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Dangers vs. Hype
Mass media journalists often go for ratings and truth at the same time, preferring high rating news, that's also true. Stories on the Internet's treats to kids capitalize on fear of the unknown. In this section we'll try to broaden out horizons a bit to explore multiple viewpoints and try and arrive at a balanced truth.
Because you have been inundated with the hype, let's start this quest with some high quality anti-hype:
First a quote from a recent news story:
"The National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse counted more than 3 million reports of abuse and neglect of children in America. It also counted 1,215 reported fatalities, more than three a day. According to an article by Dale Russakoff in the current issue of The New Yorker, the same three characteristics are overwhelmingly associated with these deaths - single parenthood, poverty, and substance abuse. These figures are not widely known, nor have they been widely reported.
In contrast, to my knowledge no child has ever been killed directly or indirectly by the Internet - yet it is almost impossible to pick up a newspaper or magazine or watch a newscast without being confronted with a warning about the Internet and threats to children's safety, from child pornographers to kidnappers and seducers, bomb makers, hate-peddlers, cultists, or sexual predators.
The young live in an irrational world, where outside dangers are continuously invoked as an excuse to curb their freedom, curtail their choice, control their lives, and deny them even the most minimal basic freedoms."
From: "To Be Young, Cyber, and Free" (1,400 words) by Jon Katz, 11:59am 18.Apr.97.PDT Wired News.
A very recent hit on the Gray Lady of print, the New York Times. In this piece entitled "What have they been smoking" the Times is taken to task for hyping the dangers of the Net.
What Have They Been Smoking?
(900 words)"Since The New York Times woke up to the Internet as a news story, the Gray Lady has been doing its damnedest to blame cyberspace for the evils that roam the earth .."
http://www.wired.com/wired/ 5.09/netizen.html
And if you're interested in more kid's rights, here's a great piece on the 10 articles of kid's rights from the editor of the famous print version of Wired magazine.
(5,000 words)"Article I: Children Lead the Revolution. Children are at the epicenter of the information revolution, ground zero of the digital world. They helped build it, and they understand it as well or better than anyone.."
http://www.wired.com /wired/4.07/features/kids.html
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URL: edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596r/module9/Apply.html
Last updated: 11-12-97