10 Things We Learned About Teenagers and The News: The Results of Our Student News Diet' Challenge

10/4/2018 10 Things We Learned About Teenagers and the News: The Results of Our Student ‘News Diet’ Challenge
News Diet’ Challenge - The New York Times
CONTESTS
10 Things We Learned About Teenagers and
the News: The Results of Our Student ‘News
Diet’ Challenge
By Katherine Schulten
Feb. 1, 2018
Winning video by Emma Claire Lisk, 16, of Hoggard High School.
It’s safe to say that few of the teenagers who took part in our media literacy challenge, Explore
Your Relationship with News. were excited when their teachers first assigned it.
“‘Oh, another irrelevant assignment brought forth by my teacher to fill time before winter break,’
I believe was the exact thought that went through my head,” wrote Sarah Cannon, 17, of East
Grand Rapids High School.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/learning/10-things-we-learned-about-teenagers-and-the-news-the-results-of-our-student-news-diet-challenge.html 1/20
10/4/2018 10 Things We Learned About Teenagers and the News: The Results of Our Student ‘News Diet’ Challenge - The New York Times
The challenge was time‑consuming, and we knew we were asking a lot. To participate, students
had to complete three tasks:
1. Do a personal 24‑ to 48‑hour news audit in which you record all the news you get now, where it
comes from and how well it meets your needs and interests.
2. Change your “news diet” to make it better meet your needs. Tinker with sources, content and
platforms to address what you discovered in your news audit.
3. In a personal essay (500 words or fewer) or video (one minute or shorter), reflect on your
experiences before and after you experimented with your news diet, and sum up how you see the
role of news in your life now.
But as they reflected on the results, most students told us they were glad they did it. Max Wilson,
16, of Cresskill High School put it this way:
Examining, logging, and changing my media diet has been an incredibly eye‑opening process. Just
like the products at your average fast food joint, my media diet was composed of four low quality
ingredients in different combinations — bias, selective reporting, out‑of‑context quotes, and
irrelevant purposes.
We heard from 358 teenagers, most clustered in high schools where their teachers obviously took
days, if not a week or more, to guide the process. (Teachers, we can’t thank you enough. In fact,
since the challenge was a new one for us, we’d love to hear how it felt on your end, and if you are
seeing any continuing effects on your students. Please feel free to post a comment here, or write
to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.)
Below we list our winners, runners‑up and honorable mentions, and showcase the essays of our
top students. Throughout, we’ve also embedded the five videos we liked best.
But as we wrote when we introduced the challenge, navigating information in a connected world
is a problem not just for students, but for all of us — which is why we want to detail some of what
we learned. Though these are lessons from teenagers, we’re pretty sure anyone of any age who
takes our three‑step challenge in 2018 will discover very much the same.
_________
10 Things We Learned About Teenagers and News
Video by runner‑up Grace Stensland, 17, Westhill High School.
1. News is everywhere all the time, but most don’t pay a lot of attention
to it.
For many, the 24‑hour news audit revealed that though “news” came to them constantly, it was
mostly in the form of headlines they’d breeze over and not really understand, or updates about
sports or celebrities.
“Rather than perfecting my news diet, I wanted to observe it as it is now — and let me tell you, it’s
ridiculous,” wrote Bronwyn Williams, 16, of John T. Hoggard High School, about the not‑so‑
weighty topics coming through her feed.
Shreya Aggarwal, 14, of River Dell Regional High School, gave us details:
Every day my routine was the same: sink into my bed and pull out my phone to catch up on what’s
happening in the world. Khloe Kardashian pregnant with Tristan Thompson’s baby, Rapper Lil Peep
died from a powerful drug overdose, Melanie Martinez, former ‘Voice’ contestant, accused of rape.
It was an endless stream of celebrity news that I briefly examined but never read in depth. Still, I
felt confident that I was caught up on all the news.
And Olivia, 14, of River Dell Regional High School, worried about the implications of a “news diet”
full of junk food:
My generation is the future and that leaves me genuinely terrified. This feeling came over me in
class when my classmates and I shared the results of our initial news audit for The New York Times
Media Challenge. Who cares that CVS is buying Aetna, or that the Republicans are moving a new
tax bill through Congress? We thought the real news was that there is an ugly sweater party on
Friday, or that Lululemon is having a Black Friday sale.
My peers and I were essentially saying, “I will worry about that when I am an adult.”
2. And yet, it is embarrassing not to know what’s going on in the world.
Student after student talked about how “dumb” they felt in conversations in class, at the dinner
table, and among friends when they couldn’t contribute.
Olivia, 18, of Cresskill High School, wrote, “For most of my life, any time someone asked me, ‘Did
you hear about (important event)?’ my answer was almost always no. I was more often than not
the person responsible for stopping the conversation so that the discussion could be explained to
me.”
Her classmate, Minji, 17, described how that felt in school:

