大象传媒

The media has been accused of ignoring the needs and issues of young people, talking about them, not to them. Ben Williams introduces the season which aims to change all that.

"We always hear that we are the future, but we are frustrated for not being able to be the present," complains one young person from Argentina. That's a quote borrowed from the latest World Development Report, and it neatly sums up what our Generation Next season is all about. This week of special programmes on the 大象传媒 aims to give under-18s the chance to tell the rest of us how they see the world and what they think is important.

This doesn't mean 大象传媒 World Service is going to become a children's radio station for a week - far from it. But we are going to hear a lot more young voices on air discussing the big issues all of us are facing, as well as those of particular concern to under-18s.

Young people tend to get a pretty raw deal in the mainstream media. It's one of the reasons why the web is so attractive to teenagers and children

Young people tend to get a pretty raw deal in the mainstream media. It's one of the reasons why the web is so attractive to teenagers and children, and why they are turning away from traditional sources of news and entertainment like TV, radio and the press. But perhaps media bosses have no-one to blame but themselves. A survey of print media in the UK found that young people were quoted in only 8% of stories about them, and nearly three-quarters of stories about young people were negative. With coverage like that, it's no great surprise that under-18s are getting their information elsewhere.

With Generation Next, the World Service will give young people a chance to set the agenda, will put their issues centre stage and give them chance to question those in positions of power. News programmes are organising teenage panels to advise them about which issues to cover and what angles to take. Young reporters will work alongside 大象传媒 correspondents to give their perspective on news events. And we'll have younger people presenting programmes and asking the questions.

But Generation Next also gives us the chance to challenge young people about the future. What sort of world do they want, and what are they doing to bring it about? The results of a specially commissioned poll of young people in ten countries around the world will provide some of the answers, which programmes will then explore in depth.


One of the biggest issues the next generation is going to have to deal with is population growth. In many developing countries 50% of people are under 18, and that is leading to growth on an unprecedented scale. When today's teenagers are 50 years old, the world's population will have risen from 6.5 billion to 9 billion according to the US Census Bureau. That has huge implications for immigration, food supply, jobs, education, and the environment. Uganda is the most spectacular example. The country's population - 30 million today - is expected to grow to 100 million in just 35 years. It's the young people of today who are going to have to find the answers to the problems this growth will inevitably bring.

Generation Next gives us the chance to challenge young people about the future. What sort of world do they want, and what are they doing to bring it about?

We're also going to be asking young people for solutions to some of the world's most difficult political problems. School Day 24 will bring together children on different sides of conflicts, tensions and divides for a day of dialogue on a scale never seen before.
The focus isn't just on news and current affairs, though. Science programmes will examine the teenage brain, as well as asking why science is a subject massively popular with children in some countries and not in others. We'll be creating the role of a Global Children's Commissioner to hold to account those who should be championing children's rights but aren't. We'll be hearing from exceptional young people who could be the leaders of tomorrow. And we'll be comparing the childhood experiences of people in the public eye with the experiences of young people today.
We're also going to have some fun. is the 大象传媒's search for the best young band in the world. Entries are already flooding in, and the winner will be judged by a global panel of some of the biggest names in the music industry.

To end with another quote, this time from Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Children are all foreigners." Generation Next aims to turn this on its head. By giving an insight into the way young people today think and feel, we're hoping teenagers and children will appear less foreign and more just like us.

Ben Williams was editing radio documentaries in News and Current Affairs before joining Generation Next. He has worked in the 大象传媒 World Service Trust, the 大象传媒's international development arm, on HIV/Aids projects, and was previously in the African Service.