Title: Online Gossip
Feed: CWKN #388, June 4, 2008
Time:  1:41
SUGGESTED LEAD: AFTER CHAT ROOMS, INSTANT MESSAGING AND INTERNET FORUMS BECAME POPULAR, A NEW WORD ENTERED OUR VOCABULARY: CYBER-BULLYING. IT’S BEEN A PROBLEM ALMOST SINCE THE INTERNET WAS INVENTED… BUT NOW STUDIES SHOW THAT ONLINE HARRASSMENT AND BULLYING HAS INCREASED OVER FIFTY PERCENT SINCE 2000.  WHAT CAN PARENTS DO TO MAKE IT STOP? CONNECT WITH KIDS HAS THE STORY.
<<PKG>>

NATS:  school hallway

NARR: HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS SPREAD GOSSIP IN THE HALLS, ON THE WALLS, AND ON THE PHONE … (:05)

NATS:  on computer, typing

NARR:  … NOW, IT’S ALSO ON THE INTERNET.  (:02)

SUPER:  Jessica Thrift, 16 years old  (:11)
“They were just making fun of me – oh, you know, she’s really ugly, she’s this, she’s that, blah-blah-blah.”

NARR:  ON THIS ‘MESSAGE BOARD,’ KIDS WRITE ABOUT WHO THEY HATE, OR WHO THEY THINK IS PREGNANT…OR HAS AN S-T-D.

EMMA ADMITS SHE WROTE MEAN THINGS ABOUT ANOTHER GIRL …  (:11)

SUPER:  Emma Thrift, 11 years old  (:29)
“After a while, you’re like, how could I have been so mean??  Like why did I do that???”

SUPER:  Patti Thrift, Mother  (:33)
“I had a parent come to my door and say, ‘Your daughter has been saying some rather nasty things about my daughter on this website.’”

NARR:  EXPERTS SAY GOSSIP ON THE INTERNET CAN BE MORE HARMFUL THAN THE OLD FASHIONED KIND.

IT’S OFTEN ANONYMOUS BECAUSE OF FAKE SCREEN NAMES …

IT HAS THE POWER OF THE WRITTEN WORD, SO IT LASTS LONGER AND IS TAKEN MORE SERIOUSLY …

AND, UNLIKE UGLY WORDS ON THE BATHROOM WALL, THERE’S NO WAY TO SCRATCH IT OUT.  (:20)

SUPER:  Ramah Commanday, Ph.D., School Psychologist  (1:05)
“Online gossip is to hearsay gossip probably what, um, nukes are to dynamite.”

NARR:  IF YOUR KIDS ARE VICTIMS OF ONLINE GOSSIP, SHE SAYS …  (:04)

SOT:  Ramah Commanday, Ph.D., School Psychologist  (1:15)
“Help them put it into perspective.  Point out to them how what’s being said on the screen differs from what everyone knows about you as a person.”

NARR:  YOU CAN ALSO DO WHAT WORKED FOR PATTI AND EMMA:  TELL YOUR KIDS TO STOP VISITING THAT WEB SITE!  (:06)
 
SOT:  Patti Thrift, Mother (1:32)
“Since she has no longer had access to that, she’s no longer a topic of conversation.”

NARR:  I’M COLLIN SIEDOR FOR CONNECT WITH KIDS.  (:03)

SUGGESTED TAG:  EXPERTS SAY THAT ANY TIME YOUR CHILD IS ON THE INTERNET, YOU SHOULD HAVE A GOOD IDEA OF WHAT THEY’RE DOING THERE.  ONLINE GOSSIP IS JUST ANOTHER REASON WHY.  TO LEARN MORE, LOGON TO (LOCAL URL) AND CLICK THE CONNECT WITH KIDS ICON.