In my journalism class, we read articles and discuss current news. In order to write, you need to
read, and I realized that I never paid attention. Last year during the election cycle, I told myself that
because I had no interest in politics, I didn’t need to bother myself by reading articles about the
presidential candidates and what was happening in the White House. At school, that was what
everyone was talking about. I was lost and could not participate in any discussions, due to my lack
of knowledge. Students and teachers were invested in the news, while I was sitting to the side,
unable to contribute anything in conversations.
3. If you don’t understand the news, it’s hard to start reading it.
Again and again we heard that the process of getting started was daunting.
“I was trapped in a vicious cycle: because I was so used to not updating myself with necessary
news, it was disheartening and even overwhelming to ever start, “ wrote Joanne Yang, 14, of
Seoul International School.
And Nick Mannion, 17, of Jamesville-DeWitt High School, captured another problem he faced in
trying to read articles over tweets:
Obviously this transition was not smooth and simple. It is hard to go from reading an immature 250‑
word tweet to reading a well‑written, somewhat boring professional article, and there were still
problems with these platforms: Could I trust them after watching and reading about the president
of the United States, the man that the Electoral College elected, publicly denounce CNN, NBC, and
The New York Times?
4. But adding just a bit of world or national news to your feeds can
help almost immediately.
Students were surprised at how little it took to feel informed. Quentin Silverio, 18, of the
Canterbury School, wrote enthusiastically: “In just three days I have felt more involved in
conversation and discussions among my peers and teachers and have even enjoyed spreading the
word of some newly discovered scientific evidence with my friends and even my family back at
home.”
“It was hard at first, but I soon noticed it was paying off,” wrote Colleen O’Hare Barrows, 15, of
River Dell Regional High School. “When the topic of a recent Supreme Court case arose in my
history class, I offered my opinion on it, for I had read an article about it two days prior. I talked
with my mother about tax reform. Sure, it was not the most riveting conversation, but it was
necessary. I quickly realized that the more news I read, the more conversations I could participate
in,”
Another teenage participant wrote that after following the news for a week, I “started to feel like a
citizen of the world.”
“I began watching the BBC News at 10 p.m. Surprisingly something so simple as this new routine
immediately starting aiding my lacked knowledge. Just yesterday I was able to contribute to a
discussion on the voting rights act and the situation regarding Roy Moore when originally I only
knew his name and a synopsis of the situation,” wrote Olivia Chislett, 16, from the American
School in England.
And Sherry Zhu, 14, of River Dell Regional High School, added, “Knowing about the Senate tax
bill, North Korea’s nuclear bombs, or the meaning behind #MeToo gave me an epiphany. As a teen
who is about to vote, every decision made by the government impacts the … stability of our
nation.”
__________
Video honorable mention by Jessica Pershinske, 18, Leland Public School
__________
5. Teenagers avoid the news because it’s depressing.
This came through loud and clear as our participants’ primary excuse for not being more
informed.
“My ‘news diet’ was dictated by the idea that it’s better to be ‘dumb and happy’ than to be
informed and have anxiety about the seemingly impending end of the world. I’m exaggerating,
but not by much,” wrote Avery Rikhoff, 18, of the Canterbury School.
Christopher Burmaster, 15, of River Dell Regional High School, sees “why some people just ‘shut
the door’ and block out news” since all he discovered when he began the news challenge were
“problems, problems, problems”:
I found that there is a horrific famine in Saudi Arabia and many innocent people and children are
dying because the Saudi government is not letting any help in. I learned more about the Iraq wars
and how the U.S. is sending soldiers overseas to fight and fix Iraq’s problems with their corrupt
government and invading terrorist groups. If we pull out our troops we can save our money and
lives.
I felt helpless and upset since it felt like I was worlds away from the problems and couldn’t do
anything about them.
And Haylei Coolican, 16, of Westhill High School, was honest about the anxiety the project caused
her:
The news scares me; it makes me feel unsafe, uncertain, bored, sad, and most of all, anxious.
… I have read, watched and listened to news about fires, Donald Trump, technology business that I
still do not understand even after reading an article about it, sexual harassment, celebrity news,
North Korea, pollution, and everything in between since I started this project, and the effect all of
this has had on me is literally sickening. I have felt nauseous after finding out wordly information
on more than one occasion, in addition to either an anxious feeling or pure sadness. These feelings
that I’ve been experiencing lately have made me wonder — Is my anxiety is normal? The other
people in my class, along with my teacher, seem to have such an easy time discussing issue after
issue, while I am silently hiding my scared thoughts.
6. But if you can do something about what you’re reading, it isn’t so
overwhelming.
Many students ended their reflections asking how they could take a more active role in solving
the problems they read about. “What is the importance of watching or reading about the news if
you do not act on it?,” asked Phoebe S., 16, of Hoggard High School.
Isabella Kahn, 14, of River Dell Regional High School, delved deeply into one story in order to
figure out ways to help:
I heard about the Rohingya people, refugees trying to escape violence in Myanmar for a safer
Bangladesh. I had never heard of them before, but, afterward, I researched everything I could about
their plight. Luckily the media was shedding light on their stories, which the Myanmar’s
government was desperately trying to hide … Ignorance is not bliss, it just means more suffering
for people who need us.
Another River Dell student, Lauren, 14, made a personal connection to a headline, “Little Boy who
Receives Thousands of Christmas Cards Dies After Cancer Battle” when she learned her mother
was one of the people who sent the boy a card:
Suddenly, like a gust of wind, it hit me. News was connected to me. This little boy was no longer a
stranger tome, but someone close. His death suddenly became personal because my mom had
reacted to his original story. The story inspired her to take action, and do something kind, which
made an impact on his life. This completely changed my view on the media. When we read and
respond to news, as my mom did, we experience a deep connection to humanity.
7. It’s very difficult to sort “real” from biased or “fake” news, given our
political divide.
Video honorable mention by Nikki Tinnerello, 15, Hoggard High School.
Via their 24‑hour news audit, many students realized that their sources leaned heavily in one
political direction or another, and set out to fix that by adding new ones.
But once they began comparing the treatment of the same story across publications, some felt
angry or defeated.
Katherine Lanzalotto, 14, of the Academy of Notre Dame, wrote “My biggest revelation is that
news has become segmented, and people are watching their own versions of reality.”
