Perhaps this isn’t breaking news.

But the older generation really doesn’t view today’s youth in a very positive light.

A theme at this past weekend’s Michigan Press Association winter conference in Grand Rapids was that young people don’t care about the news.

They think all we care about is news about Brittany’s latest troubles or what Paris did this weekend.

We don’t care about what the city commission voted on last night, or about court proceedings.

And since we don’t care about these things, we are not reading newspapers.

Is this true? Perhaps there is some merit to it. Some young people can name more celebrities than they can their local representatives.

Others vote for their favorite American Idol, but not their favorite presidential candidate.

But to write us off as an apathetic generation is a bit of a stretch. Many of us do care about the important things going on around us.

The 2008 presidential candidates have made a concerted effort to get young people involved. All candidates have Facebook and MySpace pages, and are speaking with young voters.

This shows young people are beginning to be noticed.

However, this is not enough. We need to disprove the ‘young people don’t care’ theory.

We need to show how we care by voting – in all elections, not just the big ones.

We need to become more politically active; both nationally and locally. If you don’t like the way your local representatives are conducting business, write to them your feelings. Let them know you are paying attention and that you want to be heard.

We probably can do a better job at keeping up with today’s news, whether through TV news or newspapers.

Don’t be afraid of organizing or joining a protest or a rally if you want to speak out against something. Some CMU students rallied against the nooses found in November. This was nice to see. Still, more students could have joined the effort.

The sad thing is this perception of us isn’t just held by newspaper editors and publishers that attended the convention. It is a widely held notion. Perhaps it is a bit unfair, but it is what it is.

It is imperative we do change our perception so when people say we don’t care, there will be someone who can say ‘actually, young people do care.’

As we grow older, we will be looked on to become leaders.

If we are going to be taken seriously, we need a better reputation.

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