Kim Young-Taylor

I believe teens are portrayed negatively in the media. Although some teens are involved in violent crimes, there are some teens who are making a contribution to society. This summer, I helped one of my youngest mentees participate in the Pre-Teen America Academic pageant. These bright, talented young ladies participated in talent, speech, and community divisions of the pageant. However, no media was present. This pageant was an excellent opportunity for media to shed a positive light on teens.

Why do I like to be a manager in a newspaper?

Newspapers are full of quirky people. There are very different cultures within a newspaper - the writers, the sales representatives, the printers, the mailers...They are all different, not like each other at all. As a managers, I feel I bring value to the equation by helping these different groups communicate. In truth, they hardly ever speak to each other.
Managing is like playing in a band- you have to pay attention to everyone and what they do if you want to make good music...

RaMona Alexander

The big media, unfortunately, are very quick to accentuate negative images in particular of males in urban areas of the Hispanic or African American communities. Futhermore; if images are positive of these two communities, it is of individuals affiliated with sports or entertainment. Rarely do we see stories reflective of communities where youth are portrayed and treated the same in general.

Tracey English

Teens and the media and how they are portrayed. Do they have a voice?

Teens today have a voice greater than they may realize. A number of youth media organizations allow the student voice creative expression on everything ranging from gang violence to latest poetry slam. Advertisers, too, recognize that teenagers are a tremendous untapped market with lots of influence on thier parents to spend and are frantically setting up website focused on the interests of high school students.

It's a huge opportunity for students to take advantage, get their voices heard with comments on blogs that can be posted on a variety of Websites.

Dorothy Emily Bill

There's much more to student life than music and booty-shaking.

In fact, student activism is alive and well among young people in America.

Another example is the protest for Jena 6. Read documents from the Jena 6 case.

For more examples of positive student voices on Jena 6 in the media. View video.

Vivian Vahlberg

How are teens portrayed in the media? In the news media, not enough. We in the media don't write enough about what teens think, what they're interested in, what worries them in the world, and what they're doing with their time. I see more interesting things about the passions and pasttimes of young people by looking at some of the interesting videos on you tube. Like, who knew about cupstacking?



Or liquiding?


Or expressive guitar?


Or rock violin?



Now let's go to YouTube and see what Doru likes on Youtube!

Dale Lockett

In my opinion, the news media portrays teenagers in very broad strokes as sociopaths who are dangerous, destructive and have little regard for life. This is definitely the case when it comes to teens of color. The media as a whole can be lazy by stereotyping and generalizing the youth of America and focusing on the negative acts of a few as opposed to highlighting the accomplishments and success stories of teens from all walks of life. Here is an example, of a horrendous story that took place in Houston recently that received a lot of local attention. Example