Vivian Harper, 16, of Merced High School, agreed: “What I learned from this is that both sides are
heavily opinionated and they just want to make each other look bad which is so frustrating to
realize.”
“The the most important thing I got from this experience is how hard it is to find an impartial
source that gives only the truth, and the facts, without them being twisted and turned to prove a
point,” wrote Morgan Metzger, 13, of the Franklin School of Innovation.
For some students, starting to see bias in news extended to understanding that the interpretation
of a news event depends on the teller, even when that person was a trusted friend or family
member. “Even my parents have their opinions woven into their version of the [news] they give
me,” wrote Sarah Norwalt, 18, of South Side High School.
Alex Main, 17, of Landstown High School, who describes himself as “more informed on politics
and international affairs than the vast majority of Americans,” experimented with reading only
far‑right and far‑left sources rather than relatively neutral ones. He found that “Many of their
articles talk about the same people and events, but with such a hard spin that they seem to be
referencing different events.”
Many provided evidence. Quinn Hagerman, 16, of Merced High School, looked at left‑ and right‑
leaning sources on President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital: “With
both sources presenting the same story in such a controversial fashion, I became indecisive upon
knowing which version to trust. Did Trump make the right decision? CNN doesn’t think so, but
Fox screams ‘YES!’. It becomes difficult for one to know if the information … is unbiased.”
Blue Ocean, 16, of Merced High School, looked at John Lewis’s decision not to attend the opening
of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, as it was covered in both The Daily Caller and HuffPost.
She noticed that the Daily Caller’s reporting was sympathetic to President Trump and provided
few details about John Lewis, while HuffPost was “standing on the side of Lewis” and provided
mostly information on why President Trump should not attend.
Josh Wiesenfeld, 14, of River Dell Regional High School, looked at a variety of headlines about
Roy Moore and noticed their differences:
A Fox News headline states, “Roy Moore, battered by the media and the establishment, loses in
huge Alabama upset” while a headline from CNN stated, “Measuring the ‘Alabama earthquake’:
How Doug Jones won” Comparing the two titles, the first, by Fox News seems to victimize Roy
Moore, an accused pedophile, by using hyperbolic language, while the second headline is more of a
factual statement, by CNN.
And Kathleen, 16, of Arrowhead High School, contrasted the clarity of learning about how
government works in her A.P. class with following it in real life:
In A.P. Government and Politics I’ve been learning about parts of government, public participation,
and the inside and out of political parties. This information gives me a false sense of confidence in
my knowledge about the American government. Through reading I’ve discovered that each little
action that the politicians make is scrutinized and bashed by one side and praised by the other.
Because of this pattern it’s very difficult to understand what’s real and what’s not.
Yet Rachelmarie8500, 17, of Chalker High School, felt if the whole country did this news challenge,
maybe we wouldn’t be so divided:
This exercise leaves me wondering if this mix‑up would benefit our country and if it would help the
states become more unified, like a country should be. As previously stated, it does help me
understand people who are on the opposite side of the political spectrum. If everyone tried the mix‑
up, we would have a better understanding of one another and even though we would disagree with
each other, we might comprehend each others POV’s more clearly.
8. But getting information from a variety of sources can help solve the
fake‑news problem and makes for a healthy news “diet” overall.
Just starting to understand the world of news, and exposing themselves to a wide range of
sources, seemed to open students’ eyes.
Eli Lukens, 13, of the Franklin School of Innovation, explained a useful process he developed:
I Googled “unbiased news”, and came across www.allsides.com. This website offers a liberal,
conservative, and centrist point of view for every article. I read all three points of view for most
articles and I got to see why liberals feel the way they do about things, and why conservatives
disagree and their feelings. I really enjoyed seeing their reasoning and arguments. What really
stood out to me was that sometimes the two sides would make emphasis of some evidence that
proved their claim, while the other side wouldn’t make as big of a deal out of it because it wasn’t
useful to their cause.
Nicole Duerr, 14, of River Dell Regional High School, questioned her own bias:
Why did I never consider what the liberal news outlets had to say? I realized that I rejected liberal
news because I didn’t want to know their narrative. I was grounded in my own views, and
stubbornly rejected whatever the left‑ wing had to say.
Jenna V, 17, of Jamesville-DeWitt High School, had the same problem, but from the opposite
political point of view:
When I took I step back and looked at the news a really consume, I was dismayed. I was being
flooded by Twitter news, CNN, and Syracuse.com. Twitter was the worse. Most of the people I follow
on Twitter are very, very, very liberal. I think the only non liberal person I follow is President
Trump. Actually … I don’t even follow President Trump; Twitter just floods my phone with his
tweets.
Spencer Schultz, 17, of Jamesville-DeWitt High School, realized social media isn’t enough:
On an average day, I’ll spend 45 minutes scrolling through my seemingly endless Twitter feed about
the day’s current uproar. I paradoxically felt inundated by the constant flood of news updates, yet
still oblivious to the world’s affairs. The tweets, though expansive in quantity, lacked breadth in the
details. Twitter is great in that news outlets can send updates out to users instantaneously, but the
platform’s tragic flaw renders it useless. Tweets all seems to dumb down our news into an easy‑to‑
read, 140 character blurb. But the problem is that our news just isn’t that simple. The GOP tax plan
and the Trump‑Russia probe are highly complex issues. And watering the facts down into a quick
tweet does a disservice to Americans, who have the right to be informed.
Denise, 15 took all the social media out of her diet — then realized why it’s valuable:
I decided to have a “juice cleanse.” For a full 24 hours, I ignored every article sent my way on social
media; instead, I pored through the headlines of the day on traditional news sites such as The New
York Times and BBC. For a full day, I was irrevocably freed from the endless wars on social media
comment sections, and the nagging need to constantly fact‑check my sources.
Though this experience was certainly refreshing, I realized something important: to have a well‑
balanced news diet doesn’t necessarily entail removing social media completely. In fact, social
media offers various unique advantages to consumers. For instance, we can actively engage in
conversations about current affairs with people from all over the world.
And Kate Silver, 16, of John T. Hoggard High School, realized how limiting a Snapchat‑only news
feed can be:
I found that the news provided by Snapchat was aimed toward my age demographic. Rather than
