Source: Tony Jurich, professor of human development and family studies
1
Wrap
2 Actualities
You have selected a report on childhood bullying, and the relatively new threat of cyber bullying. This report contains one wrap and two actualities.
WRAP 1: An expert at K-State tells us bullies use fear to get what they want.
TIME: 56 Seconds
SUGGESTED INTRO: WE'VE ALL PROBABLY EXPERIENCED IT AT ONE POINT IN OUR CHILDHOOD – THE SCHOOL BULLY. AN EXPERT AT K-STATE ON THE SUBJECT TELLS US BULLIES FIT TWO PERSONALITY TYPES. LANICE THOMSON REPORTS. . .
RECENT STATISTICS SHOW AN AVERAGE OF ONE OUT OF EVERY FOUR SCHOOL KIDS ARE BULLIED. DR. ANTHONY JURICH, PROFESSOR OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND FAMILY STUDIES AT K-STATE SAYS KIDS THAT ARE CONSIDERED BULLIES MANY TIMES HAVE LOW SELF-ESTEEM. . .
(Jurich :16 "You feel as if I don't like myself and don't respect myself. If nobody else likes me, they don't respect me either. The next best thing to respect for a lot of people is intimidation. If I can get fear, it seems like respect."
AND WHAT'S THE BEST THING TO DO IF CONFRONTED BY A BULLY?
(Jurich :17 "You don't cry, you go over and look at him and sit there and say, 'I know what you're doing. I know why you're doing this. And I'm sorry you don't like yourself.' The bully will hate that, but it's also exposing the bully. Even if he takes your money, the fact of the matter is that -- you've exposed them, and you're basically sitting there letting him know that you know that secret.")
LANICE THOMSON, KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY.
ACTUALITY 1: An expert at K-State calls cyber bullying a "sneak assassin" against someone on the Internet.
TIME: 25 Seconds
Bullies have been around for years. However a new threat is now appearing not on the playground, but on the Internet. Dr. Anthony Jurich, professor of human development and family studies at K-State, says a cyber bully is someone who will harasses a victim online or through a networking website, such as MySpace or Facebook. He points out most cyber bullies will pick on another person's actions or appearances. He uses the analogy of a "ninja" to describe a cyber bully. This sound bite is 25 seconds and the outcue is ". . with everybody else."
(Jurich :25 "Basically, the cyber bully is a ninja in the original meaning of the word -- they're a sneak assassin. They go over and they take potshots at people, put them down, and thereby make themselves feel better. The other reason people sometimes get into cyber bullying is that they want to be a member of the crowd, they want to be cool. So what they do is they engage in sarcasm, they engage in put-downs along with everyone else.")
ACTUALITY 2: Many people pick up cyber bullying by what they see on television.
TIME: 26 Seconds
Jurich says a lot of people pick up cyber bullying through what they see on television. This sound bite is 26 seconds and the outcue is "…up on cyberspace."
(Jurich :26 "Cyber bullying is people imitating what they watch on the popular TV primarily on reality shows, but not only -- also in ads, in people being nasty on things, in lots of sarcasm and running in terms of things like political commercials. The culture of nasty goes down into our kids and it comes up on cyberspace.")
Jurich has several tips for parents who believe their child is being cyber bullied. He says the first thing a parent should do is sit down with the child and stress to them that this is a problem they cannot handle alone. After printing out evidence of the abuse, the entire family should go together and approach either the school principal -- if the threats were made on a school computer --or the cyber bully's family. If the threats cannot be traced to a particular person, or if the problem does not become resolved, Jurich says the police should get then involved.