•
Some
Advice From a Parishioner
(As
heard on Teresa's Show 3-22-07)
Secular
Media News Stories
• CBS, NBC Downplay Serious Gardasil Side Effects: Should the government force sixth grade girls to risk death to protect them against a sexually transmitted disease?
July 7, 2008. By
Julia Seward, Culture and Media Institute. A week after the news broke, CBS and NBC finally got around to reporting about the serious complications being caused by Gardasil, the anti-STD drug administered in compulsory vaccinations to girls as young as 12 in three states. ABC hasn’t said a word. Click here to read more.
• Listen to Those Lyrics. The Culture and Media Institute goes beyond the beats and melodies to examine the messages of today’s most popular songs. June 24, 2008. By Colleen Raezler. It’s summer, prime time for cars full of rambunctious teens to bomb around town with the windows rolled down and the music cranked up. Sounds like innocent good times—but that depends on what they’re listening to. Click here to read more.
• Distracted? Understanding The Science Of Attention And Technology's Role In Eroding Our Ability To Focus. June 20, 2008.
Cell phones, Blackberries, e-mail, laptops allowing people to bring their work anywhere, news arriving in perfectly condensed and filtered snippets via the Internet and TV, never before has communication been so instantaneous and information distributed so quickly. Never before have people been so connected. Click here to read more.
• Abstinence Education: Assessing the Evidence. The Heritage Foundation, April 22, 2008. Today’s young people face strong peer pressure to engage in risky behavior and must navigate media and popular culture that endorse and even glamorize permissiveness and casual sex. Alarmingly, the government implicitly supports these messages by spending over $1 billion each year promoting contraception and safe-sex education—12 times what it spends on abstinence education. Click here to read more.
• Perfect Illusions: Eating Disorders and the Family: The Media's Influence. - One of the ways we can protect our self-esteem and body image from the media's often narrow definitions of beauty and acceptability is to become a critical viewer of the media messages we are bombarded with each day. Click here to read more.
•
Teen Content
Creators December 19, 2007. Some 93% of teens
use the internet, and more of them than ever are treating
it as a venue for social interaction -- a place where
they can share creations, tell stories, and interact with
others. Click here
to read more.
•
Christian
Parents Are Not Comfortable With Media But Buy Them for
Their Kids Anyway November 19, 2007. With the
Christmas gift-buying season about to open with a vengeance,
one of the most popular types of presents will be media-related
gifts: CDs, DVDs, video games, and the like. A new Barna
Group study shows that most Christian parents will purchase
such presents for their children despite their misgivings
about the content of those products. The result will be
stress for many well-intentioned but morally uncertain
parents, and inappropriate exposure for millions of morally
vulnerable children. Click here
to read more.
•
Study pinpoints factors for early sex. November 12, 2007. There's a "recipe" that raises
the odds of a teen starting sex early, and the more risky
ingredients in a child's life — for example, not
feeling close to parents, low self-esteem and lots of
TV — the more likely he is to be sexually active
by age 15, suggests a study released over the weekend.
Click
here
to read more.
•
Childhood
TV Viewing a Risk for Behavior Problems: Timing of Media
Exposure Plays a Vital Role in Outcomes October
1, 2007. Daily television viewing for two or more hours
in early childhood can lead to behavioral problems and
poor social skills, according to a study of children 2.5
to 5.5 years of age conducted by researchers at the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Click
here
to read more.
•
Rise and Shine on Democrats: How the
ABC, CBS and NBC Morning Shows Are Promoting Democrats
On the Road to the White House. As the 2008 presidential
campaign season gets underway, wide-open primary races
in both the Republican and Democratic parties are competing
for the media’s attention. So are the broadcast
networks covering both sides equally, or are they tilting
the campaign playing field in favor of liberal Democratic
candidates? Click here
to read more.