sharing news about the serious problems in the world (poverty, global warming, world hunger, etc.),
I was reading about why Walmart was changing its name from “Wal‑Mart Stores Inc.” to just
“Walmart Inc.”. I also noticed that I wasn’t actually reading the articles. I would see the heading and
then quickly skim over it. To my surprise, I wasn’t actually learning the news with as much depth as
I thought I was.
__________
Video honorable mention by Nick Saffell, 16, Leland Public School.
________
9. Figuring out how, when and where to get your news is key to mental
health.
Students wrote about downloading too many apps and getting too many news alerts as they
began phase two of their news challenge. But as they began to fiddle with sources and platforms,
they figured out what worked for them, whether it was podcasts, videos, briefings and other
shorter ways of getting news; apps like Flipboard that aggregate a number of sources; or
watching satirical news to relax after reading too much “real” news.
“What I appreciated about turning over this new leaf was how in control I was of my media
consumption. No longer was I hearing random stories just because of their momentum; I was
reading the stories that I wanted to read — ones I wanted to learn from,” wrote Michelle Yu, 17, of
Cresskill High School.
Jaredth Thor, 16, of Merced High School, realized watching CNN 10 was a lot easier than reading
The New York Times:
I’ve been noticing myself going to CNN 10 first instead of The New York Times. I really did not
understand at first but then I realize that I would rather watch a 10 minute video with Carl Azuz
talking about trivial events rather than read a gigantic essay that goes back and forth, using
rhetorical devices, counterarguments, analysis, etc. That is the beauty of having a news outlet that
promotes videos, the information comes quick and is easily gathered turning a chore of reading into
a fast paced interesting session of knowledge.
And Grace C., 14, of River Dell High School, noticed that, as a lesbian, she’d rather read about
news affecting the LGBTQ community on social media because she can connect with others:
When I learned about the Pulse Nightclub shooting or Roy Moore’s beliefs from traditional news, I
felt vulnerable. When seeing the same stories on social media, I don’t feel alone.
10. Understanding the news can help you relate to family members
across generations.
We end on a heartwarming note. Roughly a quarter of students who participated mentioned that
it was nice to be able to take an active part in current‑events conversations with their parents.
Tyler McCarthy, 15, of the Hoggard High School, put it this way: “I also created an even better
bond with my mom. There is nothing like fighting about who is right and who is wrong to
strengthen a relationship.”
Andrew Caslin, 14, of River Dell High School, wrote about going to an all‑day family gathering
and having a new experience.
I sat with my Uncle John, the whole time. Usually I talk to him for a minute about politics and I’m
bored out of my mind, but this time I felt something different. This conversation that, at one time,
would put me to sleep, was appealing to me now. I knew this was a product of the news diet.
I talked with Uncle John about things I didn’t know about. One of which as was his career as a
NYPD Police Officer. I connected with his stories now after listening to countless stories about his
experiences. One such story caught my attention. It was 1974 and my uncle was working with the
7th Precinct. He was on a burglary call and he found the suspect going out the fire escape. He
chased him across the roof, and while running it gave way and he fell off the building. He told me
how he was feeling as he felt the roof give out from under his feet and how he felt while falling to the
ground. It gave me a more in depth look at how an officer thinks and a different perspective to all
the news stories concerning police officers, and a chance to see how they feel in a situation that the
media makes them out to be the bad guys.
Now, we invite you to read the essays of our seven top winners.
_________
Essay Winners
Katie Golden, 14, River Dell Regional High School:
Shocking stories change us. Almost six years ago, my grandpa first introduced me to the horrors of
the Holocaust and World War II. Drafted at the age of 17, a warrior in the famous Battle of the Bulge
where he suffered frost bite in his toes to this day from interminable days without shoes, he was one
of the last American soldiers to be stationed in Germany when war concluded. Why did he tell me
these gruesome stories I knew hewished to forget?
So that I wouldn’t forget. So that it would never happen again.
I’m sure my grandfather wanted me to be informed about the world … and I thought I was. I knew
all about the teen world: Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber’s on‑and‑off romance, what fashion was
especially trending in November, and what color dress matches my personality (thank you, People
magazine!) I even read the sports section of the Daily News, and usually directed the basketball
conversations in my friend group.
The deficiencies in my media diet became clear when I was at a Global Connections Club meeting.
We were discussing ways to help the Rohingya Refugees, a group of people being targeted for
“ethnic cleansing.” The presenter said they were the “least wanted group in the world.” She shared
news stories about villages being burned and women being raped. I was shocked when the
presenter compared the events in Myanmar to the Holocaust. Their situation sure sounded like the
people my grandfather once told me about. Hadn’t we all sworn it would never happen again? At
this moment, I experienced a new revelation about myself: my eyes were on all the wrong stories.
Terror was continuing to dominate our world, even in today’s world.
As part of the New York Times Media Challenge, I needed to alter my media intake, and as a result
of my club meeting, I decided to look for news about the forgotten people of the world: poor people
affected by new tax laws, immigrants facing deportation, women silenced by sexual harassment,
and Beijing workers forced out of their homes. Like my grandpa, these reporters were exposing
atrocities. They were telling stories of human suffering that they would probably like to forget too.
News is the microphone for the forgotten, powerless voices of the world. The media is the shield in
the current war our world wages on Human Rights. It speaks for victims of persecution,
harassment, deportation, and ethnic cleansing. We can’t limit ourselves to the fun news, but
consider the heavy and sometimes gruesome stories the news may cover. The news exists
simplistically to help and investigate when anyone is suffering. If we don’t acknowledge the media,
these barbarities will happen, again, and again, and again.
Helen, 14, River Dell Regional High School:
The day had just started and I was sitting in a classroom with two uneven pigtails, one untied lace,
half of my best friend necklace, and zero English skills. Already, I felt lost. Having just moved from
Germany, I was attempting to participate in a geography game. As my classmates kept putting up
correct answers, I didn’t have even one. Unless I could master the new language, I would have no
power.
I had a flashback to those times six years ago when my teacher asked me to participate in the New
York Time Media Challenge. My writing class was talking about the news, and a wave of opinions
drowned me. Like my former self, I was lost again. It wasn’t that I wasn’t paying attention to the
