, mention that my earliest experimental research was, in the context of my M.A. studies in America, a research experiment with children 4-5-years-old, girls and boys and their reactions to violent TV cartoons. Just for the sake of interest, the results registered were, very very briefly the following:

SLIDE NO. 2

  • FOUR-YEAR OLDS REACTED MORE POSITIVELY (IN TIME-SPAN AND FACIAL EXPRESSION, IE. WITH PLEASURE) TO THE AGGRESSIVE VIDEO CONTENTS , AS COMPARED WITH FIVE-YEAR-OLDS.
  • GIRLS OF BOTH AGE-GROUPS REACTED MORE NEGATIVELY (AGAIN IN TIME-SPAN AND FACIAL EXPRESSION) TO AGGRESSION IN THE VIDEO-TAPED CARTOONS, THAN THE BOYS.
  • THE ABOVE CONCLUSIONS PLACED IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EXISTING AT THE TIME RESEARCH, WERE IN FULL AGREEMENT AS RESEARCH WAS SUPPORTED BY DIFFERENT EXPERIMENTS SHOWING THAT BOYS (CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS) SEEMED TO BE MORE ACCEPTING OF TV VIOLENCE AND ALSO EXHIBITED MORE AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOURS IN THEIR TEEN OR YOUNG AGE. (Roussou, 1979)

My interest in television violence, and young people never abandoned me. I wrote several research studies on the subject and in 1995, in the context of the work done by the Intercollege Research and Development Centre, I conducted a pancyprian statistical research project among 400 11-13-year-old elementary and high school Greek-Cypriot students in an effort to compare their exposure to Mass Media (television contents more specifically) as compared to Media of a traditional humanitarian culture, like the theatre, books, music, and church-going as a cultural rather than a dogmatic practice, both types of media, versus their aggressive behaviour in school. The results again illustrated more aggression among those students who watched more (violent or aggressive) TV, and engaged in less traditional cultural activities:

SLIDE NO. 3

FACTORS OF HUMANITARIAN AND MASS CULTURE AND AGGRESSION IN CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

RESULTS:

  • QUESTIONS ON AGGRESSION EXPLORED SUCH BEHAVIOURS BOTH IN SCHOOL AND AT HOME (STEALING, SWEARING, PHYSICAL AGGRESSION)
  • 12 ΑΝD 13-YEAR OLDS SEEMED TO LIKE WATCHING VIOLENT PROGRAMMES MORE THAN 11-YEAR-OLDS
  • ALL AGE GROUPS WENT TO THE CINEMA, THE THEATER AND TO CHURCH MUCH LESS FREQUENTLY THAN THEY WATCHED TV
  • STUDENTS WATCHING TV PROGRAMMES WITH MORE AGGRESSION SHOWED HIGHER FREQUENCIES OF AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOURS
  • CHILDREN WHO WENT TO THE CINEMA MORE FREQUENTLY, ALSO SHOWED MORE TENDENCIES TO AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR
  • CHILDREN WHO WENT TO THE THEATER MORE FREQUENTLY, SHOWED LOWER TENDENCIES TO AGGRESSIVENESS
  • THE SAME REDUCED LEVELS APPLIED TO MORE FREQUENT CHURCH-GOERS AND TO STUDENTS READING MORE EXTRA-CURRICULAR BOOKS

(Cyprus Review, Volume 8:2. Fall 1996, pp.38-78)

Out of the various Conference and seminarpapers, published and unpublished, on the same topic of TV violence and young people, I have singled out and would like to mention one research paper I presented in 2007, in a seminar organized by the Ministry of Justice and the Union of Cyprus Journalists, by the title of “Reality, Youth and the Mass Media: Representation, Relationships and Challenges”.

Allow me here to quote Cecilia von Feilitzen, director of the UNESCO International Clearing House for Children and Television Violence, who, among other conclusions from her continuous relevant research, states the following about television and violence:

“The increase of the Mass Media has increased violence as well. This is not only due to the cumulative influence of the new media but to the increasing competition of the media, as well as to the globalization and privatization of the media”.

