CAB Public Forum - October 2024

Comment / Observation

Key Takeaway

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There were 9 student participants in the discussion: 9 NYC HS students, 1 CUNY student, 1 out of state student.  There were two students who were present at the forum but did not share.  

There was one HS student who entered and left.

Why did some students who showed not share? Were they also experiencing audio issues as one student who did share in the chat?

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Reliable News and Information

Students and teens utilize news websites, traditional television news broadcasts, and conduct web searches with search engines like Google to find information. Many of the students say they would “Google” in order to find information. One student outside of the NY/ NJ area in Mississippi shared that he used the Australian news outlet, 6news as a specific example of a reliable source for information. When looking for clips, students generally shared they would use TikTok. They do not view Wikipedia as reliable because multiple people can edit it.

Students were critical of the reliability of a source when they were clearly partial or “leaning” towards one side of an issue or political party.

Google and TikTok were the most popular platforms that students used to search for information and factcheck. Are students clicking into different sources from their web search on Google or gathering information from the AI generated summary? How many sources do they check to substantiate for fact checking? What is the NYPR’s presence and reach for web searches and TikTok?

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Three students also questioned if someone that is outside of the directly impacted group can speak on an issue or topic. One student used the example of the use of the N word to demonstrate how someone who is not Black should not use it. Another student added that it was similar to interviewing a person at the scene of an event or has experienced racism, while also quickly adding that it doesn't have to be about racism. A CAB Member made a comparison to the importance of using primary sources.

Are those NYPR gives the most air time to, the experts in the subject? Are they the ones who are directly impacted by the matters they speak on? Who do we authorize to speak on a subject?

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Another topic related to including voices of those directly impacted was on police brutality and the student shared that asking a white person from Manhattan wouldn’t be as accurate as asking a Black man to speak on the topic. However, she also shared the benefit of having people who are at a scene with an “outside” experience. She cited white EMTs who are first responders in a crime scene or shooting of a black person as a good outside perspective. This further built on the conversation of representation and the importance of interviewing people or subjects directly involved at an event, issue, or topic, as well as the intention to increase diversity and representation.

Students categorize in-group and out-group based on race. The strength and validity of a source, if that source is considered an outsider in the impacted racial group, depends on the role that source served at the scene, event, and topic. Students continue to provide examples of news as information on crime and violence.

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One CUNY student shared that she was only able to increase involvement and presence in the climate youth space after invitation, and it was rare to see representation from the Hispanic and Bronx communities. She feels inspired when the media includes their voices.

How can NYPR continue including and inviting voices that are not often on air?

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 Continuing on the topic of representation, the student started her sharing by contextualizing her place in her school as being part of the minority ethnic demographic in a majority Latino/ Hispanic high school, while also sharing that there were clubs/spaces for Arabs and Asian Americans at the school. She said that she identifies as Arab and Egyptian, before speaking of the anger she felt from witnessing an older White male pro-Israeli Senator using distortion of news clips for disinformation and generalization to paint another Arab American elected official's stance as support for terrorists. She said it was horrifying to listen to that Senator as a member of the Arab community. She spoke of the danger of media that favored and showed one political stance and one ethnic group. She questioned how the elected official was representing the diversity of his people, and also asked the media, “Where are we represented?”

Where are the representatives in New York who are speaking out against the lies against Zionism and speaking for Arab Americans, including Palestinians? I felt the student’s rage as she spoke of witnessing the lies from the Senator, as well as the mischaracterization of the female Muslim elected official. I wonder if she was referring to US Representative Ilhan Omar.

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As another example of inaccurate portrayals in the media, a student from Mississippi shared that the media tends to paint broad strokes of certain places as bad. He cited a 60 minutes piece on a former coach of Jackson State that painted the city of Jackson as dilapidated in comparison to the coach’s new home, state of Colorado, which

was good. He further shared that the City Council of Jackson denounced such a depiction and linked to an article in the chat:

https://www.wapt.com/article/editorial-60-minutes-portrayal-of-jackson/45268496.

