A special set to air Monday, April 30, on Freeform marks the first-ever co-production between the youth-oriented channel and ABC News’ “Nightline.” “For Our Lives: Parkland” is a one-hour production tracking how students who survived the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14 turned their grief into action in the aftermath of the attack.
“This first-ever partnership between Freeform and ABC News delivers these incredible stories through the lens of ABC News’ award-winning journalism, whose producers have been embedded in the lives of these Parkland students since the tragic event,” Freeform said in announcing the project today. “The impactful messages conveyed in the special are integral to Freeform’s identity, which continues to set itself apart from other content platforms by delivering stories that energize and empower young adults to celebrate the power of possibility and inclusivity.”
The special is hosted by award-winning journalist Elaine Welteroth, former editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue.
“Throughout the special, a series of ‘explainers’ from media company ATTN: will air to help provide context to issues being addressed by the student activists,” Freeform notes. “These four fact-based interstitials will address topics such as the state of gun laws in America, semi-automatic weapons, and the importance of young adult involvement in the decisions of our country.”
“For Our Lives: Parkland” is produced by senior executive producer Jeanmarie Condon and executive producer Steven Baker from ABC News. Eric Johnson serves as supervising producer.
Here’s a clip …
Let me guess, “guns bad, we need to repeal the Second Amendment.”
Let me guess, another drama queen who exaggerates and can’t come up with a solution, so he acts like everyone wants his guns.
Signed,
A gun owner who wants to see safer laws.
The reason many people believe the end game is to confiscate all guns is because they said so! (Nancy Pelosi, for one.) I wonder if the documentary will cover all the laws broken and missed opportunities to have prevented this horrible shooting. Or the fact one of the “Student Leaders” bragged about bulling the kid who did the shooting. Until we look at this holistically and listen to all sides of the issue respectfully, nothing will change. I hope the students will do their own research and not just parrot what others tell them. There are already plenty of laws on the books that could have stopped the Parkland Shooting from happening, if the authorities had done their job. More laws will do nothing, giving the fact current ones are ignored. (I know this from personal experience. Reported a felon who was obtaining firearms through straw purchases. He had threatened to shoot up a sheriffs office. Nothing was done.) Before demanding new laws, take a hard look at those on the books not being enforced.
Talking points blaming other adults, agencies and laws for gun violence do not make my High School child feel any safer. Time and time again we blame everyone around us instead of the easy access to guns for the wrong people. That is going to change. No more blowing it off and blaming everything else. Nancy Pelosi isn’t going to get all guns bans. That’s ridiculous and paranoid.
No matter your political preference, it is a great thing to get kids into critical thinking earlier in life. I have two pre-teen sons and they could be Bernie Sanders and Mike Pence with their vastly different opinions. We teach them to discuss without fighting and find many valid viewpoints for each issue. This next generation is going to be so smart.
One quarter of car crashes with teens involve underage drinking. More lives would be saved if these kids put their efforts into organizations like MADD and pushing for stronger punishment for underage drinking.Every 15 minutes a teenager will die due to drunk driving. 60% of all teen deaths from car accidents involve alcohol. Teen drivers are 3 times more likely than more experienced drivers to be in a fatal crash. Compare that to the number of teens killed in a school attack. Where should the efforts of teens and networks be spent?