Time to protect our girls

Boy oh boy, I've got a fire under me and it was just started by the local Fox News station in Boston; I doubt they are alone in their behavior but it was the only one I caught tonight so they get my rage.

At the top of the 10:00 broadcast they reported on a string of fights involving young girls in Lowell, MA. While the story is newsworthy enough and could have been covered in a 30 second recap, they decided to go a step further and repeatedly show the fights between the teenage girls, two of who were only in 8^th grade. It was bad enough these fights were caught on camera in the first place and broadcast on YouTube (and subsequently removed because they violated YouTube's policies) but then to show them again, and again, on the nightly news simply disgusts me.

Have we learned nothing in recent years about protecting our children from predators? Should it matter if it's a stranger on the internet that lures our young women away and harms them, or a bully from their own schools doing it in front of a crowd on a sidewalk? Would you opt to show a tape of young girls beating on each other if it wasn't labeled as an "after school" fight?

Did we not learn anything recently from the young woman in South Hadley who was bullied for so long that she finally hung herself in her closet to avoid further humiliation?

Why, why, why, why, why would news organizations disrespect these young girls by showing an already humiliating situation over and over again? They are feeding right into the problem and I am furious every time I see it on TV.

Girls are so vulnerable. They are so frightened, impressionable and fragile. When you literally show their self-respect being beaten out of them by a bully, you leave them with little on which to hang their already beaten down pride. In addition, you sensationalize an epidemic that fluffs the feathers of the already cocky and disrespectful group of terrorists roaming the halls of our schools.

Please stop. I'm begging you. There is nothing in those videos that anyone needs to see. Reporting the story should bring enough attention to the matter. And if it doesn't, then I worry about your viewership that they need to feed off that type of "news" in order to get the point. If YouTube deems it against their policies, so should you!

 

 

Comments

[Carl in Quahog]

First of all, you need to understand the "Faux" News is based on sensationalism, and not the journalistic tenants taught in every J school in the country. This is their modus operandi and is what separates them from the "other" news outlets. Unfortunately, in our society, there are those who are attracted by sensationalism, and Faux News has managed to attract and captivate them.

When you chastise them, you are basically asking them to "play by the rules" of respectable journalism. Those are not their rules, so it's sort of like talking to a brick wall.

The solution is to find another news source. Vote with your remote control.

[Christine Sierra]

I agree Carl. And having studied broadcast communications in college I tend to be over sensitive to many of the issues I have with newscasts these days.

Sadly, I do try to support my local news and even clicking the remote didn't help in this instance. They all felt the need to show the videos. Perhaps that's why online content is becoming so popular - I can choose NOT to watch the videos I find offensive instead of having it forced onto me via the public airwaves (many forget they are still public!).

Thanks for your comment.
Christine

[rose]

I'm sorry, but we can't blame the news for reporting this. The problem is that it's happening to begin with. More and more of our daughters television exposure is about conflict. It IS time to protect our girls, but it's not from the news. Our kids watch a lot of TV, and much of the content of the reality programs are based on this model of conflict/drama, from Project Runway to Jersey Shore. The producers of these shows promote conflict. Our kids see very little about resolution. Until we as parents control their access to regular programming that values drama and bullying, it won't end. I see this week all these calls for anti-bullying programs at school. This is a waste of time. One program is not going to undo the hours and hours these kids spend in front of the TV watching conflict as entertainment.

[David A. Bedford]

Faux News is very much in the wrong about this, as it is in everything it espouses. Bullying persists because the teachers and principals, who are figures of power, erroneously consider bullies powerful and their victims weak. As a result, schools always favor bullies over their victims. And "Faux News" favors the powerful over the vast majority of Americans. There you have it. Disgusting. My new novel, Angela 1: Starting Over deals with bullying undergone by the main character and how she handles it. It is damaging to the school and the wider community. To find out more about the book, please follow the link to the web site. Thanks!