Society, the Press and the Medias Views on Todays Youth

Authors Avatar

Hannah Lindley

Society, the Press and the Media’s Views on Today’s Youth

Teenagers all over the world – Britain especially – have a negative light constantly thrown upon them. Whether it’s drinking, drugs or violence, everyday there are newspapers bringing up another story to add to their reputation which is constantly falling into a downward spiral. So are all teenagers really as bad as their eminence lets on?

Firstly, I looked at an article from the Chicago Sun-Times titled “Keep Teen Get-Togethers Under Control,” by Mike Thomas which immediately groups together all teen parties as out of control, giving the reader the impression that all teenagers must drink and use unacceptable behaviour. This is a common example of the unruly stories and the parent’s continuous battle to put a lid on their outrageous behaviour. The sub-heading reading “parents can cross party lines – without being party-poopers” uses a slang noun phrase, often used in informality. This suggests that the writer of the article is quoting the teenagers and is obviously speaking from the adults’ point of view. An example of this can be found when Thomas is saying that parents can cross “party lines” as if he’s remarking on the rules made by the teenagers to rule out the parents’ views. This makes the article readable for parents of teenagers.

“The beer and rum were flowing” begins the article – an exaggerated modification gives the already shocking details about a deeper story concerning the incident with the drunk driver – almost as if the beer and rum were actually flowing through he party. Other examples of modification include “deadly” and “boozy bash,” - both of them being bound morphemes – modification, colloquialism and alliteration - helps to describe the situation in more detail.

Join now!

The article contains a lexical field of crime and alcohol – with which teenagers shouldn’t be involved. The majority of the article is about teenagers breaking the law with underage drinking as a common subject, which is meant to shock parents into taking more precaution. Also, when alcohol is mentioned, a result of the crime is usually said shortly after – “driver drunk,” “deadly,” “boozy bash,” “jail time,” “underage thinking.”

The tone of the article is depressing as the death of youth is compared to a party – a huge contrast: “On their way back to the party… crashed their ...

This is a preview of the whole essay