Planète Jeunes – information and entertainment

Planète Jeunes – information and entertainment

The cover of Planète Jeunes looks like that of any other European magazine for young people, featuring pictures of stars of sport and pop and the titles of the articles inside. But this magazine’s aim is defined by a project to promote reading and citizenship to allow young Africans (aged 15 to 25) “to access the outside world, to obtain information in order to succeed, to develop, express themselves and communicate.”

Planète Jeunes aims to attract the interest of young Africans by using language that is humorous and current. Articles are short, straightforward, well laid out and accompanied by various explanatory boxes and photographs. The magazine is produced by a team of African staff based in Paris and numerous African countries. There is also Planète Enfants for smaller children. Distributed in more than 25 French-speaking countries in Africa, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean, these titles reach more than a million readers. Let’s hear from the editor-in-chief, Eyoum Ngangué.

Planète Jeunes features readers’ letters and runs an Internet forum. Tell us about the desires, wishes and dreams of young Africans?

It’s difficult to give a direct answer to that question because young people have so many and such varied dreams, desires and wishes. A recurrent theme in the mail we receive calls on the young to build a strong Africa which refuses to accept a fate of poverty. Other letters express the almost existential   in the broader sense   fears of young people about guidance on education, friendship, love, sexuality, self-confidence and fears about the future etc. And we also receive lots of pieces of literature – love letters, poems and songs. Like young people in other parts of the world, they worry about their immediate prospects (school, work) and an often uncertain future (peace, the environment etc.). One thing we have noticed is that methods of communication have changed. We used to receive lots of our mail by post. Today, most of the letters come in by e-mail. You also see the impact of technological changes on young people who tend to express themselves more through the language of texting, which unfortunately filters through into their letters.

And how is Planète Enfants the little brother of Planète Jeunes launched in 1998 performing?

Planète Enfant has caught up with Planète Jeunes in terms of circulation. And the number of subscribers is growing. It is used as a teaching aid by teachers in schools and it has entered into partnership with organisations such as Unicef, Plan International, the World Health Organisation and the International Labour Organisation to run campaigns on issues like road safety, child labour and the recording of births etc. The main difference between the two titles is that parents buy Planète Enfants, while young people buy Planète Jeunes themselves.
 
What types of young people are you aiming at? Is it young people who love western culture, like football and music?

Thanks to digital technology, young African people receive exactly the same images as young people in the rest of the world. They are connected directly to cable and satellite stations that show clips of American hip-hop throughout the day. They watch football matches from all the big stadiums in Europe and Latin America. However, while they have access to the world, they also keep their feet on the ground. They love the American stars as well as actors in small-budget sitcoms who speak the language of the African street and deal with social issues. They adore coupé-décalé, a type of music performed by young Ivorians based on Congolese rhythms. Planète Jeunes has to cover this great range of global and local trends. This is why our magazine may seem like a patchwork of information on American stars, big African names in football and music, social issues, which for example deal with addiction to video games, and current affairs, such as the Chinese presence in Africa or the American elections. Not to mention careers, science, fashion, health, in particular AIDS, humour through sketches and comic strips, and travel.

Sandra Federici