Young people and gendered media messages

In this report, the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media directs its attention to gendered media messages. The contribution of media to the maintenance of the gender order is particularly important to study, considering the situation of children and young people, who have constant access to today’s extensive media output through a multitude of different channels. The report attempts to account for what is going on in the field of gender and media in a broad sense. The main focus is on news content and popular mainstream media primarily targeted at children and young people. Included are studies and reports from different disciplines, as media issues also attract scholars outside traditional media and communications research. Data from media watch and media literacy organizations also form part of the basic material. Awareness is often followed by an urge to work for change, which is why a few tools for improvement are presented: guidelines from the International Federation of Journalists; Child Rights and the Media, Putting Children in the Right; and a compilation of guidelines for gender-sensitive reporting collected from the UNESCO site.