Across The Media Universe: Hair, Drugs and Rupe Edition
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July 31, 2007 2:09 PM Beat The Press: According to The Politico’s Ben Smith, John Edwards is the “first major Democratic candidate for president” to take a page from the Republican playbook and make attacking the press corps a part of his campaign strategy. He’s aggressively responded to stories about his expensive haircuts, for example, releasing a video flashing images of misery in Iraq and New Orleans while the theme song of the musical "Hair" plays. And at the end, this question: "What really matters?" (He has also used the issue in fundraising emails.) Perhaps if Internet video and the “Tank Girl” soundtrack had been around in 1988, Michael Dukakis could have put together a nifty response of his own.
July 17, 2007 2:15 PM 
I spoke today with Maia Szalavitz, a freelance journalist and a Senior Fellow at STATS*, whose mission is "to address the abuse of science and statistics in the media and public policy debates." The focus of our conversation was media coverage of drugs and alcohol. You can listen to the full interview by clicking on the link below, and read excerpts below.
Maia Szalavitz: Absolutely.
Brian Montopoli: So what is your objection then to the media's portrayal of them?
Maia Szalavitz: If you scare people unduly, you're going to scare people about the wrong things. Essentially, what we do is we hype these fears up. We tell people, for example, that alcohol damages the teenage brain. Well, something like 90 percent of us drank during our adolescence. Are we all brain damaged? We need to put risks in context.
Brian Montopoli: There was a "60 Minutes" piece that you wrote about for Alternet a while back where you were complaining that "60" presented the issue as, sort of, "we must stop teens from ever getting near drugs or alcohol."
Maia Szalavitz: Well, let me say this: I'm not advocating that teenagers should use drugs or alcohol. But I am saying that since 90 percent of teenagers do drink before they reach the legal age, our policies that we currently have clearly aren't working. I believe that the data is pretty clear, that if you teach people how to do something, they will be more responsible at doing it than if you just let them loose at a certain age to just go do it. As a society, we haven't come to terms with this with regard to alcohol. We recognize that if you want a person to drive safely, they need to be taught explicitly what to do. But with alcohol we're very very uncomfortable with that.
Brian Montopoli: Why do you think that the media do cover drugs and alcohol the way they do?
Maia Szalavitz: I think because they're taking a parental perspective...
Maia Szalavitz On Media Coverage Of Drugs And Alcohol
(Maia Szalavitz)
Brian Montopoli: From your writings, it's clear that you do think drugs and alcohol can be dangerous.Click here to listen to the interview.
Maia Szalavitz: Absolutely.
Brian Montopoli: So what is your objection then to the media's portrayal of them?
Maia Szalavitz: If you scare people unduly, you're going to scare people about the wrong things. Essentially, what we do is we hype these fears up. We tell people, for example, that alcohol damages the teenage brain. Well, something like 90 percent of us drank during our adolescence. Are we all brain damaged? We need to put risks in context.
Brian Montopoli: There was a "60 Minutes" piece that you wrote about for Alternet a while back where you were complaining that "60" presented the issue as, sort of, "we must stop teens from ever getting near drugs or alcohol."
Maia Szalavitz: Well, let me say this: I'm not advocating that teenagers should use drugs or alcohol. But I am saying that since 90 percent of teenagers do drink before they reach the legal age, our policies that we currently have clearly aren't working. I believe that the data is pretty clear, that if you teach people how to do something, they will be more responsible at doing it than if you just let them loose at a certain age to just go do it. As a society, we haven't come to terms with this with regard to alcohol. We recognize that if you want a person to drive safely, they need to be taught explicitly what to do. But with alcohol we're very very uncomfortable with that.
Brian Montopoli: Why do you think that the media do cover drugs and alcohol the way they do?
Maia Szalavitz: I think because they're taking a parental perspective...
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