2008 Election

Leave Levi’s MySpace Page Alone

By Maegan Carberry ⋅ October 13, 2008 ⋅   Email this post ⋅  Digg This ⋅  Share on Facebook ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

As a big fan of sex education in schools (but not for kindergarteners), I’m not exactly a fan of the Levi Johnston-Bristol Palin situation. I was, however, horrified when details from the child’s MySpace page were plastered all over the media under highly questionable headlines, such as “Bristol’s Baby Daddy,” etc. Sure, social networks are part of the public domain, but so are the names of rape victims, which most newspapers won’t print. There must be some discretion applied to reporting on underage individuals.

Yeah, yeah: He’s about to become a father and that makes him an adult. This was obviously a mistake, and you’d be hard pressed to find a teenager in America who doesn’t have ridiculous photos and inside jokes on their web pages.

This is a perfect example of the kinds of legislation we might face in the future surrounding privacy rights online. I’m not sure yet how this form of speech should be legally protected, but I do think it’s irresponsible for news organizations to recklessly expose the lives of teenagers, even if their parents are public figures.

For his part, Levi says the page was a joke in this AP article (via HuffPost):

Johnston, a Wasilla heartthrob, said he wanted to set the record straight.

For starters, he said his much-maligned MySpace page was a joke _ the one that claimed he said: “I’m a … redneck,” and “I don’t want kids.” Johnston said his friends created the page a few years ago and he had nothing to do with it.