Youth delinquency among Greek-Cypriot youth as presented in this research paper, up to 2006, indicated a rise in youthful violence, as follows:

SLIDE NO. 4

SERIOUS CRIME: NUMBER OF CASES

20047621

20057241

20067923

SERIOUS CASES INVOLVING JUNIORS

2004209

2005257

2006478

SERIOUS CASES INVOLVING JUNIORS (BY AGE GROUP)

7-1314-16

2004125335

2005 99339

2006139578

(Cyprus Police Reports, 2007)

A further indication of self-destroying violence is, I personally believe the multiple road accidents due to speeding, drinking or carelessness. A tragic dimension of young people’s lifestyle with continuously increasing losses.

On the other hand, a close-up presentation in the seminar, of newspaper titles and television factual (news) and fictional programmes very eloquently revealed aggressive wording of newspaper titles of reports and articles about violence and aggression while about half the TV programmes of the weekin the Radio/TV Guide, had titles also containing aggression. Furthermore the main news bulletins also contained aggression and violence. What is worse, research, as we all know, indicates that audiences seem to accept factual violence much more easily than fictional violence.

SLIDE NO. 5

CONSIDERING THEREFORE THAT YOUNG PEOPLE (13-20) VIEW TELEVISION 12-15 HOURS A WEEK IT IS NOT GROUNDLESS TO ASSUME A WORKING RELATIONSHIP OF THE INFLUENCES OF TELEVISION AGGRESSION AND VIOLENCE ON YOUTH, IF NOT ON A MASS LEVEL, CERTAINLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL, DEPENDING ON BACKGROUND, SOCIAL CONDITIONS, PSYCHOLOGICAL RECEPTIVENESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULI.

Another aspect of the above-mentioned seminar report, however, deriving from the AGB Ratings, was that young people seem to prefer entertainment programmes and reality shows. The reality show, a new global source of television entertainment has become very popular among young Greek-Cypriots, since “Big Brother” was featured on Cyprus screens in 2001. So, in 2006 together with a colleague from psychology, Dr. Michaela Buck, we did a qualitative research pilot study on “Reality Shows in Cyprus: New Media Fallout?”. which was later published in a Nordicom publication on “Young People, Soap Operas and Reality TV, ed. By Cecilia Von Feilitzen”(2006).

Kellner (2003:109) believes that the way we perceive people is mediated by media images, stating that : “looks, image and style become more and more fundamental constituents of social identities, shaping how people are publicly viewed and defined”.

The question explored in this paper, therefore, through interviews with young people and an analysis of sample reality shows, was how the looks, image and style of the younger generation of Greek-Cypriots (participants at least) is affected by reality shows. In these programmes while the contestants seem to be moving in a semblance of freedom, the oppressive presence of cameras and microphones all around them and the threat of expulsion from the arena of competition constitutes a threatening web all the time. A winner, a loser and a quitter were interviewed about their feelings and reactions during their participation and in their post-participation phases as well.

SLIDE NO. 6

EXPERIENCES MENTIONED INCLUDED:

  • TRAUMA FROM DEFEAT AND EXPULSION FROM THE SHOW
  • INSULTS ABOUT THEIR LOOKS OR APPEARANCE
  • (“YOU LOOK LIKE A LADY OF THE NIGHT WITH YOUR MAKE UP ON”)
  • CRUELTY OF THE JUDGES TO EXTRACT LAUGHS OR TEARS FROM THE PARTICIPANTS

AND MAIN FINDINGS WERE AS FOLLOWS:

  • THE CONTESTANTS BELIEVED THAT THE WINNER DOES NOT NEED TO BE THE BEST, BUT NEEDS TO BE ATTRACTIVE TO THE VIEWERS
  • THE CONTESTANTS ARE UNCERTAIN ABOUT THE IMPACT OF FAME ON THEIR LIVES
  • THE CONTESTANTS WERE TRAUMATIZED BY THEIR EXPERIENCE OF THE VOTING SYSTEM

TV programme preferences, TV violence, participation and viewing of Reality shows, increasing violence and increasing self-destruction on the roads, they are all connected with the lifestyle and the identity of young people. A major theme in today’s Europe. This was my theme as well, in my Ph.D.which I did between the years 1996-2001 on Television and the Cultural Identity of Cyprus Youth. The research was multi-level and combined both quantitative and qualitative research as follows:

