The document discusses media stereotyping of British teenage boys. It notes that the media often portrays teenage boys in a negative light using terms like "yobs", "delinquents", and depicts those wearing hooded tops as menacing. Surveys found that most teenage boys feel the media represents them unfairly, and that news coverage disproportionately focuses on stories about teenage crime. It concludes that this negative portrayal in the media can influence how teenagers perceive each other and that most news articles do not include the perspectives of teenage boys themselves.

1. ‘Hoodies or Altar Boys?
What is media stereotyping doing to our British boys?
• Media view of teenage boys as ‘yobs’, ‘delinquents’, ‘feral’,
‘hoodies’, ‘vandals’, ‘sick’, ‘heartless’, ‘scum’
• Image of boys in hooded tops has become media shorthand for
menace
• 85% of boys 13-19 thought media represented them unfairly
• Even applied to ‘new’ media: only 31% thought BBC online or Sky
News online, portrayed teen boys in a good or neutral light
• 44% thought reality TV (e.g. X Factor) portrayed them in a good light
• Of 8,269 newspaper stories about teenage boys, 4,374, were about
crime
• Even non- crime stories were mostly negative: Only 24% of stories
about teens and sport were positive; only 16% of stories about them
and entertainment were positive
• Representation in news media leads to teens being wary of other
teens
• A 2005 study found that fewer than one in 10 articles about young
people actually quoted young people, or included their perspectives
in the debate.
• Boys who died in 2008 were referred to in news as: ‘model student’,
‘angel’, ‘altar boy’, or ‘every mother’s perfect son’