At the moment the television channel that speaks most directly to young people is ITV2. As I sit at my desk writing this diary, the channel is showing an episode of the American problems-show Sally Jessy Raphael about reckless teenagers. Jenny is 14 and is telling the audience to shut the fuck up. 'Do you think you are someone who does the right thing in this world?' asks Sally Jessy, the flame-haired talk-show host who spent her teenage years in Scarsdale.

LRB 3 December 2009 | PDF Download