Media representations of the “new” childhoods: from mass media to digital environment

The representation of children and childhood in the media has always been a topic of great social and political importance, though poorly treated and considered. Mass media and digital media has always contributed to the construction of childhood as it is part of everyday life of children and adolescents who use it more and more frequently, considering it to be a real “living environment”. At the same time, the media “builds” social images of childhood and adolescence that are broadcast, conveyed and progressively legitimized. Without trying to exhaust the depth of this topic, this article intends to provide some examples of the representation of children in the media: the press and tv, the beauty contests for children, the role of new technologies in the new processes of “mediated storytelling”.