Fully Focused and Million Youth Media are powered by young people shaping the media they want to see. This article is part of the People-Powered Storytelling collaborative series.
Our article below is a summary of points from a series of peer-to-peer focus groups and conversations held with Fully Focused | Million Youth Media’s network of young people in 2022/23.
‘Feral thugs,’ ‘street jackals’ and ‘thieving criminals’ were some of the headlines depicting working class youth following the 2011 riots across England. Media framed them as the enemy of the state; at odds with morality and civility. These violent outbursts were framed as acts of insanity, not sparked by the death of Mark Duggan in police custody or a reaction to years of systemic racism and economic decline.
The newly formed youth team at Fully Focused, a youth-led media organisation, knew this image did not portray the complex reality at hand. So they got their cameras and decided to flip the script: making the award winning documentary Riot From Wrong (2012).
They sensitively entered Mark Duggan’s community and became their own reporters, relatable peers to the young people they spoke to. They documented the structural reasons behind the riots: highlighting the disproportionate amount of deaths of black men in police custody, and the crippling impact of the recession on youth at the time, with youth centres being slashed across the nation.
The process became a blueprint for what was to come: empowering youth to be the narrators of their own story. 12 years on, Fully Focused is a multi-award winning independent youth-led production company and founders of Million Youth Media (MYM), offering free training and support to young people. Championing the next generation of filmmakers and underrepresented talent and co-creating content with others. Leading by example to create a more equitable media landscape that reflects the people it serves, Fully Focused is supported by a fast growing audience of over 750k subscribers across platforms.
How are young people feeling about the news?
In 2023, with the support of Lankelly Chase, we reflected on our relationship with the news and reimagined what it would look like if young people were at the helm. Working with a core group of young people aged 16-28, we held a series of conversations and focus groups.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that legacy media is dead to them. They are fully aware it is riddled with systematic inequalities – financially, operationally and culturally. Young people from underrepresented communities do not see themselves or their concerns accurately reflected in the press or any form of mainstream media. And if they are portrayed, it is either a narrative of demonisation or of paternalistic pity. They feel strongly about this and they are angry.
Traditional news feels overwhelming, vast and bleak. 96% of the young people in our focus group of 40 said they had entirely switched off from news channels, with one describing the news as “a pneumatic drill of negativity; relentless; never going away.” Consuming the news for them feels like an act of self-harm.
Reimagining the news
With limited resources, our starting point was to look at the existing priorities of our youth network. Each year we ask our substantial audience what topics they want us to explore and we ‘hard hustle’ to find the money to create content. Recent themes have included toxic masculinity, mental health, youth violence, the black experience of mental health provision* and gambling addiction.
For this project the team settled on youth homelessness. Research showed at the time that no political party had a plan in their manifestos to respond to the current youth housing crisis. And strikingly, zero consideration and solutions were offered to address how extortionate rents and out-of-reach mortgages would impact the young generation. A shocking 136,000 young people went into a housing office to declare themselves homeless in 2023. But the real figure is likely far greater: with an invisible epidemic of homelessness in the form of overcrowding, couch surfing and unsafe living.
Our team was given a small budget and took the lead in the content creation process. The team quickly identified New Horizon, a youth centre supporting young Londoners experiencing homelessness, as collaborators, and rapidly formed a network of 140 youth charities to promote a UK wide petition to get the matter debated in parliament.
In just three weeks, five films* were made spanning genres including: spoken word, talk show-style social content, traditional campaign films, comedy content and a drama that secured over 150k views in the first two days, which was core to securing enough signatures to get this important matter debated in parliament.
The subject hit home and it was a cathartic journey for those involved. The project reinforced that involving young people in the production and distribution process of filmmaking can have huge benefits at an individual, organisational, and national scale.
After much debate, we reassured ourselves that well researched content, underpinned by authentic experiences, accurate information and evidence can be classified as news. Young people want to experience their news through a range of formats and genres. They want creativity.
In our experience, nothing connects more than an immersive scripted film. It has the ability to engage audiences on a deep, human and emotional level – in a way that a wordy and alienating news report can not.
News in the hands of creators
Content consumption has a deep impact on the way people feel about themselves, their perceptions of others and their understanding of the world. One could argue that the coverage of the recent UK terror attacks and unrest by mainstream news and social media did not simply document, but actively encouraged anxiety and fear for clicks and sales.
Imagine the impact on the psyche, consuming – on repeat – hate-fueled videos, that expressed a disdain for you based on the colour of your skin or where you came from. A whipped up frenzy of unregulated, often inaccurate videos in our pockets, 24/7? Fuelling both fear and a responsibility to act. Perhaps you might not even have to imagine this depending on your background. These are just some of the conversations that have come up as part of our focus groups.
