THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 5, 1996 TAG: 9603050038
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
IT WAS A GOOD and noble thing that WTKR did last week.
The CBS affiliate in one evening devoted three hours of air time to discussions about the causes and possible solutions to the plague of the 1990s - escalating violence in neighborhoods and schools.
Might the answer be as simple as a hug?
A Newport News minister who was on the panel throughout the broadcast of ``Talk It Out'' suggested that grown-ups don't show they love and value children enough.
The Rev. Marcellus Harris said: ``What we need to concentrate on is dealing with why these young folk are so angry, hostile, mean and aggressive. I encourage people to hug young folk, let them know you love them. Such a simple approach could have a far-reaching impact in the community.''
Is hugging so hard to do?
Another worthwhile suggestion I heard during ``Talk It Out'': Take half the fee charged for marriage licenses and set it aside to help shelters for battered women.
Channel 3's reporters, working in a town meeting format on the Southside, Peninsula and in northeastern North Carolina, introduced viewers to programs in schools and neighborhoods that may work even better than a hug and an ``I love you.'' Anchorman Ed Hughes lost two teeth and his new glasses on a canoeing trip in which rebellious kids in Dare County, N.C., worked out their problems in a wilderness setting.
Then there are the youngsters in the Norfolk projects who don't have time to get into trouble because they are so busy selling pizza. The motto at Pizza-Ria: ``It's fresh. It's good. It's from the 'hood.''
At Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake, counselor Todd Nelson presides over what he calls ``peer mediation,'' which is kids encouraging other kids to talk out their problems before they lose their tempers. Feel ``dis-respected'' by a glance, a gesture or a word? Stay cool and talk about it.
``It works,'' Nelson said when I caught up with him a day after the broadcast. One of his mediators, Kenny McCants, 17, was a panelist.
The panel also included a child psychiatrist and a Virginia Beach police officer. This brings me to a point where I had trouble with ``Talk It Out.'' Co-hosts Tom Randles and LeAnne Rains never explained why the four panelists were chosen or who picked them - never recited their credentials.
Randles went so far as to refer to the broadcast as ``a crime summit.'' Wasn't that overstating things? If I were a TV producer arranging ``a crime summit,'' I would have called in judges, high-ranking police officials and the men and women who make laws and decide how and where tax money is spent.
This panel was hardly qualified to answer such tough questions as why Virginia Beach isn't spending more to recruit police officers. Or the ratio between unemployment and crime in Hampton Roads.
Could a 17-year-old high school senior in Chesapeake or a preacher in Newport News be expected to know the answers? I don't think so.
WTKR should have expanded the panel or perhaps rotated panel members every hour or so to include everyone from street kids to politicians to parents to police chiefs. When you say ``experts,'' mean it.
The telecast hit a sour note with too many commercials - 11 in the first 30 minutes. One of the sponsors sold security systems. When I saw the spot from First Alert, I asked myself, ``Is WTKR serving the public here or selling alarms?''
Channel 3 said violent crime is up 576 percent. Where did that figure come from? Randles and Rains never gave a source.
The station's new management deserves an A for effort in producing ``Talk It Out.'' If the program spared even one child or parent a moment of grief caused by violent behavior, it was worth sitting through the truck commercials. However, on performance, WTKR rates no better than a C-plus for ``Talk It Out.'' by CNB