wfn.org | Teen culture is topic at PPM lunch

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7711 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

26-May-2003
GA03021

Teen culture is topic at PPM lunch

Writer says popular media provide what religion fails to deliver

by Emett Barfield

DENVER, May 25  The annual General Assembly luncheon of the Presbyterian 
Media Mission began with a video update on the organizations activities,
presented by Gregg Hartung, executive director.

	The speaker for the event was Lynn Schofield Clark, who began her
career as intern in the PMM office more than 18 years ago and is now an
assistant research professor at the University of Colorados School of
Journalism and Mass Communications. 

	Clark, the author of From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media and
the Supernatural (Oxford Press), spoke about three concerns. 

	First, she addressed teen popular culture. Young people today
consider themselves the ultimate authority on life and what it means, and are
no longer prepared to be told what to believe by an institution, she said. 

	From that she moved to her second point, about the media and its
influence on teen culture, and the technology behind it. Her observation is
that young people feel powerless, and current films and television programs
such as Matrix and Buffy the Vampire Slayer tell stories that exploit those
feelings of powerlessness. 

	Finally, she said, her interviews with teen-agers show that young
people today have a strong sense of spirituality, but it is related not to
traditional religious institutions but to these products of the popular
media. She said the challenge facing religious bodies and people working with
teens to offer something of depth, something beyond entertainment.

	In closing, Hartung asked Presbyterians interested in media to
express their disapproval of policy changes regarding local radio stations
now under consideration by the FCC. He spoke of the importance of maintaining
strong, independent local media. He said private citizens can make a
difference by communicating with the five members of the FCC by mail or
email. All their addresses are available at the commissions Web site:
www.fcc.gov.

	Beth Merry, the president of the PMMs board, concluded by pointing
out the importance of media literacy and recommending the PC(USA)s
media-literacy site on the World Wide Web: www.pcusa.org/ega.
									     
		    

									     
			       

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