The making of generation Y by the press: A study on youth, citizenship and new activism

Generation Y refers to the group of young people who were born after 1980. In the West, they are regarded as a force for social transformation. However, in the East, their image is much ambiguous and even negative. In Chinese society there have been few studies and few discussions about the Generation Y ( called as the post80s). However, in the past two years these young people became active in social movements and grasped the attention of the media. The purpose of this paper is to examine how their image is being shaped by the press and how their role of citizenship is being defined. This study will be conducted in Hong Kong where the debate about the Generation Y is heated. Lately in Hong Kong, the Generation Y people opposed the Legislative Council funding to an express rail link to Guangdong. They confronted with government officials and had conflicts with the police in demonstrations. Besides, they are active in a number of new social movements which promote conservation and value change. Therefore, the policy makers as well as the general public are trying very hard to figure out who they are. The media, then, become the major party to step forward to “deconstruct” and portray this group of young people. Western researchers (Tapscott, 2009) pointed out that the Generation Y people are not “me generation” and they care for their society. Engaging in a new kind of activism, they are a generation moves from civic action to political action. As activists, they are very good at using the new media and are considered as a driving force for democracy 2.0. They are expected to reinvent government service delivery. However, in Hong Kong the activism of the Generation Y is not well received. Their constructive citizenship role is in doubt. This public skepticism seems to be related to their radical media image. This study makes an attempt to find out how their civic and political roles are to be shaped by the mainstream media. The study will also investigate how they use the new media (e.g. blogs, twitter, facebook and forums) to launch their social movement activities. Content analysis is the major method for data collection. Since the debate on the Generation Y begins with the Express Rail Link incident which happened at the end of 2009, the sample period of this study starts from December 1, 2009 and ends on January 31, 2010. This study will content analyze about 1, 500 news items about Generation Y from a news cutting service, Wiser, provided in Hong Kong. It is expected to find that these young people are labeled as radicals and have the following characteristics: not rational, not well organized, superficial, violent, narcissistic and playful. They are stereotyped as active participants in social movements and their political engagement is negatively portrayed. They are also seen as immature citizens. They use the Internet, blogs and social networking sites to get in touch with one another. Therefore, government officials were urged to use the new media to communicate with them.