news, but none of it was about the government. I read about Leonardo da Vinci’s $400 million dollar
painting and Europe’s first underwater restaurant, but I didn’t know how the tax bill was going to
affect my family or how the Russian investigation tainted our election. I realized I had no idea what
was going on in politics.
It appeared I had a new language to master. Because I am a busy high school student, I didn’t have
much extra time, so I decided I would watch ABC Nightly News and hope for some better results. I
began following the Congressional tax bill, Michael Flynn’s guilty plea, and even the Alabama
senate race. I began to form so many different opinions. Politics is a topic no family wants to talk
about over Thanksgiving dinner, but after this experiment, I had couldn’t wait to share my thoughts.
(Surprisingly, I still have relatives talking to me.)
There are many people who don’t understand what’s happening in politics and rather than reading
the news they decide to tune it out. Not paying attention to the news isn’t going to make you
understand it. The more you immerse yourself in the news, like a language, the more you will
understand it. For those out there who believe that following the tax bill is too complicated, they are
becoming submissive. They are willing to sit back and accept whatever the government is handing
them. If you engage yourself in the media and follow that tax bill, you can write letters, fight for
what you believe, and possibly change the direction of laws. Rather than believing the government
will do the right thing, you will know, and can hold them accountable.
Knowledge is power.
Isabella Jimenez, 17, Canterbury School:
It’s overwhelming, really. My phone chimes at least 100 times a day, my push notifications filled
with news headlines. Facts, opinions, controversies, and current events are constantly hurled at me
a million miles an hour, and in the of age of technology, it’s impossible to hide. It all becomes white
noise, and it is hard to differentiate what is fact from fiction. Although I routinely read the news and
stay up‑to‑date on what’s going on in the world, I sometimes feel trapped. The news, despite its
ability to empower, inspire, and educate many, has also acted as the carrier of anger, burden, and
tragedy.
My father had just picked up my sister and I from school. The second he turned on the car, he
immediately shut off the radio, afraid of what my sister and I might overhear. I wasn’t naïve: my
whole school had been in lockdown for the last five hours. I asked my dad what was wrong and he
answered with silence, leaving me with an empty feeling in my stomach. On our way home, we
stopped by Dunkin’ Donuts/Dunkin’ Donuts, because even at 13 years old, I already was a coffee
dependent life‑form. I remember walking in, hand and hand with my younger sister, and seeing
“Breaking News: Mass Shooting in Newtown Connecticut at local elementary school. ” flashing in
big red letters on the screen and people on the floor helplessly crying. That whole afternoon, my
eyes were glued to the TV as the number began to rise, finally stopping at 26. For the next couple of
weeks, I wouldn’t be able to go to school, turn on the TV, or even leave my house to go have
breakfast at the local diner as information hungry news reporters infiltrated my town. I was
trapped. Everywhere I went, the news followed.
Living in Connecticut, the news is my means to escape to the world beyond my small high school
and rural hometown. It has brought me face to face with President Trump, climate change, the
refugee crisis, and with the victims of other mass shootings. Before experimenting with my news
diet, I regularly pressured myself to read the news, reminding myself the importance of a globalized
perspective and having this information as “social currency.” I never took into consideration the toll
it would all have on me and never realized the power I had to chose the news I wanted to consume.
Participating in the news audit and reading almost every article that popped up into my notification
feed and watching the TV, left me tired and frustrated. It made me feel as I did in the following
weeks after the Sandy Hook tragedy: trapped. I realized through this project the importance of
having a balanced news diet: an ideal combination of all perspectives from all news realms.
Butmost of all, I recognized that sometimes, you need to take a step back in order to process, reflect,
and breathe.
Matthew Kaufman, 15, River Dell Regional High School:
While a teen sits and plays Call of Duty, a North Korean missile sails toward our country. The teen is
oblivious as he strives to reach level 3 on the game. This seems like a scene out of Ray Bradbury’s
Fahrenheit 451. In thatnovel, citizens watch their full wall TVs, unaware of the warplanes flying
above them.
Participating in the New York Times Media Challenge, I found that I might be the teen described
above and could star in a modern‑day version of this book.
Step one of this experiment required completing a review of my news diet. After monitoring my
main sources of news, I discovered a blatant flaw in my news intake: I only read the headlines. Not
only was it just the headlines, but I would only look at the five recommended articles that were
displayed as widgets on my phone.
If I found an article that was interesting, I might read some of it, or tell someone else about it. But if
they asked me a question about a specific detail, I would answer, “I don’t know; I only read the
headline.”
Embarrassed by my lack of depth, I challenged myself to dive into entire articles, as opposed to the
five ones displayed in a preview. What I got from this experience was a deeper understanding of the
content. I took away more information than I would have from just reading the headlines, and I felt
more content with myself after this experience. One article that stood out to me was from
BuzzFeed. The headline stated that immigration officers continued to arrest illegal immigrants in
Florida during Irma, even though they promised not to. The headline made the officers seem like
villains, but when I read the whole article I saw both sides of the accusation. Headlines can show
one‑sided arguments, while reading the article in detail gives you all the information needed to
comprehend a topic.
Ray Bradbury warned us back in 1953 about what our society was becoming. Captain Beatty is one
of the men in charge of keeping books out of peoples’ hands. He describes why the world came to be
the way that it is, and we are quickly becoming that society. Beatty says that all people want are,
“snap endings.” I think this describes our world today perfectly. People don’t read the whole book;
they skip to the last page. They don’t want to take the time to digest what they’ve been given. I
realized this after my experiment. I am becoming what Bradbury feared. We all are. It’s time for our
society to get out of the express lane.
Wynn Maloney, 18, Canterbury School:
Unconsciously, as it must be for many other eighteen year olds, my news diet was bland, lazy, and
lacking effort. The only time I would ever discover news would be when I was tapping through my
snap stories on Snapchat until I reached the discover section of the screen, or scrolling through my
Instagram feed when I would come across a Barstool sports post. Occasionally, I would click on an
alert from the news app on my iPhone when I was trying to clear my notifications, but I would find
myself lost in the article I had just entered.
I was absent and blind to what was going on around me in the world, I admit it.
Once I realized the isolation I had put myself through that had prevented me from not only