SLIDE NO. 7

  • A SURVEY OF THE BIBLIOGRAPHY ON CULTURE AND IDENTITY
  • A STATISTICAL QUESTIONNAIRE AMONG 600 GREEK-CYPRIOT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 13 – 18 - FROM ALL CYPRUS CITIES
  • 23 INTERVIEWS SPANNING AGAIN ALL CYPRUS DISTRICS
  • TWO FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS ONE IN NICOSIA, ONE IN THE FAMAGUSTA AREA
  • A TEXTUAL AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE TOP FIVE PROGRAMMES PREFERRED BY THE SAMPLE

SLIDE NO. 8

THE AIMS OF THE RESEARCH WERE AS FOLLOWS:

  • TO INVESTIGATE THE CULTURAL/NATIONAL IDENTITIES OF 13-18 YEAR-OLD GREEK-CYPPRIOTS AS MEDIATED BY TELEVISION, IN RELATION TO GLOBALISING TENDENCIES,.

`IN PARTICULAR:

TO IDENTIFY AND EXPLORE:

  • SOCIO-CULTURAL THEMES AND THEMES ASSOCIATED WITH NATIONAL/POLITICAL ISSUES, E.G. REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER, WOMEN, VIOLENCE AND DRUGS, AS WELL AS POLITICS AND PROBLEMS OF NATIONHOOD AND ETHNICITY AS MANIFESTED IN LOCALLY-PRODUCED AND IMPORTED TELEVISION PROGRAMMES (FROM USA, UK, GREECE)
  • ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS OF THE SAMPLE ON THE ABOVE SOCIO-CULTURAL THEMES AND ON NATIONAL/POLITICAL PROBLEMS AND ISSUES – THE CYPRUS PROBLEM, RELATIONS WITH TURKISH CYPRIOTS AND LANGUAGE ISSUES
  • TO IDENTIFY AND ANALYSE RESPONSES AND TELEVISION READINGS OF INTERVIEWED TEENAGERS TO TV PROGRAMME CONTENTS, ESPECIALLY IN RELATION TO SOCIO-CULTURAL THEMES.

It was a long, fascinating journey, as the work done could really respond to three, not one Ph.D. But I enjoyed every moment of it and I still miss it. A whole world embodying mass communication theories and embracing current trends in mass media studies was recorded through contact with these young people and through registering their feedback and their negotiations of their cultural identity, not only as to the programmes they viewed, but also through probing their ideas and ideologies about Cyprus, the world, the media, about themselves and about the “Others”.

Ricoeur (1965:278)comments as followson Otherness:

“When we discover that there are several cultures, instead of just one, and consequently, as the time we acknowledge the end of a sort of cultural monopoly, be it illusory or real, we are threatened by our own discovery. Suddenly it becomes possible that there are just Others, that we ourselves are an ‘Other’ among Others”.

It would be impossible to record here the conclusions of this multi-layered research project, so bear with me if I just choose main points.

SLIDE NO. 9

FINDINGS FROM THE STATISTICAL QUESTIONNAIRE:

  • GREEK AND GREEK-CYPRIOT PRODUCTIONS WERE THE FIRST PREFERENCES OF THE SAMPLE
  • SOCIO-CULTURAL PRIORITY VALUES INDICATED:
  • SECURITY FOR CYPRUS
  • HAVING FRIENDS
  • UNDERSTANDING
  • PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS
  • AND A STEADY JOB

SLIDE NO. 10

AS TO NATIONAL/POLITICAL ATTITUDES:

  • THEY MOSTLY PERCEIVED THEMSEVES AS GREEK-CYPRIOTS, THEN AS CYPRIOTS AND LAST, AS GREEKS OF CYPRUS
  • THE CYPRUS PROBLEM WAS, AT THE TIME OF HIGHEST IMPORTANCE FOR THEM
  • ABOUT 30 % CONSIDERED THE TURKISH CYPRIOTS AS NO DIFFERENT FROM THE TURKISH CYPRIOTS
  • ABOUT 27 % AS HUMAN (KIND, POSITIVE)
  • AND ABOUT 31% AS BACKWARD, AS TO ATTITUDES, LIFESTYLES AND EDUCATION
  • A COMBINED PERCENTAGE OF 45% FELT THAT “GREEK-CYPRIOTS AND TURKISH CYPRIOTS CAN LIVE TOGETHER, VERY PROBABLY AND CERTAINLY, PEACEFULLY IN THE FUTURE AFTER A SOLUTION.
  • THEY BELIEVED THAT TURKISH-CYPRIOTS ARE REPRESENTED FAIRLY ON TV CHANNELS.

