E-Cigarette Use Rises Among Teens in the U.S, but There Is No Proof of Whether This is a Good or Bad Thing.

The use of e-cigarettes is a rising concern for parents around the world. An e-cigarette, or electronic cigarette, is a battery-powered vaporizer, which produces a similar feel to tobacco smoking. Since e-cigarettes are a relatively new product, more and more information about them are revealed everyday. From this information, news outlets and bloggers broadcast facts about e-cigarettes in the media, but sometimes, they are biased in what they report.

News stories should inform the public about a certain event or trend rather than convince them to take their side on it. They should provide an article that equally represents an argument for and against or provide one that takes no stance on the topic. The public should have the right to form their own opinions and choose their own side after they are presented with all of the facts about the specific topic.  There are many facts about e-cigarettes that must be considered in order to produce an unbiased story about them. The first that needs to be considered is the fact that the number of middle and high school students using electronic cigarettes tripled from the year 2013 to 2014, according to the government figures that were released. Another fact is that the popularity of e-cigarettes among teenagers has now overtaken the popularity of traditional cigarettes. The same government figures that were previously mentioned state that, from 2011 to 2014, the share of high school students who smoked traditional cigarettes declined substantially, to 9 percent from 16 percent. The last fact that needs to be known is that there is no evidence that e-cigarette smokers turn out to be traditional smokers. A non-biased news article would not have a specific tone that favored a side, but remain neutral and present facts for the public to interpret.

I came across two articles and one blog about how the use of e-cigarettes among teens in the United States is rising and what that holds for the future. I found articles from The Boston Globe and The Washington Post and a Blog by Valerie Grison.  

The Boston Globe:

I found that the article from The Boston Globe entitled, “E-cigarette use spikes among American teens, report says”, was the least biased of the three. It starts with a presentation of the fact that e-cigarette use has substantially increased in recent years. It then does a good job of presenting two sides to this fact. One side suggests that some teens are using the newly developed e-cigarettes to quit smoking cigarettes or marijuana, while the other suggests that teens are doing it to look cool. It also does a great job of showing the two sides to another question. This question is whether or not e-cigarettes are undoing years of progress in influencing teens not to use nicotine products. Since there is no proof of whether it does or does not, I think that it was very smart of The Boston Globe to present one statement for each side. There is a statement from Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, who thinks that e-cigarettes are more harmful than good, and another from David Abrams (Executive director of the Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies), who thinks that e-cigarettes are accelerating the gateway out of tobacco use among teens. This article was definitely covered the best and was the least biased because it presents views from both sides of the fence and portrays them equally, allowing the audience to formulate their own opinions.

The Washington Post:

The article form The Washington Post was entitled, “E-cigarette use triples among middle and high school students, study says”. This article did a good job of explaining the facts of the situation, but still subtly suggests that the increasing popularity of e-cigarettes is a problem. This article also tells us that use of e-cigarettes is increasing among teens and high school students. Though it does include a snippet from Michael Siegel (professional and tobacco-control specialist at Boston University) in favor of e-cigarettes, the majority of the article is about how e-cigarettes are do more harm than good. This article is somewhat biased because even though it presents views of those who favor e-cigarettes, the majority of the article is about how it should be a concern and that the increase in the use of e-cigarettes is not a good thing. There definitely should have been more about how the rise of e-cigarettes is a good thing. 

The Valerie Grison Blog:

The coverage of this topic in the Valerie Grison Blog was definitely the worst of the three. The title in itself, “A Dangerous Trend Among Teens and Tweens: E-Cigarettes” suggests that e-cigarettes are a bad trend. The entire blog is completely one sided and only provides facts and statements that are against e-cigarette use. It includes the fact that e-cigarette use is increasing among teens and continues to provide the audience with reasons of why they do more bad than good. It does not even mention that traditional cigarette use has decreased. The blog is a constant feed of information about how e-cigarettes are bad for you.

To provide a more complete story, this blog should have:

-       Included more statements about how e-cigarettes are a good trend

-       Included the fact that traditional cigarette use has lowered for the first time in many     years

-       Changed the title to portray a more neutral view of the topic

-       Presented the information while keeping a neutral stance