The same student shared another example of the media not doing its due diligence when a South Korean media source reported that North Korean defectors shared

Kim Jong Un had read Mein Kampf when it wasn’t true. The media eventually took down the story when it was false.

NYPR needs to continue its commitment to nuance reporting and engaging listeners across our listening area to combat generalizations about our communities, neighborhoods, cities, and states.

 Even towards unpopular dictators, NYPR needs to commit to fact checking and sharing accurate reporting.

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One student remarked on how an interviewer can hint of a hidden agenda to sabotage the interviewee. The student used the example of someone asking a question in order to gossip or cause drama and not with the intent to understand.

Students can sense when a question is asked in bad faith and used as a device for provocation.

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 Another student remarked on how an interviewer included certain interviewees in the story as a method of making the news outlet or optics look good, but the story would relate to something on crime…the student was implying the effect of tokenizing and stereotyping for a single type of story.

Students can sense the difference between disingenuine inclusion and stereotyping.

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One Type of News on a Certain Group. One student shared how the news on certain groups are often skewed to portray deaths and crime, instead of also reporting a diversity of news stories that portray success, innovation, and happier topics.

Another student cited this in reference to portrayal of people of color and how that further perpetuates stereotypes due to the skewed type of reporting.

NYPR provides diverse coverage on a variety of topics - how can we reach students who only think of commercial news that has skewed reporting?

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Students shared that they used multiple sources in order to have a more holistic view of an issue. One student shared that even after she viewed a source that shared her political stance, she would continue to look at multiple sources, because that source might be pushing its own political agenda.

Another student agreed and said even the BBC, “which are supposed to be straight down the middle have some sort of bias.”

Yes to diversification of sources that commit to accurate reporting and have certain political stances, but not to those that share misinformation.

Podcasts

Including Topics of Interest for Teens in NYPR: True Crime, Mental Health, Comedy, Fashion, Gaming Videos, Music 

One student shared she enjoyed listening to true crime content. She cited the Radium Girls as a podcast she enjoyed, but also the podcast that informed her of the lengthy process and work to prove the harmful effects of radium in the 18th and 19th centuries, before successful lawsuits were brought against its use. She wanted to provide this example as an example of bias and how people had ignored claims by those who ingested it and became poisoned by the metal.

IHeart Media’s Stuff You Should Know podcast for the win! How did the student find the podcast? Was it from a simple search for true crime? An algorithm that recommended content based on previously listened content?

WNYC

A student listed mental health, comedy, gaming videos, and fashion as topics of interest.

WNYC covers such topics, but is it geared towards students and teenagers? How can there be more air time or content for such topics as related to high schoolers?

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Another student shared her observation of how politicians lie and convey biases that polarize, but still have many followers on social media like Instagram and Twitter (X).

Her observation had undertones that conveyed a sort of injustice or perplexity of how the facts and truth are not always proportional to the number of followers - they don’t always deter people from following people who spew lies.

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Importance of Personalities that Attract Teens for Topics of Interest vs. Assignment/ School Work

 A student shared that he would listen to a podcast or segment for an assignment even if the personality of the host was boring, but he had a personal preference on topics about music, because when the podcast incorporates the music and beats.

We train ourselves to listen to less entertaining information and content based on need, but when given the choice, we would opt in for content and sounds that peak our interest or entertain our ears.

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A student asked why there wasn’t a New Jersey specific live stream.

It was interesting that this was a question from an out of state student. Is there a lack of interest in the local tri-state area? Budget constraints?

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TikTok was often cited as a platform for information in searching for live clips for an incident that happened and a source of entertainment. One student also suggested that NYPR should research the platform in order to find topics of interest for teens in order to have more engaging content for them on public radio.

Are there reporters digging through newer media to find relevant topics and trends for high school students or younger audiences? Is NYPR on TikTok?