becoming an educated citizen of society, but also becoming aware of my surroundings, I decided it
was time to change up my news diet. My first step was to turn on my brain and open my eyes in
order to become more aware whenever I would come across a piece of news so I didn’t just scroll or
tap away to something more interesting to my tastes. Slowly, I noticed myself wanting to read the
whole article or post whenever I would come across news, no matter the topic. Then, my second
step was to turn on all my notifications in my news app in order to spark more news action in my
day to day life. Once the news started to come to me, I would click on every notification and read up
on the article. If I found myself lost, I would simply search the background of the topic through
other news sources. The chase through my news app to catch the next update on particular stories I
was following had become like gambling at a casino, every time I won, or found an amazing or
interesting news piece, I was left hungry for more.
Ever since I have implemented these two simple steps into my life I have found that I feel like I can
contribute to society through participating in intriguing conversations pertaining to up‑to‑date
news. I also feel as if I am able to make personal connections to many day to day issues through the
feelings that arise within me once I read many articles that address national and even international
issues. I was once an 18‑year‑old girl who unhealthily and lazily consumed my news, but now I am
still that eighteen year old girl who now looks forward to educating myself and consuming every
ounce of knowledge I can obtain through news, and for that I am grateful for my news diet project.
Olivia McCormack, 14, The Franklin School Of Innovation:
This project was an eye‑opener, revealing several things including the substantial amount of news I
got daily. The latter part of the project inspired me to learn what I could about our current world. I
started with a 24 hour period where I recorded all the news taken in. I found the news I got was
mainly background noise with no focused time, and with news taken in all at once, so for my news
diet mix up, I chose to change this. My planwas to do two things: listen to NPR news podcasts and
read CNN articles on my phone. The first week I quickly found that the mornings were not the time
for focused news, so I changed my intake time to in the car or ondeck before swim practice.
During this experience, I found myself inspired and powerless with many issues. I couldn’t believe
what I was hearing about all the sexual harassment allegations and denials. People denying these
brave women who are speaking out while knowing they will be pushed around. For a month I listen
to coverage of people giving brave testimonies, while men in power were denying and bashing on
these women. I was left heartbroken and questioning; what kind of world is this where there is no
equality? I don’t mean just in this matter, I see it everywhere, people not making something as
simple as a cake for the lone reason the clients were gay, it’s just so unconstitutional. I found that
another time I had to stop listening to the news was during coverage of the terrorist attack in
Egypt. I just couldn’t bear to hear any more about the horrific things people do to each other.
Still, there were times the news I heard excited me, these were times where things like
advancements in Muller’s investigation where people were finally paying for their crimes, or when
the transgender woman was elected in Virginia an example of how we are coming closer to true
equality.
This project left me knowing that the news is a very valuable part of life in this country. I also
realized that without the news, I would be as innocent as a kindergartner, so I the news is needed in
order to be a valuable member of society. Throughout my experience in the new diet mix up, I know
that if I ever want to be a valuable member of society I will need to be as informed as I can be. I
hope to do so by finding the right news diet and to be able to find places where I can speak up and
stand out. One needs a healthy amount of news in life to a point that you are informed but not
overwhelmed. Overall, I learned that there are multiple issues that we as a society need to fix and
that our news intake should be enough that we are informed, but not to the point that we‘re
overwhelmed.
Jocelyn Savard, 16, Hoggard High School:
Each day, I attend a swim practice for about three hours. As soon as it ends, us, being teenagers go
straight to our phones. My friends phones are filled with text messages, Snapchats, and missed
calls. Of course, mine has all those things too but thrown in are news article headlines. If I have
time, I will immediately read the articles.
If I don’t have time then, I make sure I get to them relatively soon. Many people in my community
are not receiving any sources of news. Physical deliver‑to‑your‑doorstep newspapers are rare in
households now because of the internet. But how many of the people not receiving newspapers read
them online daily? If the generation above us is not informed, how can we be expected to be? Most
teenagers’s only source of news are the gossip articles at the grocery store checkout lines. What
sort of condition will our country be in twenty years when it’s run by a generation who only knows
about their individual lives performed until that point?
Possibly more concerning than the lack of knowledge is the lack of consistency. I read everything
from the über conservative Washington Times to the extremely liberal New York Times. Each
article the story changes; in one I’m reading about the bill President Trump passed that will save
the country’s economy by saving x amount of money each year. Then, I go to the next article on my
list and I’m reading about the bill President Trump passed that is dooming the country’s economy
by losing x amount of money each year. As I’m more left leaning, I tend to believe the more liberal
sources which would be great except I have right leaning friends who believe the conservative
sources. We are truly a divided country. If I weren’t reading a wide range of news sources would I
realize the biases? And despite reading several news sources, some such as USA Today
(notoriously neutral), often times I don’t know what the full truth is. Again, how can we be expected
to lead a country where we only know a biased history of it, if any? During my audit, possibly the
only new thing I realized was how negative all the news intake I was receiving constantly was. I
read about poisonous cities, Trump’s mistakes, and falling stocks. I didn’t have articles on people
beating cancer, communities coming together or good political choices. It seems that news has
always been this way but it can still be linked to the lack of consumption of news from everyone of
all ages in our country.
Someday, I hope to leave swim practice with articles written by opposite political affiliations having
consistent facts and possibly one story that would make anyone smile. I have hope that we can
change the way we perceive the news, possibly by changing the news first, so that my generation
will be able to grow to our full potential and lead well in coming years.
_________
Runners‑Up
Shreya Aggarwal, 14, River Dell Regional High School
Alexis, 14, River Dell Regional High School
Christopher Burmaster, 15, River Dell Regional High School
Melissa Canales, 17, TERRA Environmental Research Institute
Olivia Chislett, 16, the American School in England
Ellyn Fritz, 17, Canterbury School

