Media policy is youth policy
Today, young people are naturally producers inside, transmitters inside and receivers inside of medial contents on many channels and platforms. The media shape the growth of young people and are an essential and constant companion. A central task of the youth associations and youth councils in the German Federal Youth Council is to represent the media-political interests of young people and to describe, demand and implement good framework conditions for young people to grow up.
Because the socialisation of young people today is essentially shaped by media and virtual spaces, the design of these spaces and the framework conditions of the media forms of offer are also an essential part of the representation of young people's interests. Thus media policy is also youth policy and youth policy must also be media policy, in addition to many other policy fields.
Media law, youth media protection, digital policy, media concentration law, copyright law, data protection, etc. shape, among other things, the framework conditions for young people growing up and must therefore be political fields of action for youth association work. DAs means, for example, that youth associations and youth councils are committed to ensuring that legislative procedures in fields of media policy are transparent and participatory and that a youth check is a fixed, regular and important part of the legislative process. We will also work to ensure that children, young people and young adults have equal and non-commercial access to media and information. The media and the infrastructure for their dissemination must therefore be regulated in such a way that they can fulfil their task for democracy. Media and distribution channels must not be subject to market power alone.
The list of examples of media policy fields that decisively shape the framework conditions for young people to grow up is long. A youth policy that does not take these essential areas of life into account and does not have a shaping effect on these areas ignores essential areas of the world in which children, young people and young people live. The image that media convey of youth, which is often characterised by problem situations and border crossings, must be discussed. The aim must be to ensure that the diverse lifestyles of young people are presented and communicated in all their breadth in the media.
The DBJR and its member organisations are committed to shaping media policy wherever it affects young people and their interests as part of their youth policy mandate to represent young people as advocates and to developing and strengthening media education approaches. The aim is to establish media policy debates as a regular and significant component of youth policy debates and decisions in the DBJR and its member organisations.
The Conference of Broadcasting and Media Councils is an important place for the discussion and development of media policy positions in the DBJR. Here, representatives of the youth associations are networked in radio and media councils and in regular discussions on current developments in media policy. The professional and media-political assessments that are made here are a good basis for media-political exchange in youth association work.
Unanimously with four abstentions decided by the Plenary Assembly from 25 to 27 October 2019 in Berlin.