After years of only putting "happy stories" in the yearbook, I'm feeling like we're missing a real opportunity to record history. For example, this year we did NOT write the story about the basketball coach getting fired because he put in a player that wasn't elligible. The team also was no longer qualified for the playoffs and all the games won were wiped from the record. It was a big deal...but you won't find it in the yearbook. Is this okay? Should the yearbook only record the happy times in the year?
I've been told by administration in the past that we need to keep all our stories and information positive. Talk about a struggle when you're reporting on those teams that lose every game!
Any suggestions on how you deal with administration that only want you to write positive stories?
Illustration from the Daily Texan, the newspaper at the University of Texas in Austin
Megan Youngblood
Marcus High School
Lewisville, Texas
Baby steps. I would just start to edge out a bit and test the waters. The other thing that will have to happen at some point is telling your principal that you don't run a pr firm. Remind them that you job is to teach kids to be consumers and producers of news.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that I did recently when I had a small issue was show him tweets that students had sent on the topic. I then asked him if he would rather someone get the story right.
Larry Steinmetz
Bullitt East High School
Mount Washington, KY
Megan,
ReplyDeleteI used to feel the same way you did. Two years ago I had a 18-year-old student share his rehab story in the yearbook. I fact checked the story with the source and he even asked me for a print out to take home to his mom. He was so proud he would literally come back and visit me each day before he graduated.
Then in July I received a phone call from an irate mother, his mother. She wanted to rewrite my students story because she said it wasn't true. (Our book is delivered in August.) I asked her if she had read the story. She said she had. I asked her what was factually incorrect.
It turned out she was afraid that sharing his rehab story would prevent his employability down the road. When I read the story I thought it was a story about a student overcoming all obstacles.
I ran the story past my principal and he told me to run it, and to ignore the mother.
Debra Klevens
Parkway West High School
Ballwin, MO