This week, my class was assigned to look at a piece of local news concerning young adults and to comment how they were depicted and how this could potentially affect youth services in libraries.
The piece of news I chose to scrutinize was a succinct article in the London Free Press titled "Accused teen a Lucas grad" (which can be read here.) I was initially drawn (though not necessarily in a good way) to the short, perfunctory title that was very vague, but still manages to make it clear that a 'teen' has been 'accused' of something. Having previously read Anthony Bernier's article Representations of youth in local media: Implications for library service, I felt that the title reflected the typical negative depiction that youth receive in the media which Bernier describes as "depicting supposed epidemics of violence, crime, drug abuse, mental illness, and immorality among young people" (159); this lead me to want to read the article proper, to see how the journalist would describe the Lucas graduate and to see if it further reflected the realities that Bernier outlines in his article.
The article never explicitly makes any judgment calls about Michael MacGregor (the young adult in question), but it still manages to perpetuate the stereotypes Bernier details in his study. The article states that "[t]hough many students had heard of the horrifying case, and knew MacGregor’s name, few of those asked knew him well", then proceeds to mention one that one girl on the school property (who is smoking no less; even just the inclusion of that minute detail is telling) that MacGregor was "nice" and "has a nice family" and finally concludes with MacGregor's disturbing behaviour on a social media site in which he discussed "violent sex acts and fantasies about rape and torture" with his 31 year old female partner. These details are presented as factually as possible making them appear objective on the surface. However, presented in this order, the article is implicitly stating that while MacGregor may have appeared to be non-threatning and even "nice", it was a facade for his unstable mind and violent behaviour. Overall, the article perpetuates the stereotypes of youth that are so prevalent in the media: they are prone to violent crime.
So what does this all mean for YA library services and policies? Bernier lists several ways in which these depictions can be harmful. If librarians and library administration hold these negative prejudices against youth it could negatively influence library policies. This is seen in the Californian library incident (detailed at the beginning of Bernier's article) which restricted youth from visiting the library between certain times because the staff did not want to tolerate their behaviour (this very same incident occurred at a library in my hometown which was situated across the road from a local high school, so this is a problem that is potentially wide-spread.) By enforcing these kinds of rules, libraries risk alienating youth which in turn could impact the availability of resources for youth in the libraries; if teens are not going to the library, it makes it harder to justify creating resources and services for them. The sensationalism of the media can potentially hurt youth services offered by the library and is something that all librarians should be aware of and to consider critically.
Works Cited:
Bernier, Anthony. 2011. Representations of youth in local media: Implications for library service. Library & Information Science Research 33(2): 158–167
O'Brien, Jennifer. "Accused teen a Lucas grad ." The London Free Press. N.p., 7 Dec. 2012. Web. 9 Jan. 2013. <http://www.lfpress.com/2013/01/07/accused-teen-a-lucas-grad>.
No comments:
Post a Comment