Kim Young-Taylor

I believe teens are portrayed negatively in the media. Although some teens are involved in violent crimes, there are some teens who are making a contribution to society. This summer, I helped one of my youngest mentees participate in the Pre-Teen America Academic pageant. These bright, talented young ladies participated in talent, speech, and community divisions of the pageant. However, no media was present. This pageant was an excellent opportunity for media to shed a positive light on teens.

Tracey English

Teens and the media and how they are portrayed. Do they have a voice?

Teens today have a voice greater than they may realize. A number of youth media organizations allow the student voice creative expression on everything ranging from gang violence to latest poetry slam. Advertisers, too, recognize that teenagers are a tremendous untapped market with lots of influence on thier parents to spend and are frantically setting up website focused on the interests of high school students.

It's a huge opportunity for students to take advantage, get their voices heard with comments on blogs that can be posted on a variety of Websites.

Sara Melillo

<----That's me!

You don't need to consult the piles of research out there to know that teens aren't consuming "mainstream media." Just ask any young person, or your own kids. Don't get me wrong, they (or should I say, we?) are civically engaged and consume all kinds of media. But teens don't need to rely on adults to serve them the "news" or portray them on TV. Web 2.0 means teens can, and are, creating their OWN media to represent and connect in ways that adult-produced media never could.

We're lucky right here in Chicago to have a booming youth media sector engaged in producing print, magazine, online, radio and multimedia arts on topics that really matter to youth, from racism to environmental justice. The McCormick Tribune Foundation has pumped more than $1.3 million in grants to non-profits serving teen youth media since December 2005.

The young people have created video documentaries exploring a variety of topics, particularly on those of social change affecting teens. They've written stories about censorship at school.

Here's a youth-produced look at one of our local grantees, Street Level Youth Media, which provides education to teens in multimedia arts.



The teens also learn crazy new technologies that us dinosaurs could never get, like Open Youth Network/YouthLab's Map of Migrations. This interactive map, called a mash-up, charts the migration routes of the teens ancestors and present families. It also captures their "dreams for future journeys."

Check it out here: http://youthlab.net/category/our-migration-map/

Oh, and if you want to learn more about different youth media groups that we support, check out our grants list.

Lori Moody

I believe the media view teens as only being interested in new fads, gadgets, and what's happening with celebrities. I won't say that teens aren't interested in those things but that we care about other national and global events just like our older counterparts. For instance, I'm involved with a group called YouthLab and we blog and make documentaries to create social change. Alot of times there is this notion where adults believe teens should be "Seen and not heard." I feel that teens have something important to say on many issues, for instance, on who should be our next president in office and the anti-discrimination bill struggling to get passed in all states to stop work biased and corrupt job hiring practices. These things will affect us in the future when we are legal and become tax payers.

I want the media to see what teens are doing in their communties to help make a better future. The web and new technology is allowing teens to make a difference world-wide. The internet is a powerful tool and just by going on sites like YouTube or checking out other blogs on blogger, you can see what many teens have to say about what's going on in the world, which in turn, inspires other youth to let their voices be heard and possibly get passionate about making a difference in their communities.