Pressing On

On Thursday, Bill O'Reilly covered a story about a new law proposed in Texas, which will classify child sexual text messaging as a misdemeanor, as opposed to the felony it is right now, due to the technical definition of child pornography and the sharing thereof. However, the law also stipulates that parents should be held responsible for this act, rather than the children; by forcing the parents to a mandatory education course. O'Reilly featured the story as part of his "Culture Warriors" segment on his show, in which he also brought in two other Fox News commentators to discuss the issue with him. Each commentator seemed more educated than O'Reilly on the matter, as he admitted that he had little to no experience with technology of that sort. The story was set up briefly with only a small introduction of the story, giving way to more discussion than actual information. The controversy inherent in the story was the main focus of the discussion between the three commentators, as each held differing views of the law and parental involvement in the arena of digital responsibility and children. O' Reilly himself seemed to be very nonchalant about the story, almost as if he didn't really care, or couldn't form an opinion. The story was missing a good bit of information needed to draw conclusions, and even simple things like exact quotes from the law, or specific punishments given. The law appeared to be only secondary to the discussion, which focused on parental responsibility and the commentators' opinions. No sources were given, other than that the law was proposed in Texas, and the broadest definition of the law itself. The story looked to be single-event coverage, as O'Reilly dismissed it as too broad to ever pass the Texas state legislature, and hurried onto the next story about Miss San Antonio being removed from her position. The discussion of the story was obviously biased toward apathy on O'Reilly's part, whereas the other commentators believed in the law and were actively discussing how proper education should and could be beneficial for parents in the new age. They were very clearly for the law, even if they did not have a clear grasp of technological principles at work in the law. All in all, a very weak segment on a story that could have been a great deal more fleshed out with more discussion and information given.