Mlawson19, 17, Exeter High School
Olivia, 14, River Dell Regional High School
Olivia, 18, Cresskill High School
Spencer Schultz, 17, Jamesville‑DeWitt High School
Max Wilson, 16, Cresskill High School
Honorable Mentions
Julia Bialek, 17, Horace Greeley High School
Andrew Caslin, 14, River Dell High School
Leah Fishman, 14, River Dell High School
Gabriel, 13, Franklin School of Innovation
Quinn Hagerman, 16, Merced High School
jhamburger, 16
Isabella Kahn, 14, River Dell Regional High School
Alex Main, 17, Landstown High School
Mary, 16, Merced High School
Olivia, 18, Cresskill High School
Samantha, 17, Merced High School
Clara Tomann, 17, Canterbury School
Megan Tracy, 17, Canterbury School
Josh Wiesenfeld, 14, River Dell Regional High School
Michelle Yu, 17, Cresskill High School
Joanne Yang, 14, Seoul International School
Sherry Zhu, 14, River Dell Regional High School
_________
Thank you to our judges, who included not only Learning Network staff, but also Michelle Ciulla
Lipkin, the executive director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education.
Interested in more student challenges? We run new ones all year long. Here is our 2017‑18 calendar.
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10/4/2018 10 Things We Learned About Teenagers and the News: The Results of Our Student ‘News Diet’ Challenge

