Broadcasting and Youth
A study commissioned by the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Independent Broadcasting Authority and the Manpower Services Commission
1979
£1.70 + p&p, 140 pp
ISBN 978 0 903319 14 0
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Broadcasting and Youth looks at what broadcasting is doing and, more importantly, might do in the future to meet the needs of young adults, particularly the less advantaged. It maintains that young adults have needs which are quite distinct from the rest of the adult populations and that these needs are not being adequately met by broadcasters at the moment. It calls not only for new areas of educational programming but also for more popular programming for young adults, at both local and national level.
It is argued that traditional programming will only be effective in meeting young people’s needs if broadcasters work in close co-operation with other agencies and attempt, more frequently than is the case at the moment, to link their programmes to systematic follow-up or support activity. Broadcasting and Youth argues that the development of such collaborative ventures might in the future require the establishment of a Young Adult Unit, to bring together all those who are concerned to help young people in association with the media. This proposal requires urgent consideration, not only by broadcasters, but by all other agencies concerned with young people.