Narrative

During the latter half of the twentieth century, a trend began that negatively affected the youth of America. During the last 40 years, the role of women in the workforce has dramatically increased. Because of this, more women are getting day jobs, and thus being away from the house more then women in the past. Because of this, a large portion of American children are being left at home alone, more often, and for longer than any other time in history. The media did not have anything to do with the cause of this injustice. But the inaction of the media allowed this injustice to continue.
To the media, a story about the amount of children being left alone at home was not sensationalized enough to attract viewers. But a story about the struggle for the custody of a defected Cuban citizen is attractive enough. That is why the Elian Gonzalez story was more important to media outlets than the troubling story about the children of America being left alone. While all Americans watched Elian Gonzalez' family plead for him back, and witnessed people debating where he should be allowed to live, American children were suffering from being left at home alone. This problem is emphasized when looking at the suicide rates of teens. Between 1970 and 1988, a peak time when mothers were entering the work force and leaving home, the suicide rate for teenage girls rose 27 percent, and the suicide rate for teenage males rose a startling 71 percent. This all occurred because children were left at home alone. If the media had decided to cover it numerous teenage lives could have been saved.
The news media have had chances to discuss this issue on the air. But every time it could have been aired, the media elites shot down the idea. In 2001, the government released a study that toddlers that are placed in day care for long stretches of time tend to be more aggressive and defiant, regardless of the quality of the daycare. This same study states that 17 percent of children who attend day care centers act out more often than children who do not attend day care. The media elites (Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, and Peter Jennings) could have used this study to launch a series of news stories that would have enlightened the American public on this issue. But they didn’t. Instead, Dan Rather twice called this story “controversial.” The man who had the opportunity to reveal a major problem in American society failed to because he believed that a government study was controversial.
And then there is the political side of this story. Once outspoken feminist leaders heard about this study, they immediately dubbed it as sexist. This added an extra element to the story that the news elite planned on showing. Because of the power that feminists have in modern politics, Rather and his colleagues knew that if they aired a story which insinuated that women should stay home and provide for their children instead of become a member of the work force would paint them as sexists. So to avoid the pressure and negative attention they would have received, the media elites instead decided to not air these stories at all. This is a real injustice because it affected the lives of the thousands of teenagers who were being left alone at home. If the media had covered the story, the problem could have been aided. Instead, political ideals got in the way of helping people. In the end, it led to pain and suffering.
This trend has continued since these studies were published, and there are very few people who are doing anything about it. This is a troubling idea because the teenagers who are being left alone are the future of society. This injustice is very troubling due to that fact. If the future leaders of our country and other important members of society are damaged due to a terrible childhood, their entire lives can be affected. So if these teenagers are not given help, the consequences could be very drastic for the future of society.