by Caitlin Garing

Listen to the story!

Recently I found myself sitting in an oh-so-lovely dentist office waiting to be examined for getting my wisdom teeth out. Thankfully, the office had a nice TV to keep my mind off things. Quickly, I found myself sucked into CNN Headline News, which I usually never watch. Over and over again I watched short clips on the far-reaching affects of the latest world tragedy. In short, it was rather depressing. As I got up to go into the little examining room, I wondered, was anyone else affected by the news like I was? And if so, what were the affect that the news had on teens and their parents?

Both teens and parents seem to agree they enjoy watching and reading about stories that deal with their interest. William Gale a senior at Service, said he watches the news about three times a week.

“Usually the sport section is what drives me to the news and sometimes for classes I have to be updated for current events. Usually world politics is the most interesting for me and of course sports, because those are my interest. That’s what I do in school, I love my government class and I love sports.”

Another Service senior, Luke Bartholomew, said he watches the news daily and enjoys original pieces.

“I like news that’s interesting and new because a lot of times it’ll keep going on the same thing, it’ll talk about some political issue, some coup that just took place and they’ll talk about it for a few days in a row and I like something new.”
Brian Waite a science teacher and a father of two, said he pays close attention to current events, especially in science and sports.

“Almost always, new findings in science are especially interesting to me. Opinion pieces I often enjoy, even if I don’t agree with them. And following sports, especially baseball and soccer.”

However there is no denying the attraction that tragedy holds over the human psyche, explains JP Tarbeth, a seminar teacher at Service High School as well as a father. He listens to NPR daily, having mostly given up on TV news.

“I suspect as humans we are drawn to the nature of tragedy and horror. And that’s not in the sense that we enjoy it but rather, I suspect, we want to sympathize and emphasize with people who are in the midst of these horrific situations.”

Still while both parents and teens say they are attracted to the news for similar reasons, they seem to respond to the news quite differently. Many teens said that the news doesn’t affect their perception of safety. As Molly McDermott, a junior at Service explained.

“You can’t say that you’re immune to the things that happen but if it happened all the time, then it wouldn’t be news so you can’t let yourself freak out about it,” Bartholomew said. “I guess I don’t give the news that much heed. I absorb what it says, but I don’t let it affect me too much either way because it doesn’t really pertain to me closely a lot.”

The opposite is happening with parents. Both Tarbeth and Waite find themselves shying away from TV news because of their young children. Tarbeth said he almost never watches it anymore, while Waite said he finds himself turning off the evening news more and more often since the war in Iraq. Waite said it affects his perception of safety.

“Yes, and I think a lot of times its done on purpose, sometimes for good effects but occasionally almost to scare people for more than what its worth.”

Tarbeth, also a father, agreed. “Yes, it does, and I think that gets to the heart of my concern with the media. I do find myself reacting to the news but the trouble is the news enlarges the danger and because I’m only human, I don’t get a sense of the ratio. So for example, we have the horror stories of John Benay Ramsey, and I found myself in that situation, keeping a closer eye on my children and maybe not being willing to let them out of the house as much and I’m not to sure that, that is the right reaction to have.

But does the news focus mainly on negative stories in order to draw a larger audience? Or to fear monger? Not at least at the local level. KTUU Channel 2 news director, John Tracey, explained, “When you try to determine what makes a good news story we do not look at news as negative or positive, that’s number one. …As news professionals we don’t look at stories in those terms, the whole idea of something being negative or positive is absolutely foreign to us.”

As Tracey said, what makes the news are the stories that are out of the ordinary, whether these stories are positive or negative depends on your position. Take for instance, the recent events concerning the Anchorage School District and unsupervised children.

“Now to the Anchorage school District that was a negative story. But if you’re a parent, you probably want to know that story don’t you, if you have a child who’s in first grade. You probably want to know as much as you can about that story.”
Tracey also pointed out that the average newscast contains a range of topics, from technology to crime.