Covering Cedarfest 2008

Following the riots of nearly 4,000 MSU students this weekend, East Lansing Police attempted to disperse Cedarfest 2008 crowds with canisters of tear gas and smoke bombs. After a facebook.com event planning to revive the rambunctious party tradition from the '80s in Cedar Village apartments adjacent to MSU's campus, students chanted, mooned and pelted police with probably every brand of beer can known to man.
To make matters worse the Cedarfest crowd received coverage from CNN, USA Today besides the obvious media stories in the Lansing State Journal and Detroit papers. Not that MSU students rioting is anything new, but making national news gives the world a certain impression. Reports were said to have 52 people arrested, 28 being MSU students and only 13 canisters of tear gas being used. This not being the bulk of the party crowd, the news media put a spin on this, like it was Woodstock bonfires and madness meets the Million Man March.
For Michigan State's independent voice The State News, the media outlet with the closest connection to the "riots," took angles showing the actuality of the matter. From the majority of students not-in-attendance to low numbers of arrests, the slant is less tilted to "another wild MSU party" but more so a celebration with a few bad apples. However the question is posed, should we expect national-scale mainstream media to understand "we're just students having fun." As I read and watched the videos of Cedarfest, my first instinct was to lower the "Education" section of my resume to the bottom of the page.
I certainly understand how media blows situations out of proportion, but you have to be dumb as a rock to not realize, this national coverage may affect perception of this university and the degrees that are spawned.
The funny thing about the headlines in all the stories besides those written by The State News, each contain the words "tear gas" or "riot." This proves undoubtedly that this isn't a case of "It doesn't matter what you're called, its what you answer to." "Riot" being a word which has limitations, national media played that noun out to get a story as "tear gas" adding the dramatic context. No where besides the The State News story tells that only 13 canisters were used.
Yeah, Cedarfest was awesome, but are there after effects? After the shattered windows of local businesses like Johnny's Lunch Restaurant and Urban Outfitters are repaired and garbage is collected from Cedar Village streets, couldn't this hinder the entire student body, not just party-goers? Michigan's economy is on the outs, but your degree and education is supposed to carry you through to many opportunities. Could negative media coverage of a bunch of belligerent drunks, pointless chants, and kids practicing their pitching-arm on East Lansing's finest, cost you that out-of-state job?

Online addiction of the Youth

In my pyschology class right now, I am learning about the Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials. We all know the stories behind baby boomers, and can guess what Generation X entails, as most of us students fall under that category. Millennials are the children of today, and are known for their reliabilty on technology. An article I found in The New York Times really made me focus on the fact that children are too reliable on computers; so reliable that they cannot live without them. In the article by Felicia R. Lee, the documentary "Growing up Online" is discussed. One of the parents on the show said, “If you’re basically a grounded kid, you’re going to be fine. We need to teach people good citizenship, a sense of morality, right and wrong, that transfer to the Internet.”

I think this article is a real eye opener to what is happening to our nation's youth, and I am glad to see The New York Times cover a documentary, which will appear on PBS, about how to help the youth. The documentary features teenagers talking about online relationships, many like the ones we have seen on 'How to Catch a Predator', or how easily it is to find tips on being a better anorexic. Parents really need to step up and know what their children are doing on the computers. Recently, a teenage girl hanged herself because a boy online said he no longer liked her, and it was found out that the boy did not even exist, but was made up by neighbor girls to make the teenager feel bad. Recently on Dr. Phil, teens were on the talk show explaining how they made mistakes online, such as rumors on MySpace.

I hope to see more reporters covering actual news stories with hope, such as how to stop online bullying or excessive internet use of youths, instead of Miley Cirus' new haircut or Britney Spears' latest drama.