The media has a responsibility to interrogate how we cover such sensitive topics and the mental impact of consumption. And if youth communities are feeling scared, disillusioned, or feeling a sense of misjustice, what does this mean for our future?
The future can be hopeful, if we dismantle what's broken and rebuild with compassion and responsibility. We believe youthful optimism prevails against the odds. The creation and distribution of news can be repositioned as a tool for self-care, healing, reconnection and empowerment.
There has never been a time where independent socially responsible media has been needed more. Young people would rather build a new, fresh and dynamic system of news than waste time trying to change an old one. This is what excites them. While news stories will not always be positive, they believe the creation process can be. It starts with bringing people together in safe spaces and re-installing the belief that they are heard and change is possible. Generating ideas that can lift and unify communities locally, nationally, on and offline. Where difference of opinion is encouraged and accepted and not used as a weapon for division, but as a starting point for connection.
Our future vision is bright, textured and playful; much like the young people who form our production company. Words and literature are powerful, but they’re certainly not the only way to convey a message or tell a story. Similarly, there are so many other means beyond conventional news formats. We are inspired by the world's many cultures where oral storytelling, song, dance and poetry live and breathe through generations, expressing complex histories, guides and politics. Our news will empower people to share in ways that suit them.
Recently our alumni, Isaac Bokoko and Martina Amoretti, curated an artistic multidisciplinary exhibition named Shades of Resistance featuring a variety of visual works alongside live performances. Through photography, art, film and dance the exhibition showcased how young people were processing and reacting to modern history. The exhibition examined how resistance has been at the core of many young people’s lives over the last two decades – taking inspiration from Pride, Notting Hill Carnival and Black Lives Matter. Themes of heritage, youth, queerness and womanhood were poignantly addressed in the displayed works. It brought people together, fostering a sense of community and empowerment.
There’s also the question of how we are sharing our stories, given the rise of various social media spaces and the lack of regulation around them. As communicators, adapting to so many social spaces is a heavy and psychologically taxing weight to carry. We must protect ourselves and remember to use them and not be used by them.
There is an urgent need for an independent, not for profit online platform to share locally sourced content, quickly and at scale; or at the very least a coordinated means of distributing across existing independent networks. It is our very own elephant in the room: we are sharing through platforms that we have no real control over, that prioritise profit over people. Independence and collaboration cost and united efforts won't gain strength or momentum with project funding alone.
Connection, collaboration and co production are key
We have reignited our belief in the power of community and intentional spaces for dialogue, healing and connection. We would love to work with young people and grassroot organisations across the UK curating safe spaces to hold important conversations: co-creating, sharing and learning. Our vision would be to accumulate independent co-produced content for online distribution and broader sharing through community gatherings, events, Q&As.
Whilst high views and engagement online are important, powerful interactions far outweigh the numbers. Our film Do it for her (2021) is a great example of the power of intentional space and conversation. The film dug deep into the destructive nature of gambling addiction, following a young Muslim male lead played by Fady Elsayd (Gangs of London). It was a scripted feature, but was commissioned by YGAM, TalkGEN and Red Card; organisations aimed at combating gambling addiction amongst diverse communities.
The London Islamic Cultural Society & Mosque also worked closely with us as gambling disproportionately impacts the Muslim community. They allowed us to premiere the film in the Mosque, followed by a powerful discussion after.
Gambling is forbidden in Islam and is a deeply taboo topic in the community, so it was incredibly refreshing to create space for the community to generate intergenerational dialogue, to discuss, heal and connect. The film is still touring Mosques and schools throughout the country.
We realised, it is not just about having millions of views online, but discovered the power of these intimate grassroots interactions, which can have such a profound impact and sow the seeds to change.
Ultimately, whether that be a Mosque where you hold an intimate intergenerational dialogue, a festival that focuses on different issues through art and workshops or an multi-platform campaign for change, the news needs to hinge on bringing communities together; creating, sharing, healing and connecting.
We have the passion, energy and skills of a fantastic young team, we just need the longer term investment to get out there and do it.
Layla Mahmood is a journalist and project facilitator. Rosa Powloski is an executive producer and leads strategy and programmes at Fully Focused | MYM. We welcome you to get in touch with any questions, collaboration ideas, commissions and youth research requests: rosa.p@fullyfocusedproductions.com
*Links available on request
@UKFullyfocused
This article is part of People-Powered Storytelling, a new collaborative series showcasing the transformative impact of community-centred media initiatives in the UK. Read more about the series, and the other contributions that are part of it, here.
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