OVERVIEW

ISSUE

MTV and television: image over content?

AIM

The purpose of this survey was to find out how teenagers are "seeing" the media. Do teens believe that television places more importance on image or content, especially of the individual? The insightful results about how the media affect youth and, consequently, how we can develop strategies to counteract and help our young friends with their feelings and future perceptions.

RESPONDENTS

The survey participants were fourteen to eighteen years of age, in 9th through 12th grades, male and female, white, and from middle-size communities.

SURVEY

Executed for use in a discussion-starter video on the issue of image versus content, the results were used in a program entitled, "Decoding MTV: Values, Views and Videos." The videotaped survey included five questions:

• Do you watch MTV?
• What do you like about MTV?
• Would you rather be judged by how you look or by who you are?
• How do you judge others, by how they look or by who they are?
• What do you believe television judges as more important, looks or the person—who they are?

FINDINGS

Young adults see television placing more importance on an individual’s image rather than the content of their being. The respondents suggest that it is especially true of MTV and advertising, where the students said money is the industry’s primary concern. It was not surprising to hear one teenage girl acting as if she was defiant and wrong, stating that MTV was sexist as a means of generating interest from young males as a revenue builder. It was discouraging to hear that these young people do not talk about these issues.

CRITIQUE

There were no limitations or unusual situations encountered in the survey process. The survey group is not a representative sample of the youth watching MTV.

IMPLICATION

The results of this survey will lead adults to an enhanced understanding of why young people behave the way they do. This way, those working with youth are better enabled to reach kids affected by their skewed perceptions of the world.

Scott N. Morin cCYS