•
Public Blames Media for Too Much Celebrity
Coverage, August 2, 2007 - An overwhelming majority
of the public (87%) says celebrity scandals receive too
much news coverage. This criticism generally holds across
most major demographic and political groups. Virtually
no one thinks there is too little coverage of celebrity
scandals. Click here
to read more.
Catholic
Media News Stories
The following are some interesting Catholic news stories
pertaining to Catholic faith and morals:
• Media Management to Protect Your Family: Interview With Talk Show Host Teresa Tomeo By Carrie Gress. DETROIT, Michigan, MAY 11, 2008. Catholic families are beginning to realize there is more to life than what the secular media promises, says a Catholic talk show host. Click here to read more.
• Static Free: Can you tune out the noise of a media-saturated world? Teresa Tomeo is a Catholic talk show host and media consultant with more than 20 years of experience as a print and broadcast journalist. TCA asked her to talk about the subject of her recent book "Noise: How Our Media-Saturated Culture Dominates Lives and Dismantles Families" (Ascension, 2007). Click here to read more.
• Television “continues to have evangelizing potential,” says Cardinal Bertone Assisi, Feb 19, 2008. During a Mass celebrated to mark the 50th anniversary of the declaration of St. Clare as the patroness of television, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said television still holds evangelizing potential and should be used by Catholics. Click here to read more.
•
Number
of new stations explodes as listeners tune in for Catholic
education, inspiration OSV Newsweekly January
6, 2008. The number of Catholic radio stations in the
United States has skyrocketed over the past decade. In
1996, there were only six; today, there are more than
150 -- and that figure could easily double over the next
few years Click
here
to read more.
•
Unplug — as Much as Possible August 6, 2007 Our culture is out to get our kids. Parents
need to be vigilant as they raise their children. There
is no way to utterly escape the culture's influence unless
you literally take them into the woods and never let them
see so much as a billboard with a "What happens in
Vegas, stays in Vegas" message. Click here
to read more.
•
MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI FOR THE 41st WORLD
COMMUNICATIONS DAY Theme:
"Children and the Media: A Challenge for Education"
(May 20, 2007) The theme of the Forty-first World Communications
Day, "Children and the Media: A Challenge for Education",
invites us to reflect on two related topics of immense
importance. The formation of children is one. The other,
perhaps less obvious but no less important, is the formation
of the media. Click here
to read more
Archived
News Stories
The following are some popular news stories that I have
kept for you to read:
•
SEX, DRUGS
AND ALCOHOL POPULAR WITH SOME TEENS ON ONLINE MESSAGE
BOARDS. Wernersville, PA. June 19, 2007 –
Parents who think their teens’ online conversations
with their peers are innocent may want to reconsider.
A new Caron Treatment Centers qualitative study conducted
by Nielsen BuzzMetrics found that 1 in 10 messages analyzed
involved teens seeking advice from their peers on how
to take illicit drugs “safely” and without
getting caught. The messages were posted on common online
message boards, forums and social networks, such as MySpace.com,
ym.com and teenspot.com, among others. Click here
to read more.
•
The Media
Assault on American Values CMI’s new Special
Report “The Media Assault on American Values”
reveals the sharp contrast in values between people who
watch a lot of television every night and those who don’t.
Based on the National Cultural Values Survey, this report
shows a correlation between viewing hours and laxity in
moral values and personal responsibility. Click here
to read more.
•
More Proof
It's the Boob Tube's Fault (June 03, 2007) We
probably didn't need a poll to tell us that the Simpsons,
Will & Grace, and MTV aren't exactly morally inspiring.
But it might be worse than you thought. The Media Research
Center's Culture and Media Institute provided us with
an extensive new poll that says those who watch four hours
nightly volunteer less, are more likely to cheat on a
restaurant tab, and accept less personal responsibility
for things like retirement. They're cool with divorce,
premarital sex, and skipping church. The reason: 73 percent
say Hollywood hurts traditional moral values. Click here
to read more.