Of course at the time, except for the news, no other programmes included Turkish Cypriots. And in the news, it was Denktash that featured more regularly, about whom they did not express very benign feelings.

The statistical survey was a map or guide for the research stages that would follow. The integrated results, through the triangulation process were very complementary to the conclusions of the statistical survey.

SLIDE NO. 11

  • THERE WAS IN THE RESPONSES OF THE INTERVIEWEES AND THE DISCUSSION PARTICIPANTS A FEAR OR APPREHENSION OF THE UNKNOWN “OTHER”, TURKISH CYPIOT.
  • THE SOCIO-POLITICAL VALUE OF TERRITORY IN THE ISLAND, ESPECIALLY AFTER 1974, HAS CONNECTED IDENTITY POLITICS WITH THE LAND
  • THE BOUNDARIES SEEM TO HAVE DEFINED BOTH IDENTITY AND ALTERITY.
  • YOUNG PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO IDENTIFY WITH THE OTHERS OF THE IMPORTED (OR CYPRIOT) PROGRAMMES THEY VIEW, BUT QUITE A NUMBER WERE NOT WILLING TO DO SO WITH THE TURKISH CYPRIOT OTHERS.
  • HOW COULD IT BE DIFFERENT IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY TELEVISION PROGRAMMES INTEGRATING THE TWO COMMUNITIES, LIKE “BIZ” TRIES TO DO TODAY, FOR EXAMPLE?

Identities overall but also as to lifestyle and ethnicity then, are never static and the Media play a drastic role in shaping their parameters.The Cypriot youth investigated in this project were caught between a tapering moment of nationalistic and place-bound identity and an ongoing global process of modernity to post-modernity.They still are and we still live in the autocracy of the image.

How and to what extent this formation of identity can change though through the use of television, among other instruments, is a question for further research.

And if you believe I am exaggerating when referring to postmodernity in Cyprus, listen to this: Young people who are members of “Facebook” get up at five in the morning to water their virtual farm or garden!!!!

To remember Kroker and Cook our culture may be vanishing into the absolute and total dominion of the image, the real is slipping away and the power of the spectacle is being consolidated.

So, it was time to turn to a more fresh and contemporary, a more interactive and virtual medium, the Internet.

Having worked with COST-A 20 for six years (2000-2006) in a programme on the “Impact of the Internet on the Mass Media”, I could not forget my favourite interest in young people.

So,parallel to other group publications with the COST team, I first conducted a research report on “The Internet in Academia: a moment of poise before new cultural reflexivities?” (Salaveria, R & Sadaba, C., eds. 2004: (681-700), which I presented in a Cost Conference at the University of Navarra, 2003.

Bignell (2000:198) believes that “computer –mediated technology is not, in fact the lone hacker, but instead, the consumer of technoculture who aspires to the outlaw status of the radical and at the same time seeks the reassurance of a virtual community”.

In a research questionnaire among 200 members of the Intercollege academic community (70% students, 20-25) and 30% lecturers) I sought to explore how the academic community respond to types of news (local, national, international, special topics) and news consumption, as well as Internet meta-communication (social effects on the users) versus other media, ie. Radio and Television. The questionnaire was completed with three interviews from newspaper chief editors as to the planning criteria of their online newspaper versions. Some of the findings:

SLIDE NO.12

  • DETERRITERITORIALIZATION, DISEMBODIMENT, DIGITAL INFORMATION, EPHEMERAL, ELECTRONIC COMMUNITIES ARE DISCURSIVE ELEMENTS IN THE LIFE OF YOUNG CYPRIOTS TODAY.
  • THE ACADEMIC POPULUS HAVE NOT ABANDONNED RADIO AND TELEVISION, BUT THE INTERNET CLAIMS A REGULAR PART OF THEIR LIVES. SO A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP SEEMS TO EXIST
  • TELEVISION SEEMS TO STILL COMMAND THE PREFERENCES BOTH AS TO FREQUENCIES OF VIEWERSHIP AND AS TO TRUSTWORTHINESS, OR POPULARITY IN WAR SITUATIONS OR IN ELECTION TIMES.
  • AND COLLEGE-LEVEL(YOUNGER) RESPONDENTS SEEM TO FIND ONLINE PRESS MORE TRUSTWORTHY, ACCURATE, UP-TO-DATE AND EXCITING THAN UNIVERSITY-EDUCATED RESPONDENTS.

