COMMENTARY

‘Teen,’ ‘adult’ neither exclusive nor synonymous

“Quit talking about politics all the time,” said the caller. “Both sides are always going to say this or that isn’t fair, because they’re just looking to be offended. What about the non-political stuff?”

I hear plenty of that, too.

Teen or adult?

“How do you determine when someone in their teens is referred to as an adult and when they are referred to as a teen?” asked an e-mailer last week.

He was referring to an Oct. 6 story about the killing of 18-year-old Keighley Ann Alyea. The Page A-1 headline read, “Missing teen’s body is found; three arrested.”

“The headline calls her a teen, but the body of the article calls her a woman,” the reader pointed out, also referring to a story the same day about accused terrorist Hosam Maher Smadi, who is 19.

“In my mind, a 19 year old is an adult, but the headline calls him a teen and body of the article calls him a teenager. It seems like someone is trying to influence how the accused is viewed. So what is the journalistic rule on such things?”

There’s no hard and fast rule, and there are lots of variables in this case, including the space limitations of print.

The word “teen” applies strictly to 18- or 19-year-olds, but this is where I think the reader makes a good point. Society confers many “adult” rights and privileges on people still in their teens. You may drive a car at 16, or purchase tobacco and vote at 18 — but alcohol is limited to over 21.

And at the same time, the line between juveniles and adults is less concrete in the eyes of the law. According to The Kansas City Star’s style book, anyone at least 10 but not 18 years old is a juvenile in Kansas. In Missouri, it’s 16 or younger. A judge can rule that people within those age criteria may be charged as adults.

In Smadi’s case, would the audience view his alleged crimes less harshly because of his age — or is Smadi more threatening because of his youth? I’d agree there’s an element of subjectivity, though I don’t think everyone would agree which side it falls on.

Iconic image

Stacey McBride of O’Neill Communications contacted me about the Sept. 24 “This weekend in KC” feature in Preview. With an item about the upcoming Halloween Haunt at Worlds of Fun, a small photo pictured a man in elaborate skull makeup, sticking his tongue out ghoulishly.

McBride told me the man in the picture works at the Beast haunted house, and she thought it shouldn’t have been associated with the Worlds of Fun event. “An analogy would be to show a pair of Levi’s on ‘Lee Denim Day,’” she wrote.

Page designers often use holiday images such as this as iconic representations of the season. The Preview item didn’t actually say the man was part of the Worlds of Fun event, but I do understand McBride’s point. It isn’t really an error, but it’s an issue designers should keep in mind.

To reach Derek Donovan, send e-mail to readerrep@kcstar.com or call 816-234-4487 weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and noon. Visit Ad Astrum, the readers’ representative blog, at adastrum.kansascity.com.

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