•
WEBROOT
RESEARCH FINDING: PARENTS AND TECHNOLOGY NEEDED FOR PROTECTING
CHILDREN ONLINE
Boulder, Co., May 23, 2007. Parents Only Partly Aware
of Child Internet Activity; Spending More Time Online
Than Doing Homework Forty–Three Percent of Teens
Receive Unwanted Invitations While Nearly 40 Percent of
Children Polled Have Received Sexually Explicit E–mail.
Click here
to read more.
•
Sharpton
slams music slang. Campaign targets hip-hop terms for
women, blacks June 3, 2007 BY DAN CORTEZ, FREE
PRESS STAFF WRITER The way the Rev. Al Sharpton sees it,
Detroit is the best place to announce his plan to clean
up hip-hop music. After
all, the city produced famous Motown legends such as Marvin
Gaye, who Sharpton said found a way to talk about love
without being disrespectful toward women. Click here
to read more.
•
Too many
babies are teeny couch potatoes. Study finds 90 percent
of kids under age 2 watch TV and DVDs Click
here
to read more.
•
(Washington, DC) -- The more cigarette
advertising teens are exposed to in retail stores, the
more likely they are to smoke. Researchers say
a new U.S. study supports imposing even tighter restrictions
on tobacco ads. The study, published in the "Archives
of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine," found in-store
advertising increases the odds that nonsmoking teens would
try tobacco. The research team studied 26-thousand eighth,
tenth and 12th graders from 1999 to 2003. The CEO of the
American Heart Association said, quote, "Our children
should not be exposed to Big Tobacco's dirty tricks when
they shop in retail stores.''
• (Eau Claire, WI)
-- Bullying has always a chronic problem for many
kids, and now bullies are finding new ways to intimidate
their victims. Click here
to read more.
•
PTC Applauds FCC’s Report on Violent
Television Industry Must Show Responsibility;
Research Proves Violence is Harmful to Children LOS
ANGELES (April 26, 2007) – Click here
to read more.
•
Women of
All Sizes Feel Badly about their Bodies after Seeing Models
Study finds body dissatisfaction across the board after
viewing magazine ads COLUMBIA,
Mo. Click here
to read more.
•
Association
Between Television, Movie, and Video Game Exposure and
School Performance (from Pediatrics,
the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics). Click here
to read more.
•
The Culture and Media Institute (CMI)
unveiled its first Special Report, “The National
Cultural Values Survey: America: A Nation in Moral and
Spiritual Confusion,” at a press conference today
at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Click here
to read more.
•
The proliferation
of sexualized images of girls and young women in advertising,
merchandising, and media is harming girls' self-image
and healthy development. (APA Press Release February
19, 2007) Click here
to read more. Also, click here
to read the BBC News report on the APA findings.
•
Food for Thought: Television Food Advertising
to Children in the United States Click here
to read more.
•
Study: More
kids Exposed to Online Porn CHICAGO, Illinois
(AP) - Click here
to read more.
•
U.S.
Parents See Media, Not Sex, as Top Worry: Study
(Feb 5, 2007) NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. parents are more
worried about the amount of time their kids spend watching
television or meeting friends on Internet social networks
than about sex or alcohol abuse, according to a new study.
The study was released on Monday by Insight Research Group
and commissioned by Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based
group that studies the impact of media on kids. Some 57
percent of 1,138 U.S. parents surveyed were either very
concerned or strongly concerned about children spending
too much of their time with different media outlets. By
comparison, about 45 percent of parents said they were
as concerned about their kids engaging in sex or using
alcohol.
"Intuitively,
parents have a sense that too much media isn't a good
thing, but they can't quite put their finger on why,"
James Steyer, founder and chief executive of Common Sense
Media, said in a statement. Parents also saw themselves
as bearing the biggest responsibility for the way media
affects their kids, well ahead of the companies that create
TV shows or Internet content, who ranked third on the
list.
