We share in the problem.

So I am watching the news last evening and see a story about alleged Long Island teens drinking heavily then taking explicit photos and posting them on twitter.  The newscast of course showed the pictures while blurring out the faces in them.  I gather the blurring was for the protection of those involved.  Here's my question.... why show the photos at all?

Listen, I am a member of the media, but I honestly believe we have as much to do with some of the outrageous antics of today's youth and attention seekers as anyone else.  Everyone knows, all you have to do get on TV and quite possibly go national is get downright crazy!  Sure enough, the same story and pictures were on a national morning show as I woke up this fine Friday morning.  Now I don't want to perpetuate these young folks antics any further so I won't be posting links to the story, you'll have to do your own simple search I simply want to know when will the media take responsibility for some of the craziness that is happening.

In an effort to maintain viewership, we seem to throw responsibility out the window under the guise of  "freedom of the press".   Instead of saying... we can do this story without showing these awful photographs.  We can do this story and open a dialogue for parents, teachers, teens and the like.  We can do this story without guaranteeing to individuals that if they do the same thing or something even more outrageous it will get on the air.  

I AM NOT absolving parents and guardians of their duties.  Those individuals have a job to talk to AND LISTEN to their youths.  They have the task of trying to keep their kids and their neighbors kids safe.  I AM NOT saying it's the media's fault that teenagers will be teenagers (contrary to what you believe, young people, you are not invincible).  What I AM saying is that glorifying their non-thinking behavior IS IRRESPONSIBLE in its own right and needs to be addressed.  Does anyone in the news meeting say, hey, why don't we NOT show the kid getting beat down by a group, why don't we NOT show images of the knockout game where innocent victims are getting popped walking down the street?  Why don't we NOT show the photos of drunken youth in precarious situations?  You can address these crimes, these acts of cowardice, these clear problems, without giving them the 15 seconds turned into 15 minutes of fame they are seeking in the first place.