MINISTER OF EDUCATION PRESENTED WITH COPY OF RESEARCH ON YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE BROADCASTING MEDIA

MINISTER OF EDUCATION PRESENTED WITH COPY OF RESEARCH ON YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE BROADCASTING MEDIA


Dr. Joseph Grixti M.A. (Oxon), Ph.D (Bristol) recently presented to the Hon. Louis Galea a copy of his qualitative research entitled "Young People and the Broadcasting Media - The Maltese Experience".

The said research has now been published in book format. The study is a critical investigation of the effects of television and radio programmes on the attitudes and behaviour of young people aged between six and fourteen. The evidence and arguments presented here are the results of a major research project commissioned by the Broadcasting Authority, which included extensive interviews with a wide cross-section of children, teenagers, parents and teachers from different demographic and socio-economic backgrounds in Malta and Gozo.

The book examines young people's viewing habits, their likes and dislikes, and the contexts in which they watch television or listen to radio. It explores the impact of advertising and the commercial imperatives of contemporary media entertainments. It records young people's attitudes to classification guidelines and material intended for mature audiences. It evaluates the different ways in which boys and girls of different ages approach and react to screen portrayals of violence and sex.

Dr. Grixti offers a challenging appraisal of what young people themselves have to say on these issues, and of what their statements reveal about the unique but increasingly more globalised contexts of the Maltese broadcasting experience.

Dr. Joe Grixti is a graduate of the Universities of Oxford and Bristol, and he has held lecturing appointments in education, media, cultural and literary studies at universities in Malta, Britain and Australia. He currently lectures in the School of English and Media Studies at the Auckland campus of Massey University in New Zealand. His previous publications include Terrors of Uncertainty: The Cultural Contexts of Horror Fiction (Routledge).

18.05.2000