So can we conclude perhaps, that the Internet is still a more youthful medium, or at least this is applicable as to news and news worthiness?

My interest in the Internet and young people continued in the form of two further research projects conducted with another colleague, Dr. Tao Papaioannou.

The first one, “The Internet and Young People’s Sociability: Continuums, or Reversals?” was conducted in 2005-2006 and presented at a COST-A 20 conference in Delphi, in spring, 2006. (Leandros, N., ed.:2006) It spanned 396 respondents to a statistical survey among 3 universities (colleges at the time, i.e. Intercollege, CyprusCollege and the CyprusUniversity). The survey was conducted against a backdrop of conflicting views still existing, as to the advancement or deterrence of sociability of young internet users. The use of television as compared to internet use was also explored, parallel to the type of programmes which attract young college and university students. Aggressiveness and isolation versus sociability, and contentment versus depression were also conditions explored through relevant questions in the survey questionnaire.

Some of the findings were as follows:

SLIDE NO. 13

  • THE INTERNET AND TV VIEWING SEEMED TO BE IN PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP, EVEN THOUGH IN AN AMBIGUOUS WAY, I.E. NO FUNCTIONAL DISPLACEMENT WAS CONCLUDED, BUT THE PREFERRED TYPE OF TV CONTENT VIEWED WAS IN PARALLEL WITH THE PREFERRED INTERNET USE.
  • TIME SPENT ONLINE WAS CORRELATED WITH THE LIKELIHOOD OF DISCUSSIONS WITH FRIENDS ABOUT THE INTERNET EXPERIENCE.
  • INTERNET USE FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES WAS CORRELATED WITH THE LIKELIHOOD OF ENJOYING SCHOOL SUBJECTS
  • AND BELONGING TO A CLUB OR SOCIETY AND USING THE INTERNET FOR SOCIAL COMMUNICATION SEEMED TO INCREASE THE SOCIAL ACTIVITIES OF THE USER.

SLIDE NO. 14

FUTHERMORE, HOWEVER :

  • INCREASED INTERNET USE WAS STATISTICALLY CORRELATED WITH THE LIKELIGHOOD OF VERBAL AGGRESSION AND WITH ARGUING WITH ONE’S FRIENDS
  • INCREASED INTERNET USE FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES WAS CORRELATED WITH THE LIKELIHOOD OF FEELING SAD AND UNHAPY.
  • INCREASED USE OF THE INTERNET FOR MAKING NEW FRIENDS WAS CORRELATED WITH THE LIKELIHOOD OF ARGUING WITH FRIENDS AND FEELING THE NEED OF HAVING MORE FRIENDS.

GENERALLY:

  • CONCLUSIONS FALL UNDER THE JAMES LULL “RELATIONAL TYPOLOGY”, WITH TV EXPERIENCES BEING USED AS A COIN OF EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE AUDIENCE AND MORE SPECIFICALLY TV BEING ASSOCIATED WITH PRO-SOCIAL ACTIVITIES (CLUBS OR SOCIETIES & HELPING FRIENDS)
  • INCREASED TV VIEWING CONFIRMS PREVIOUS STUDIES ABOUT INCREASED LIKELIHOOD OF AGGRESSION AND AVOIDANCE OF CREATIVE LEISURE ACTIVITIES, E.G. SPORTS.
  • DISQUIETING FINDING: SIGNIFICANT CORRELATION BETWEEN TV VIEWING AND THE LIKELIHOOD OF FEELING DEPRESSED, THIS NEGATIVE TENDENCY EXTENDING INTO ADULTHOOD.
  • SAME WITH INTERNET USE: INCREASED INTERNET USE COULD LEAD TO INCREASED SOCIABILITY EXPRESSION BUT ALSO INCREASED VERBAL AGGRESSION AND TENDENCIES OF DEPRESSION.

The above results, more especially since they are statistically significant, may seem strange or contradictory, but it must never escape us that reception studies in the light of cultural studies, do provide a big span of different and frequently opposing reactions on behalf of media consumers, depending on a great variety of factors as to their personalities, environment, psychographic characteristics and educational backgrounds.