Good News! Study Shows Teens Dislike News Media
Teenagers tend to distrust and dislike the media, and the far-left Associated Press is not happy about it.
A news literacy project asked teens to choose one word to describe the news media, and 84 percent of the responses were exactly what normal people want normal teens to want to hear: negative: “biased,” “crazy,” “boring,” “wrong,” “bad,” “depressing,” “confusing,” “scary.”
I guess “shit” wasn’t an option.
“About half of teens surveyed believe that journalists give special treatment to advertisers, make up details such as quotes, or pay or do favors for their sources.” Meanwhile, nearly 60 percent said “journalists regularly take photos and videos out of context.” Only “a third or fewer believe that journalists correct errors when they occur, confirm facts before reporting them, gather information from multiple sources, or cover stories that help protect at least the public interest.”
Naturally, the AP blames President Trump. “To some extent,” the AP writes, “teenagers are mirroring the attitudes to which they are exposed, especially when the most prominent politician their age has made ‘fake news’ a mantra.”
Yes, I’m sure teens’ negative attitude toward news media has nothing to do with coming of age in an unprecedented era of fake news from corporate and mainstream media:
Naturally, the AP wants public schools to start media literacy classes. “That’s one of the lessons 16-year-old Brianne Boyack learned in her news literacy class,” the AP chirps helpfully. “She had little confidence in the information that was coming in, but she learned the importance of checking her sources when she sees something interesting and seeking out media outlets she finds reliable.”
For normal people, teenagers being wary of the media and not interested in it is a very healthy thing. In a sane world, we would all like young people to worry about nothing other than knowing who they are, who they want to be, gaining the experience and education needed to find a decent job, and starting to build the foundation that will mark their place in the world. If they want to become journalists, great.
I can’t imagine anything that could destroy those golden years faster than “worrying about the world.”
Let kids be kids. Let teenagers be teenagers. Some will naturally discover an interest in journalism and current affairs. Some teenagers, like me, will discover an interest in beer, skip school, and naturally go to the drive-in movie.
Imposing “social justice” (that’s what it really is) on a child is, in my opinion, nothing other than destroying their innocence and denying them the irreplaceable joys that come from youth and not knowing a world outside their own. There are all kinds of times to stress and worry about things you can’t control. There are all kinds of times to get slapped in the face by the real world.
Leave the children alone.
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