The journalists at Good Morning America on Thursday looked at a Newsweek expose on the differences between teens in 1966 and 2016. Fifty years after the magazine published, “The Teen-Agers,” Amy Robach revealed, “There are distinct differences, says Newsweek between today's teens and teens in 1966. Fifty years ago, teenagers most admired icons were JFK, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Lyndon Johnson and Helen Keller.”
She contrasted, “Today, only one of those names remains the same, Abraham Lincoln and only one other President, President Obama made the list.” Apparently, teenagers of today no longer gush over John F. Kennedy. The baby boomer journalists of ABC have done this plenty, fawning over “American royalty.”
The current appreciate by young people isn’t surprising, considering that ABC’s journalists lauded his “fluid poetry."
As for Newsweek, the magazine, which is barely in print these days, on Tuesday wondered, “Has there been any president cooler than Obama?”
A transcript of the May 12 segment is below:
GMA
5/12/16
8:52AMY ROBACH: We are back with Newsweek's look at teens now versus then. They had a revolutionary report 50 years ago and now they're checking back in. [Clip from Blackish.] In 2016, teens tune in to Blackish, rock out to Justin Timberlake and count texting as a favorite pastime. 50 years ago, Batman ruled the TV waves, the Beatles owned the radio waves and Newsweek was making waves with the cover story about a new kind of kid, the teenager.
ABIGAIL JONES (senior writer, Newsweek): The article focused on a survey of almost 800 girls and boys across the country and it talked about everything from politics to pop culture.
ROBACH: Fast forward to 2016 and Newsweek is at it again looking back at those teenagers it first profiled 50 years ago. There are distinct differences, says Newsweek between today's teens and teens in 1966. Fifty years ago, teenagers most admired icons were JFK, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Lyndon Johnson and Helen Keller. Today, only one of those names remains the same, Abraham Lincoln and only one other President, President Obama made the list. Rounding out the 2016 list of teens' heroes, Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Selena Gomez. What hasn't changed? Teens' sense of optimism. In 1966, even with war raging in Vietnam, teens believed then, as now, the best was yet to come.
JONES: They are still hopeful. They have access to more information than ever before and they have the ability to make changes.
ROBACH: They do and Newsweek's 50th anniversary edition is online now and hits newsstands next week.
