PressEthic

Does the prevalence of money and glamour in popular media encourage young people to do whatever it takes to get ahead? What role does media have in perpetuating unrealistic ideals for American youth and encouraging kids to do whatever it takes to attain them?

The sensation of reality television has jaded some into believing that “making it” can happen in an instant. Grandparents no longer dare to detail how they “walked a mile uphill in the snow to school…” Kids won’t believe it. Or they will probably just think that was a pretty stupid idea. Because today, it seems that success can come a lot quicker if you just cut some corners or get on a reality TV show. On my worst days, I wonder why I’m even in journalism school, because that girl from “Survivor” is a moderator on ABC’s “The View,” and that sometimes sure seems like a more enticing route to success that this.

MTV is arguably one of the greatest cultural influences on the youth of America. That is a scary concept and leads one to wonder - is the network using its influence ethically? Sure, MTV is a billion-dollar industry - but at what cost? Though in recent years initiatives such as “Rock the Vote” and an increase in news programming have addressed the problem, those compose a small percentage of the channel’s programming.

Kids are inundated with images of wealth and privilege in music videos, and on shows like “Cribs” or “Laguna Beach.” While this is pure entertainment, a guilty pleasure, for the discerning viewer what about those viewers that are more impressionable? Doesn’t media, such as teen magazines or MTV, have a responsibility to it demographic?

In David Callahan’s “The Cheating Culture” he discusses cheating in American high schools as an epidemic that is worse than ever before.

A nearly exclusive focus on drugs, sex and crime has helped to change behavior among young people in these areas. But there has been little attention paid to problems like greed, materialism and excessive competition. Young people seem to be hearing “just say no about some temptations – and “do whatever it takes about others.”

Whether they are cheating on SAT’s or college applications, stealing clothes from the mall or selling drugs - it seems American kids are in a race to get ahead. However severe the method the motivation is the same, and as journalists we must wonder what effect the media has in perpetuating that need.

As the African proverb says, “it takes a village to raise a child.” Doesn’t media have a responsibility to recognize its place in that village?