Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Teaching the news to our kids is important—but it's not always easy. Tune in as HSLDA President Mike Smith talks with Kathy Privrat about the problem of media bias, on today's Home School Heartbeat.

Mike Smith:
Kathy, it can be challenging for parents to teach current events to their children when much of the news seems to be biased against family values. In fact, it's almost impossible to report the news without bias, no matter what your viewpoint. How does this phenomenon impact young people as they read or watch the news?

Kathy Privrat:
Well, media bias over a period of time can affect how a young person thinks about a person or event, especially if he or she doesn't have a lot of knowledge about a particular issue. A good example of this is the war in Iraq. The only information most of us have about it is what the media chooses to report. The mainstream media generally portray the war in Iraq as not going well. Anyone who knows any soldiers in Iraq can tell you that they're frustrated by the negative portrayal in the media, and they ask why none of the positives are being reported. Over time, media bias could cause a young person to believe that the U.S. being in Iraq is hopeless and we'll never win. It's like if two siblings are fighting all the time but the parents only hear one side of the story without realizing only one child's side is being recounted. After a while, they'll believe the child who does the explaining. In the same way, if a young person is not aware that bias exists in the media, his or her viewpoint can be subtly influenced over a period of time.

Mike:
Next time, we'll talk about how parents can teach their teenagers to respond to media bias. Until then, I'm Mike Smith.