Chapter 7 was about how the media unfairly portrayed youth in the United States. Chapter 7 appealed to me because it proved that many Americans based their beliefs off of what the media says without any sound evidence. The chapter had sections termed “Media Myths” about various teenage sterotypes which counterevidence proved to not be true.
For instance, the media has developed the stereotype that teenage sex equates with “kids having kids. It is true that sometimes children do have children, but in the overwhelming majority of cases this is not the case. According to the United States Public Health Service, 71 Percent of all teenage parents have adult parents over 20 years old! Men over 20 years old are five times more likely to impregnated middle and high school girls! Yet, the media continues to focus on sexual irresponsibility of teenagers!
The myth about teenage violence is another example of an unjust stereotype the media presents. Newsweek has presented articles such as “Teen Violence: Wild in the Streets” and “Kids and Guns,” just to name a few. Articles tend to focus on fictionally information in regards to teen violence such as gun-toting, TV images, rap music and lenient youth court judges. The media’s rhetoric fails to mention that far more adults violently abuse children. According to the California Department of Justice 83 percent of all murdered children were killed by adults over 20 years old. FBI Reports sow that people 47 years old are twice as likely to commit murder on a 32 year old. The National Center of Child Abuse and Neglect reported that at least 350,000 children and teens were confirmed victims of sexual and violent abuse every year by adults.
The big question I am left to ask after a brief overview of the evidence, is what does the media have to gain from distorting the truth about teenagers? Does stereotyping children as violent or sexual beasts sound better than the media painting out that thousands or maybe millions of children are not safe because of adults in today’s world? That this is a failure of the government to protect innocent children who are our future in this country? Truth be told, I do not know what the media gains from these lies.
Charlie
16 years ago
4 comments:
What does the media have to gain by not telling the great big TRUTHFUL picture about adults abuses? $$$$$$.
It's easier to assume that kids are the root of all evil yet the numbers speak for themselves. Many generations since the 1920's have pitted kids as obscene, rude, violent, etc. Yet adults controls the media, and if you look at most of the shows on network television, who are most of them geared for? Adults. Where do you find the most violence on TV shows? Adult shows. Look at the highest rated shows on network TV like Jerry Springer, reality shows, Two and a Half Men, etc. Who watches these shows generally? Adults 20-45 years of age. Violence and sex on TV isn't going away because the networks get higer ratings on shows that involve violence and sex. You cannot blame the kids for that.
I agree that it is unfair to blame violence in media for violence in real life. As to respond to your second paragraph, I think the reason people tend to focus on sexual irresponsibility of teenagers is because we don't expect teenagers to be having sex. We expect 20 something year old men to be having sex but teens, well they just aren't adults yet. It's wrong but I think that might be some of the reason for it. They are our innocent children, why are they having sex. I also talk in my blog about the fact that teenage sex is seen as a "female problem." Feel free to read my blog if your interested. I think money does have a lot to do with the fact that the media over plays child social problems but I think a lot of it just feeds off itself. Children being out of control is rewarding for some people. Why would daytime shows have episodes like taking teen moms or back talking boys to Maury's boot camp. Who watches these shows? Stay at home parents most likely, it's on during the day. And they can watch these out of control kids do things and say things and think to themselves my Johnny would never do that. I'm a great parent. And then they can watch the punishment of these unruly whippersnappers and drink in the justice. How dare these kids talk back. Maury'll show them.
The following is a quote from your blog I must comment on: "Articles tend to focus on fictionally information in regards to teen violence such as gun-toting, TV images, rap music and lenient youth court judges. The media’s rhetoric fails to mention that far more adults violently abuse children." I think this is such a crucial statement to make--the media in our country is the most powerful outlet of "information," whether it be true, skewed, or complete lies. One of the articles concluded with the idea that if the media changed its focus, our society's focus would change. Violence, sexual harrassment, and child abuse are all issues greatly affecting the adult world, but the media prefers to negatively exploit only the youth.
Once we get inside the schools as teachers, I think our ability to advocate for change will heighten. We are often reminded that as teachers we probably won't "change the world," but here's an idea: Let's start feeding stories to the Journal Sentinel about POSITIVE things happening in schools. Peoples' reactions will be somewhat along the lines of "something GOOD is happening in MPS? what?!" We have that minor power to start making positive change at the local level....grassroots is a good place to start...
Your post brought up a good point, one I've never considered. What does the media have to gain by not telling the truth? That left me thinking about Males' article in a completely different way. Perhaps, the media feels the need to "live up" to the common stereotypes and standards the world today has. For instance, it's always been ....well almost a cliche to say teenagers are trouble and so on. I remember when I was younger, I was always hearing negative things about teenagers. So this statement is something that's been around for a long time. The media knows if they write the negative stuff, the people will read and agree. I think the only thing the media can gain is further/continued acceptance.
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