Year 9 English: Suggested Vlog Structure

YOUTH CRIME CRISIS

Hook/Intro: (20-30 seconds)

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Fake news. It's something that we see every day as social beings who always want to stay informed.
Sometimes the difference between real and fake information online is blatantly obvious but other
times it can silently manipulate and control you. Especially when the same false information is being
repeatedly promoted and blasted at you from all sides. Thats why it's important that you my
followers to do your own research or rely on trusted and factual sources like this vlog that show you
the truth about major issues. In today's vlog, I'll be unpacking and identifying a critical issue
prevalent in today's society that is fundamentally misrepresented by Australian news media so keep
listening as I pull back the curtain or lies woven by the media and expose the truth about the crisis

Framing the issue: (100-150 words, 1 min)

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I’ll be unpacking a significant issue that continues to strike fear into the hearts of Australians as a
result of misrepresentation. The teen youth crisis. Misrepresentation in news media is defined as a
manipulative distortion of the truth in order to represent a person, group or idea in a biased way that
solely portrays the values and beliefs of one side while depicting the other party in a libelous way.
One of the reasons why misrepresentation is such a relevant issue in society today, is the difficulty to
scrutinize and spot it, especially when it can be something like a minor article with an inconspicuous
prejudice that is silently manipulating your thoughts and opinions. Misrepresentation can manipulate
not just your views on important issues but also threaten your future and put you at risk of making
detrimental ill-informed decision which is why it is so important to be discerning viewer and to
actively question the credibility of the information you are being fed daily.

Analysis of Media Text 1: (200-250 words, or 1-2 mins)

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Firstly, youth crime in Australia refers to the criminal activity of people aged between 10 and 17 and
is portrayed by news media as a large-scale detrimental issue. This portrayal can clearly be seen in a
news report by '9 News Australia' that was posted earlier this year to for the claimed purpose of
keeping citizens updated on the crisis but in actuality, only succeeded in promoting emotions of fear
in the hearts of Australians while manipulating them to overestimate the situation, having a negative
viewpoint on offenders and throwing into disregard the opinions of important government figures
thought their intentions and portrayal. Throughout this source various stylistic devices and aesthetic
features were used in order to position the audience and promote a clear bias. This can be seen
through the media's description or offenders, calling them "teenage criminals" and "youth
criminals", labeling them as criminals and eliminating any empathy viewers held towards them.
Another technique used to exploit viewers is the use of emotive language around victims, which was
also used to open the report and set the scene, describing victims as "grieving families" who are
"unleashing hurt and fury" directed towards the Palaszczuk government and that the "staggering
claim is a betrayal" , these emotive descriptions position the reader to empathize with these families
whilst being directed to be biased against the government despite not having any context on the
situation. Similarly, other stylistics feature is used to exploit the audience selective omission when
they cut out segments from interviews and transcripts, simply including information that supports
their view in order to deceive audiences and promote their bias. Furthermore, as this is a visual text,
viewers are also position by emotive images and strategic camera shots, this can be seen through the
background videos containing images of rallies and protests, as well as interviews with affected
families and various CCTV shots of youth criminals throughout Australia through the years that were
gathered and compiled to further the audiences belief that youth crime is a disastrous issue that puts
all Australians everywhere at risk every second of the day, however that is not the full picture. 9
News also goes on to state that "On average, one Queenslander every month in 2023 has been killed
at the hands of a youth criminal, according to the latest state data.", however statistics to back up
this statement cannot be found and were also not included anywhere in the report, non-discerning
viewers would be invited to believe this statement as true and would go on living in fear, despite the
fact that statistics by The Australian Bureau of Statistics show that if the population change is
accounted for, youth crime has actually decreased, although between 2020-21 there was an increase
of 2%, when the population change is accounted for the youth offender rate decreased slightly from
1,785 offenders in 2020–21 to 1,778 offenders per 100,000 persons aged between 10 and 17 years in
2021–22 (Abs.gov.au). Similarly, the next text I will be unpacking and exposing also focuses on these
various techniques that are used to promote bias and misrepresentation specifically towards the
'alleged' youth crime crisis.

Analysis of Media Text 2: (200-250 words, or 1-2 mins)

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(add direct quotes and info)

Secondly, although a good method to ensure the accuracy of information might be to find
corroborating sources this method does not always work especially when the same misinformation is
being repeatedly posted in order to promote a specific bias and view towards and issue. Whilst I was
researching Australia youth crime crisis, I discovered this particularly biased article that was re-
posted 46 times, word for word by a different news outlet every time and other news stories
similarly reposted. The news article that I will now be analyzing is headlined "Three supermarkets
trashed by group of teens amid Victoria's youth crime crisis". This article was posted 2 months ago
and focuses on a series of robberies by a group of young teenagers and successfully utilized various
aesthetic features in order to promote fear towards small business owners and encourage harsher
punishments for offenders claiming it is the "right" think to do. During the duration of the report
emotive devices, such as_ extensive description in order to manipulate audiences. similarly false
balance, and selective inclusion of information were also utalised in order to promote a bias towards
the punishment for offenders. These different stylistic devices misinformed audiences and promoted
a heavy bias that non-discerning viewers would be easily manipulated by. In reality harsher
puishment would not benifit the alledged crisis this is proven by various articles and an analysis on
youth psycology done by (reliable source). Both sources analysed use complex techniques in order to
construct a biased promotion of a serious and misrepresented issue.

Wrapping things up (100-150 words, 1 min)

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I'm sure that now you, my followers, can clearly see the truth about the Australian youth crime crisis
an issue that was heavily misrepresented by news media, as well as the importance of questioning
the credibility of sources and the reliability of the information they provide. Furthermore, I am
confident that after clearly observing my thorough analysis of the different ways that you are being
coerced and exploited without your knowledge you now understand the importance of scrutinizing
the falsified truth that you are relentlessly being forced to consume and protecting yourself from the
dangers of fake news.
Link:

- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-30/queensland-youth-crime-long-term-data-
downward-abs-police/102917994?utm_campaign=newsweb-article-new-share-
null&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web

Sources: