Categories
· Teen Smoking/Youth
· Schools
· Media/Publishing
USA, by State
· Illinois
|
Administrators didn't like 3 stories about honor students smoking and drinking, teen pregnancy, and shoplifting
Jump to full article: WGN (Chicago, IL), 2009-11-20
Author: Dan Simmons Tribune reporter
Intro: Administrators at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire spiked Friday's edition of the school's award-winning newspaper because of concerns about stories on drinking and smoking by honor students, teen pregnancy, and shoplifting, the editor said.
Advocates of press freedom bashed the decision to halt publication.
"It is irresponsible to withhold this information so they can protect their fantasy image of Stevenson as a place where no one has ever gotten pregnant or shoplifted," said Frank LoMante, executive director of the Virginia-based Student Press Law Center. . . .
In the most recent incident, administrators on the paper's review board warned editor Pam Selman, a senior, not to submit a front-page story by senior managing editor Evan Ribot about students in the National Honor Society and freshmen mentors program.
In it, two students, quoted anonymously, admitted to drinking and smoking, which are prohibited under the society's no-use contract.
The administrators warned that they would ask for the students' names and potentially take disciplinary action against them, Selman said.
Rather than revealing their sources, the paper's staff decided to submit a blank front page to the board on Tuesday, she said, with a note to readers about why the story wasn't there.
Jump to full article » |