Comparing domestic and internation news reports - Essay Example

A recent survey of the National Center for Health Statistics shows that as of year 2002, there is "an estimated 757,000 pregnancies among teenagers ages 15 to 19 years although it is nine percent fewer than in 2000 and about one-fourth fewer than the peak number estimated for 1990 which is 1,017,000" (Ventura, Abma, Mosher, & Henshaw, 2007). While a decline in statistics of teenage pregnancy has been noted, the number is still high and should not be taken for granted. How are parents, the academe, and the teenagers deal with it And, how is it presented to the public through the news published in various newspapers To be able to determine the answer to these questions, I consulted San Diego State University's Online Library for two news articles on teenage pregnancy written in publications in the United States and another two from Asian newspapers.

An article by Kim Vo on San Jose Mercury News carries this headline: "District introduces new sex education program" (2005). Vo's news story tackles the importance of a newer and innovative approach on teaching sex education even towards the elementary pupils. The news has been written in a factual yet sensitive manner, taking into consideration the views of the parents, the students, the teenage mothers, and the academe. This was published on 2005. Two years later, The Houston Chronicle published a more straightforward news article on teenage pregnancy with a headline: "Baytown teens plan pregnancy forum" ("Baytown Teens," 2007).

Contrary to San Jose Mercury News' story, the statistics and background of teenage pregnancy is no longer included in the recent article. It shows that the youth are already active in taking part to arrest the problem with unwanted pregnancies during puberty. The two articles mentioned are both published in the United States. Not much difference has been noted on the grammatical structure of the headlines; however, the second story could have been more compelling if the writer included some statistics on teenage pregnancy incidence in the area.

As a reader, I "felt" the article on San Jose Mercury News more than the one published by The Houston Chronicle, because of the manner in which the first article is presented. Meanwhile, in Asia, which is known to be conservative, teenage pregnancies have also ballooned. Experts have openly discussed ways to salvage the youth from this alarming situation. In Taiwan, the Central News Agency - Taiwan reports on the very high incidence of teenage pregnancy in the area. However, instead of directly stating that Taiwan's teenagers have gotten pregnant more often than Japanese or a South Korean girl had, journalist Lilian Wu writes about the proposed solution to the problem.

The article has this headline: "Sex education needed to address teenage pregnancy: Expert" (Wu, 2007). The news also opens with a lead on the sex education expert's view on the reason of high incidence of