Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
their personal experiences or responses, making it clear that it is a personal
commentary.
The personal dimension is highly desirable; what we want from field re-
porters is a picture, not only of the events they are witnessing, but also some-
thing about the experience of being there, which includes personal response.
Field journalists are heroes. They are sometimes killed in action. They go to
dangerous places to help us find out what is going on “on the ground” and to
give us context for understanding events. As we honor them and their experi-
ences, so we also honor their profession.
Typical publishers concentrate primarily on sales and advertising revenue,
so they are extremely concerned with strategy and outcomes in terms of busi-
ness. Their relationship to journalists is typically less meaningful than their
business concerns (although the occasional Pulitzer boosts business). Often,
surrogate personal relevance is used as a sales tool, reporting stories of sen-
sational crimes or emotionally charged political conflicts. The truth value of
American journalism is currently being eroded by the move toward entertain-
ment and the unspoken bias toward American policy.
The general public typically feels a weak relationship with journalists.
Much of the news seems irrelevant to many people. The degradation of jour-
nalism by sensationalism and entertainment value tends to erode truth value
and rarely provides the general public with actionable information (Postman
1985). Children and teens tend to find the news to be part of an adult world
that they are not ready to enter. Teens think about aspects of the news with a
critical eye and often with an activist or utopian bias - characteristics that are
extremely useful in shaping our future.
The lack of young voices in the news is one more way in which contempo-
rary American journalism misses the mark. NPR has sponsored “Youth Radio,”
a weekly news show that is entirely produced by young journalists. Sadly, there
are few other sources of news from the world of the young. There is some activ-
ity of this sort on the Web - for example, www.kidnews.com (news created by
young children around the world) and www.wiretap.com (teen-created news).
Student newspapers can be a vibrant source of information about the interests
and concerns of teens. The student paper at Los Gatos High School, for exam-
ple, devoted two full pages to deep and thoughtful exploration of the causes
and effects of the 9/11 attack. The paper delves into religion, popular culture,
politics, and local news. School newspapers are great sources of information
about how teens view the world and what is important to them. Teens may not
read the
Times
, watch news on TV, or listen to news on the radio, but they are
