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Today’s Ypulse Interview is with Jason Rzepka of MTV on the recently launched multi-year digital abuse initiative A Thin Line and the AP/MTV Digital Abuse study that was released to coincide with the launch. Jason made time to answer a few questions on the phone. Here’s what he had to say…

Ypulse: What inspired A Thin Line? Can you describe the messaging of the initiative and some of the specific components we’ll see over the next few years, including how the various partners are getting involved?

Jason Rzepka: The campaign was really inspired by us taking a deep look at how we could engage with the audience on social issues. More broadly we looked at what has the most impact and what could serve as anchor for a public affairs initiative. As we looked at the issues that could serve as our frontrunner, we landed on digital abuse. It’s still very much a new issue, but it’s part of being a young person from now on. It’s part of the reality of being a young person both in America and globally and we felt like we could reach out through our programming and engage our audience online and with mobile devices. That’s really what inspired us to make that the next big initiative for MTV to take on.

As far as specific components, elements that were revealed at the launch include the onair specials, the MTV News sexting special, the new episode of “True Life”… We’re also looking at all the ways to call to those issues organically, if they were to, for instance, pop up on “The Hills.” We’re looking at the ways that it lives and breathes there. There are also the promo spots, right now there’s about a dozen that live online that we built out — you can really get a feel for the character of the initiative from that.

I can also quickly speak to a couple of the partnerships. We feel really lucky to pull together such a robust lineup of partnerships and people that come from all areas of expertise, like the Family Violence Prevention Fund, who run the “That’s Not Cool” campaign on digital dating abuse. This way we can pull together and point teens towards their resources. The National Teen Dating Abuse helpline is never more than a click away on AThinLine.org. Facebook also really stepped up and has been an awesome partner really helping to bring the message to their audience by donating ad space across the network and helping to drive submissions for the “Redraw the Line Challenge.”

YP: What are some of the takeaways you’d like adults, particularly those in the media, to pick up from the AP/MTV Digital Abuse study? Ideally how would you like to see the media portray sexting, cyberbullying and other forms of digital abuse engaged in by teens?

JR: I think one important aspect of the study would be the dynamics that play into these digital decisions – how pressure is applied. Of the one-third of teens that engaged in sexting, 60% had been pressured to do so at least once. This is an abusive behavior. It’s a new kind of abusive behavior, but when there is constant pressure, it has to be identified. That’s the kind of stuff we want to address as digital abuse. You have the right to say no. And on the flip side of sexting, where a picture can be forwarded far and wide, you have the decision to hit forward or delete. That’s one of our lines in the campaign – there’s a thin line between forward and delete.
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The number one takeaway is is that this is a new reality. No generation has ever had to deal with this reality before and they need a little bit of empathy. Young people are still figuring this out and MTV wants to be here to partner with this audience to help them figure out. And number two, this is not a reason to panic. During an interview on the radio the other day, a person asked me “Are our children doomed?” and I had to pause. No, our children aren’t doomed. It’s totally within our grasp if we can partner with them to find new approaches to deal with this new reality. But just as a follow up to this isn’t a reason to panic, it is a reason for concern. When we see what happens with cases like Hope Witsell, the young woman that took her life, and all these young people that have been driven to take their own lives because of the result of digital decisions, it is a reason for concern. More broadly, look at those that have contemplated suicide or considered dropping out of school. It’s not a reason to panic, but it is a reason for concern. This is not abuse light, this is not abuse mini. It might not leave a bruise, but it is abuse.

YP: What is the biggest myth or misinformation teens have about their online behavior? How does the initiative plan to address that?

JR: Well, I think there are two tracks here. What we found in the quantitative research is that only half though that their digital decisions could come back to haunt them later and only a quarter thought it could have legal consequences. More broadly – and this came out more in the qualitative study as we’ve been researching this – one of the things that we heard a lot from this study is that when these decisions and actions take place on a digital platform, they don’t necessarily feel real. We’re creating an awareness that this is very real when you look at the potential outcomes for you or others down the road. It’s youth nature and human nature to not think of the implications down the road. If we thought differently, no one would smoke or not wear their seatbelts. But we’re working to create an awareness. Starting with the name of the campaign “A Thin Line.” It was very purposeful, we didn’t want it to be prescriptive or preachy. Like the campaign conventions we wanted to create an awareness “There’s a thin line between a joke and a threat.. there’s a thin line between words and wounds”‘ and it can very quickly spiral out of control.

YP: How has the advisory board and teen input in general played a role in the initiative? Could you describe one or two examples?

JR: The advisory board has played a really critical role in helping this to play out. When you look at our past efforts — like when we deal with sexual health and partner with the Kaiser Foundation — we have a history of bringing in those best in class experts. Our advisory board reflects expertise on all these issue from sexting to cyberbullying. We’ve had them involved from the very beginning to shape the campaign messaging and to bring youth voices in. We have a 17-year-old advisory board member who talks to hundreds of young people on a regular basis and counsels them. And we’ve also really been informed on this subject by the audience. We’ve been talking to young people since March about these issues. As we see it, we’re really just starting the conversation and looking to young people to inform us where the campaign goes.

We also launched the “Redraw the Line Challenge,” a contest that asks young people to come up with high potential digital antidotes to digital abuse. The challenge takes into account that young people are the solution, and can create the solution – whether its a widget, an SMS service, or short-form digital content. We’re looking for those great ideas and we plan to take the best and put them to an online vote. The winning individual or team will receive a $10,000 prize generously provided by Blue Shield of California Foundation and we’ll plan to develop that tool or service to become a key part of the campaign. And that’s just one of the ways we can empower the audience to come up with solutions. Other ways include listening to the dialogue unfolding on athinline.org. On Friday, for instance, we saw a comment about the quiz that welcomes users to the site. We already made a change that incorporates that comment.

YP: Anything else Ypulse readers should know?

JR: All I’ll say is that we know this is a really broad issue and we can’t tackle it all at once, so at the start we’re focusing on digital abuse in the context of romantic relationships, and sexting. That’s really going to be our principal focus for the next chapter over the next 6-9 months, And we’ll have a big spike in activity around Valentine’s day when the MTV News special airs. The next chapter after that is going to focus more on the ways digital abuse plays out among peers. We’ll take a closer look at more egregious behaviors and outcomes with cyberbullying and issues realted that. That’s why it’s a multi-year initiative.

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Categorized under: Education, Web

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