Persuasive Essay

Dale Young

Dayoung4407@yahoo.com

Dale Young

Dayoung4407@yahoo.com

COM 156

COM 156

impact of media on youth violence

impact of media on youth violence

In the past few years, shockingly violent acts perpetrated by young people have figured prominently in newspaper headlines. Such stories have added to the general public’s growing fear of a rising tide of violence among today’s youth. According to “Stopping Youth Violence” (2013), “Every day 186 children are arrested for violent offences in our country.” As youth violence incidences continue to rise particular media outlets have come under scrutiny over their effects on these types of incidences.

There have been many incidences of youth violence in recent years. Some of these incidences have stuck out more in the public eye because of its severity or amount of casualties. One case is that sticks out in particular is the incident that occurred in Jonesboro, Arkansas in 1998. After one student pulled the fire alarm another student, sitting in the woods, began shooting. Afterwards nine people were dead and ten others were wounded. Another more recent incident was the shooting that occurred in Littleton, Colorado at Columbine school. Two high school students carried out a detailed plan that in the end killed thirteen people and the two students themselves. Both of these incidents were traumatic cases were teenage children committed acts of violence but also can be linked to media sources. The teenager who went on a shooting spree in Jonesboro was said to be going through quite the case of bullying through social media outlets for weeks before the incident. The two teenagers involved in the Columbine incident had a large amount of contact with others like themselves through social media and could find plans for making weapons through various websites.

In these and other incidences the media coverage about them has been highly publicized and run for a lengthy amounts of time. The coverage of...