News Diet’ Challenge - The New York Times

Winning video by Emma Claire Lisk, 16, of Hoggard High School.

Video by runner‑up Grace Stensland, 17, Westhill High School.

Her classmate, Minji, 17, described how that felt in school:

Video honorable mention by Jessica Pershinske, 18, Leland Public School

Video honorable mention by Nick Saffell, 16, Leland Public School.

So that I wouldn’t forget. So that it would never happen again.

Helen, 14, River Dell Regional High School:

Isabella Jimenez, 17, Canterbury School:

Matthew Kaufman, 15, River Dell Regional High School:

Wynn Maloney, 18, Canterbury School:

Olivia McCormack, 14, The Franklin School Of Innovation:

Jocelyn Savard, 16, Hoggard High School:

Alexis, 14, River Dell Regional High School

Christopher Burmaster, 15, River Dell Regional High School

Melissa Canales, 17, TERRA Environmental Research Institute

Olivia Chislett, 16, the American School in England

Ellyn Fritz, 17, Canterbury School

Mlawson19, 17, Exeter High School

Olivia, 14, River Dell Regional High School

Olivia, 18, Cresskill High School

Spencer Schultz, 17, Jamesville‑DeWitt High School

Max Wilson, 16, Cresskill High School

Andrew Caslin, 14, River Dell High School

Leah Fishman, 14, River Dell High School

Gabriel, 13, Franklin School of Innovation

Quinn Hagerman, 16, Merced High School

Isabella Kahn, 14, River Dell Regional High School

Alex Main, 17, Landstown High School

Mary, 16, Merced High School

Olivia, 18, Cresskill High School

Samantha, 17, Merced High School

Clara Tomann, 17, Canterbury School

Megan Tracy, 17, Canterbury School

Josh Wiesenfeld, 14, River Dell Regional High School

Michelle Yu, 17, Cresskill High School

Joanne Yang, 14, Seoul International School

Sherry Zhu, 14, River Dell Regional High School

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