David Mindich speaks on youth and the news

Last Tuesday night professor and author David T.Z. Mindich spoke at Philips Autograph Library about his book "Tuned Out: Why Americans Under 40 Don?t Follow the News."Mindich is the chair of the journalism and mass communication department at Saint Michael ?s College in Vermont and is a former assignment editor at CNN. He believes young people are turning their backs on the mainstream news. "America is seeing the greatest decline in informed citizenship in its history," he said.

Mindich insists he?s "not knocking people under 40," and said he turned 40 only a few years ago himself. He said, however, that young Americans are knowing, caring and voting less.

Mindich blames the many young Americans who are not involved with news and politics for giving the power of choice to the few who are paying attention.

The grim result, Mindich said, will either be a country led by uninformed leaders or a country in which we allow others to make decisions for us. "We the people are the ultimate check on power," he said.

Over the past forty years there has been a steady decline of news consumption, whether watching or reading. Younger Americans are not picking up the habit in their twenties, the time when The New Yorker Magazine said most lifelong habits are formed.

Mindich argues that young people are no less articulate and intelligent than they were 40 to 60 years ago, when young people were "nearly" as informed as their elders. Today, network news is not appealing to the younger generations.

Peter Jenning?s broadcasts are intermediately filledwith Fixodent and Nexium commercials. "Watch the commercials," said Mindich, "it?s almost like opening the medicine cabinet of an elderly couple."

Recently Mindich canvassed the country interviewing everyone from mid-western farmers to southern middle schoolers. His discoveries revealed 96 percent knew who Alicia Keys was, yet, a bleak seven percent knew the three countries President Bush labels as the "Axis of Evil," something that has defined Bush?s foreign policy for the past four years.

Half of Americans believed there was a direct link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11, even though the Bush administration has admitted "no proof of a link." It is the appearance of the link that exists, explained Mindich, and people are not paying proper attention. Mindich said he is not arguing for John Kerry, but the reality is that Bush voters were not properly informed.

News stations are growing less and less dedicated to information and news. "We judge news against [its] entertainment value," said Mindich. Peter Jennings is not that interesting.

But Victoria Sinclair of "nakednews.com" is much more visually stimulating and entertaining than any network anchor. Network news should not try to compete; unfortunately, network news is becoming a show dog, not a guard dog.

In an attempt to make the news more appealing to young Americans, broadcasts are infected with the latest Paris and Brittany sagas. More ads and less stories are "shrinking the news hole," and the media is mostly to blame.

"Good journalism does exist," Mindich insists. Seeking the right news source will lead to the delta of pertinent news and information. Newspaper readers, NPR listeners and PBS watchers are better informed than those who solely rely on TV.

Big changes are essential and must originate in our educational institutions beginning with our young. If middle school minority students in New Orleans, all of whom are under the poverty line, can access information from the New York Times online, why can?t educated middle class young Americans do the same? Referring to our nation?s journalists, Mindich said, "We need to support the watch dogs. We need to hold our leaders accountable. Our democracy depends on it. Patriotism can?t replace information.