(Yes, I realize that this is my 2nd post about media – I’m sorry.)

Back in high school I dreamed of being on TV. I hosted my High School’s Morning Announcements News Show, I took media classes, I interned at the local ABC affiliate – I thought I’d found my calling.

I begged my parents to understand my passion and was eventually able to prove to them how serious I was about pursuing a career in media. Fall of ‘06 I was off to one of the best journalism and media colleges in the country.

As a bright-eyed freshman I sat in my “Discovering Journalism” class eager to learn the ins and outs of the industry. But, as the semester wore on, my bright eyes became teary eyes as I was told over and over again about the dangers of Fox News and about the “stupid sheep” and “conservative wack jobs” that watch the station. I did my best to ignore the comments, but being the sassy and outspoken person that I am – I often left the class angry, frustrated, and beaten down by the other 35 students in the class.

I figured the most constructive way for me to voice my beliefs was to audition for the school’s TV station – for the political shows. I was ecstatic to receive a call-back as a freshman, only to later realize that I was called back for the entertainment show because, “you’re a tall blonde and that’s where you’d be cast, this is about real world experience.”

Needless to say, I was FURIOUS. I switched my major to Marketing the following semester.

I’d lost much of my hope in the future of Journalism as a whole, but not quite in media, until now…

There has been a clip floating around the web from a 2008 Sesame Street Episode where Oscar the Grouch is told by a viewer of is Grouch News Network (GNN – pun intended) that she’s switching from his network to Pox News.

“Now there’s a trashy news show,” he’s told.

I dug up a study I’d read in one of my marketing classes about advertising to children. Although Sesame Street is not technically an advertisement, it IS content that is targeted specifically toward young children, so I feel this study is still relevent. According to the APA (American Psychological Association), “children under the age of eight are unable to critically comprehend televised advertising messages and are prone to accept advertiser messages as truthful, accurate and unbiased…children under the age of eight lack the cognitive development to understand the persuasive intent of television advertising and are uniquely susceptible to advertising’s influence.”

Realistically, I don’t think any 6-year-old kid is going to really fully comprehend that “Pox News” is Fox News – but doesn’t it make you wonder about the integrity of the Network it’s aired on? If a Network is willing to dip so low as to make below the belt jabs on shows intended for children – what else are they capable of?

Good thing we’ve all determined Fox as the villan…