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15 year old Madeleine came to the UN to testify about the horrors of life at the hands of Thomas Lubanga as a Child Soldier. This was an official selection a…
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The book starts by looking at young men who style themselves as ‘soldiers’ in a political, mediated battle against adult authority. It ends with the stories of girls who are forced into being the real thing; child soldiers, compelled to take up arms on pain of death or torture. You’d think that access to media was the least of their worries. Far from it. Access to digital resources, and the chance to tell the world about their experiences, are both vital to the healing of girls who have been horrifically exploited by the adults who should care for them. The chapter goes on to explain why these girls are crucial to understanding critical questions about media influence, and the politics of media education. Where societies often worry about the damage done when young people are ‘exposed’ to media, the case of child soldiers reverses the polarity of the influence question; the real problem, for some, is lack of exposure. But even if these young people can translate their experiences into media stories, who watches and listens? Considering this question, chapter 10 explores a central dilemma in contemporary youth media cultures; what does it mean to live in a world where media are effectively public resources-crucial to well-being-that aren’t publicly owned or, for the most part, publicly accountable?