Common
Sense Media and the Aspen Institute are hosting a conference
in New York this week where chief executives from some
of the largest media companies -- Time Warner Inc. CBS
Corp. Warner Music Group Corp. and Comcast Corp. -- will
discuss the media's influence on kids.
TV
viewing topped the list of media categories that worried
parents, following by Internet use and playing video games.
Listening to the radio and reading magazines were deemed
as the safest types of media, according to the poll. Concerns
over their children struggling in school or developing
a weight problem also ranked higher, at 55 percent and
46 percent of respondents, than sexual activity or alcohol
use.
•
Day Planners,
Maps and Dictionaries Becoming Obsolete as Technology
Permeates the Modern Family, According to a New Nickelodeon
Research Study 'The Digital Family' (Tuesday
January 23) Click
here
to read more.
•
PTC Finds Dramatic Increase of Violence on TV (LOS
ANGELES January 10, 2007) -- Click
here
to read more.
•
When it
comes to the media, Americans are most concerned about
bias and deception. (Murfreesboro, TN) -- That's
according to a new poll released by Middle Tennessee State
University. Ethicist-in-Residence Dr. Tom Cooper says
truth-telling is the primary concern of about two-fifths
of those surveyed. He says they're concerned about elements
of deception, distortion, exaggeration, sensationalism
and bias. The survey also found widespread concerns over
excess in terms of violence, foul language, gratuitous
sex, redundancy and saturation, and media invasion of
privacy.
Cooper
says the findings are consistent with growing concerns
over journalistic truth-telling issues, entertainment
excess and advertising saturation. The poll surveyed just
over one-thousand randomly selected adults in the United
States. As for how to fix the problem, Cooper says additional
ethics training would help, especially for high-level
media executives.
•
Fitchburg State College professor Dr.
Robert Wellman is a co-author of a study that examines
tobacco use in media and its effects on children.
(Fitchburg, Mass.). Click here
to read more.
•
'Screen
Time' Harms School Time (AgapePress) Click here
to read more.
•
Video
Game Effects Linger In Brain
(Chicago,
IL) -- A new study shows that video games may have a lasting
effect on teenagers. Teens who played violent video games
showed increased brain activity in areas linked with emotional
arousal and decreased responses in areas that deal with
self control. Using an MRI to record brain activity, researchers
asked the children to perform a series of tasks after
playing video games.
The 13 to 17-year-olds, who had no history of behavioral
issues, played both violent and nonviolent games. The
kids who played the violent games had heightened responses
in an area of the brain which shows emotional arousal.
The study's author, Dr. Vincent Mathews said, "Our
study suggests that playing a certain type of violent
video game may have different short-term effects on brain
function than playing a nonviolent, but exciting, game."
-From
Metro Source wire services
•
Study
Finds More Parents Believe Their Kids Are Using Internet
Too Much (Los
Angeles, CA) -- There is a growing number of parents across
the country who believe their kids are spending too much
time online. As part of a sweeping fifth annual study
on overall Internet use put together by the University
of Southern California's Center for the Digital Future,
almost 1 in five parents say their kids spend too much
time online. The study points out that more than two-thirds
of adults say their kids spend just the right amount of
time on the Internet. In addition, the research also finds
that most adults believe their children are spending about
the same amount of time with their friends since they
gained Internet access at home. The study also shows that
75 percent of adults believe using the Internet has not
improved their kids' school grades.
The
broad study also discovered that many adults say using
the Internet creates political power. Nearly 40-percent
of adults in the study say that going online has the ability
of giving people political clout. Adults say the Internet
not only helps them, it helps candidates get recognized.
-From
Metro Source wire services
Helpful
Hints for Making a Difference in the Media
- Get
involved by joining a media watch dog group (see links)
- Establish
relationships with local stations through calls and e-mails
- Submit
story ideas on a regular basis
- Contact
the Federal Communications Commission and let them know
you're concerned about media violence
|