ABSTRACT
One of the most surprising findings of the Southall Youth Survey was that TV news is reported to be the genre most frequently watched and discussed by young people and their parents (see Appendix 10). Yet interview and observational data consistently show that the majority of young people do not enjoy watching news and find much of it uninteresting and difficult to understand. This paradoxical feature of their TV consumption can be explained partly by the fact that news viewing is a domestic ritual in most homes and therefore some news viewing is inescapable. There are, however, more compelling reasons. Competence in understanding and talking about TV news is perceived as a marker of becoming adult and as a way of gaining access to the world beyond their own immediate or local experiences. No matter how boring they find particular bulletins, great significance is attached to TV news as a genre, because it is seen as an invitation to the world of adult affairs. Most young people are motivated to watch news because they wish to graduate to adult competence in the genre. This suggests that, contrary to the findings of media research carried out among adults (Morley, 1986: 162), consumption of TV news is an age-specific rather than, or at least as much as, a class or genderspecific activity.
