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Journalistic Integrity
or
The Tragedy
or
The Strange Story of How Little Miss Goody Two-Shoes Became the Center of Controversy
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire
Admittedly, I always been a "good girl." I never broke rules; I never did anything to really cause problems. I asked a lot of questions, but hardly ever anything that would provoke people. That is, until the beginning of my senior year of high school, when I ended up involved in a situation that took on a life on its own far larger than anyone involved would have guessed.
Senior year of high school, I had great plans for our newspaper, the Shen Pen. I had just become co-editor-in-chief and realized that our editorial section was weak. I invited my friend who had a clever, controversial website (The Angry Mofo, previously of "Rants of an Angry Mofo") to write a column for the paper, thinking that he would counter its "simpering neutrality" and bring some much-needed energy to the section. After several rewrites and much discussion, we both agreed upon a suitable column. My co-editor-in-chief read the article; I then e-mailed it to my advisor and gave her a hard copy. Since my advisor did not mention any of the articles I submitted to her, I assumed that she approved of them.
The day the paper came out, I was pleased to hear growing buzz about our new columnist. People were discussing the Shen Pen, an unprecedented event. The paper was popular, even thought-provoking! Both my friend and I were excited and a little relieved that there was no uproar about the article.
Despite the article's success, my advisor angrily confronted me the next day. Previously, she had always supported me - she complimented my writing often and encouraged me to take the position of co-editor-in-chief. I always had a great deal of respect and affection for her. But that day, she accused me of conspiring against her, hiding the article from her, and giving my friend complete artistic freedom. None of which, of course, ever happened. When I told her that I honestly thought she had read it beforehand, she said that I was lying. When I pointed out that my co-editor-in-chief had also read the column and approved of it, my co-editor-in-chief denied ever seeing it.
My advisor yelled at me in front of the entire newspaper staff several days that week, bringing me close to tears each time. But I refused to confess to crimes I never committed. Rather, I took responsibility for what I did. I wrote a letter to my advisor, apologizing for not further discussing the article with her. However, I would not apologize for running it. I believed that the newspaper was the student body's voice and that controversial ideas should be printed.
Before this experience, I had never truly realized the power of free speech and its potential consequences. As I found, only if ideas are printed and discussed can they ever positively contribute to society. The encouragement I received from others during the incident strengthened my commitment to the free press even more. Although my advisor treated me poorly for running the article, my friends and many of my teachers supported me. They assured me when I felt particularly helpless and did not allow me to give up hope in the newspaper's future or myself. My friend even portrayed me as somewhat as a heroine on his website. He called it The Tragedy, starring me, "Winona" (ugh, what a horrible name), "Mrs. Smith" (my advisor), and The Angry Mofo.
Despite the incident, I remained as committed to the Shen Pen as ever. I put my heart into it, reading each article before publication and writing my own articles. I wanted it to inform and entertain students and faculty. But most of all, I still wanted to provoke thought and perhaps even broaden people's perspectives.
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