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Sobering TruthThe Sobering Truth: A Brief History"The Sobering Truth" concept was born in March, 2006. Anchor Molly Grantham had been reporting on the excessive amount of deadly drunk driving wrecks involving teenagers. Experts, teachers and parents had all kinds of opinions on why there was so much underage drinking going on, but she found it difficult to find teens who would tell you the truth. So with the help of CMS, Molly and producer Kim Saxon organized a group of diverse and well-connected teenagers from different high schools, to come into the studio and talk openly about underage drinking. The teens were told no answer was wrong, they just had to be honest about how alcohol is obtained, where teens party and why they do it. After "The Sobering Truth: Underage Drinking in Charlotte" hour-long special aired in April (right before prom season), parents responded. One father left a message saying, "thank you for telling us what our kids aren't." Another email said, "I watched your show with my daughter and it gave us some great starting points for a heart-to-heart discussion." The positive response spurred Molly and Kim to make "The Sobering Truth" a series of shows... each one a different topic, but always with a round-table discussion with teens. In November, the second special was aired, called "The Sobering Truth: Gangs 101." Gang investigators from across the state asked for copies of the commercial-free half-hour show for training purposes. It was just rare, they said, to hear kids talk candidly about gangs. The third "Sobering Truth" tackled teen dating and violence. The teen panel told Molly at least a third of teenagers they know are in abusive relationships -- whether physical or overly-controlling. Parents responded, writing emails saying they had no idea what a big issue this is for their children. The fourth show in October, 2007, affects everyone. "Cyberparenting the MySpace Generation." For the first time, Molly didn't just get a panel of teens together, she also got a panel of parents. They were taught how to get onto MySpace and Facebook... some not liking what they saw when they searched for their own kids' sites. Feel free to email Molly (molly.grantham@LFG.com) or Kim (kim.saxon@LFG.com) with any future topics you'd like to hear truthfully discussed by teens. |
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