DC Youth Take Back the Media

Hey ya'll, this is Denisse (age 18) and Jose (age 19). How many times have you heard DC young people speak their minds in the news? And, how many times have you seen them in handcuffs on TV? We don't know about how other people feel about youth being portrayed only as criminals and rarely given the chance to speak out, but it's pissing us off. The fact that whenever we are on TV most of the time it’s on COPS and it's negative and biased drives us crazy.

The media also have been slipping on stating the facts about youth in their reporting. Another youth organization called the Youth Media Council, a project of We Interrupt this Message in New York, did this report on the media, and they made a really good point. They stated that even though the juvenile crime rate is decreasing overall, the news coverage of young people continues to increase. That's real messed up.

I don't know if ya'll ever have heard of Bob Woodward, but he was one of the journalists for the Washington Post in the 70’s who helped the informant Deep Throat bring to the US public the truth about all of President Richard Nixon’s lies and illegal spying. Woodward's writing and reporting led to Richard Nixon’s unprecedented resignation after uncovering the truth.

That is what the media should be doing; investigating and digging for the truth. But now Woodward has changed his way of reporting. Instead of pushing for the facts and the truth about politicians and what they are up to, he is chilling with them by their fires in their living rooms. The question we have is why has he changed?

Is there a connection between what has happened to Woodward and the media as a whole in this downward trend in reporting biased news that doesn't push for facts and instead is pushing what the politicians want us to hear?

Now, answer this, why didn't he tell the truth about his role in the whole thing about the Bush Administration leaking the name of a CIA agent to get revenge on her husband because he criticized the White House? Are you kidding me? These are the types of people that are putting out our news.

What trips us out too is that Woodward has openly faulted himself for not pushing to uncover the truth about weapons of mass destruction intelligence in the days leading up to the Iraq war, even though he was told by several people that there was a good chance the Bush Administration wasn't telling the truth. That is so foul. And surprisingly the public buys this ignorance.

This is another prime example as to why we are doing this blog now!! We’re not writing this just to complain, but because we want to have our say in community dialogue and the media. We're tired of sitting there taking what they hand to us. We want to change the dynamics of how media is being reported and how its pitched to the public.

That’s why we need all of you out there in the the community to support us and have a mutual and reciprocal relationship with our blog and support the idea of an alternative youth run news source. Please feel free to respond.