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By Stan Karp
WireTap, a project
of AlterNet.org and the Independent
Media Institute, is a magazine web site designed to make alternative
and independent sources of news and analysis available to young people
at a time when corporate media like Teen People and Time for
Kids have made youth a primary target of market-driven commercial
efforts.
Under the slogan "Youth in Pursuit of the Dirty Truth," WireTap provides
young people with reporting and analysis, much of it done by young people
themselves, on national and local issues. A typical recent edition featured
an Atlanta high school student's discussion of young people's privacy
rights in an era when schools are using metal detectors, locker searches,
and drug tests as security measures. Other items included an account
of a month-long "girl-cott" of the movies staged to protest the sexist
portrayal of women, and a winning essay in a "Why Youth Don't Vote"
contest.
The WireTap site connects compelling first person accounts with broader
policy approaches to social issues. For example, "Visiting My Father
in Prison" is a moving narrative by a young woman whose parents have
been in prison since she was an infant. On another page there's a story
titled: "Generation Incarceration: Juvenile Justice and the War on Youth"
which details the growing number of young people whose lives have been
affected by the legal and prison systems. A sidebar offers a provocative
take on "The reality of youth today," in the kind of short, fact-based
bites that kids readily absorb and that can lead to deeper discussions.
For example: "Percentage of the public who believe a shooting could
occur at their local school: 71% True odds, based on 1997-99: 0.0001%."
The WireTap site has many user friendly options. When you find an article
you want, you can select a print-friendly version for easy reproduction,
e-mail the article to someone else, or go directly to the message boards
to discuss the issues with others. In fact, connecting people through
issues is a main goal of the site. A "Youth Network" page has a useful
list of "existing youth activism and youth media resources (including
high school and college newspapers around the country) with short descriptions,
contact info and direct links to their web sites." The page is a good
portal to the world of youth organizing and advocacy.
With it's ties to AlterNet and the wider world of alternative and progressive
media, the WireTap site deserves a bookmark for anyone working with
young people.
Stan Karp is an editor of Rethinking Schools and
teaches at Kennedy High School in Patterson, NJ. Suggestions for Ed-Web
can be emailed to him at stankarp@aol.com
Winter 2000 / 2001
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