Speak your piece – Michael J. Stuart, Superintendent, Shasta Union High School
If you were watching the NBA playoffs this last week, you no doubt saw a lot of cheap shots on the court.
Was the Record Searchlight emulating this practice when the editorial staff published a caricature of two men burning the First Amendment over a Volcano? No doubt the cartoonist thought him or herself very clever to have brought together all of the elements of the “big controversy” in one image. The image was of the Shasta High principal and the Shasta Union High School District Superintendent jointly burning the Bill of Rights and included a cartoon figure telling me that my flag lapel pin is burning.
Just in case the average RS reader had missed this big story (two, or is it three days above the fold?), our names were boldly printed. Very clever, indeed. Too bad it wasn’t based upon fact. Or is adherence to the truth no longer a responsibility of the Record Searchlight? Perhaps using public figures as punching bags and throwing a little “red meat” to the part of the blogging community that do not want all the facts and prefer personal attacks sells more papers and creates more hits on the Web site so the advertising can be more effective.
For those of you who are interested in the truth, read on. The rest of you; feel free to rush to your computers and anonymously share your opinions and don’t let the facts slow you down.
My responses to the editorial in the Volcano were that I thought it was self–indulgent, patronizing and condescending to those of us who are combat veterans – poor timing since it was the last issue on the last day of school – and that I did not like the article.
I never said that I thought the editorial writer did not have the right to publish the editorial, or that I thought students should not have that right. Students in California cannot be censored in their publications by teachers, school administrators or school boards (Education Code 48907) unless there is libel, slander, obscenity or it incites students to disrupt the orderly operation of schools.
It is becoming more common that when one responds to “free speech” in editorials or otherwise, the respondent is labeled as someone that wants to destroy the constitution and take away the “free speech” of the original messenger or their supporters. Playing this “free speech” card instead of defending one’s viewpoints is cowardly and does nothing for useful public discourse concerning issues of the day.
I am the guy who, last week, called the home of Amanda, next year’s Volcano editor, and had a nice talk with her mother and asked for Amanda to call me. She did, and we had positive talk about her vision of the paper. Amanda is confident she can get more than the eleven students currently signed up for next year’s journalism class. As a result of this conversation, I decided to fund an extra section next year at Shasta High School to give these kids a chance to gain journalism experience and create one of the best student newspapers in the state.
Next, I called and talked to a member of the Record Searchlight’s editorial staff for some insight on how they make decisions about what to editorialize and how they handle controversial editorials in terms of the factors that are considered so I could discuss them with Amanda. I also asked if they would be willing to meet with Amanda and other journalism students to give our kids insight from professional journalists. The response from the Record Searchlight was they would really enjoy meeting with the students.
When I first became Superintendent 10 years ago I met with the Record Searchlight staff and stated that I knew there would be times when they would disagree with me and some of my decisions. I stated that I thought that was fair but I asked that that when we disagreed we did so in the best tradition of public debate and they not impugn my character or dedication and commitment to young American students. I have been treated fairly through the years and have appreciated the positive press and even the differences of opinion on policy that caused me to take another look at our decisions.
However, lately things seemed to have changed at our local paper. Although the folks who run the Record Searchlight may not agree, citizens are developing negative views of a paper that seeks the sensational scandal over the substantive news and panders to those who prefer personal attacks rather than reasoned public discussions.
The most recent edition of the Volcano was big news in the nation for about two minutes. In Redding it’s the equivalent of an actual volcanic eruption because the Record Searchlight keeps it going. In this case, having run out of facts the Record Searchlight fabricates fodder to add to the fire and throws red meat to the bloggers. Let’s hope for two things: that the Volcano’s staff consistently aspires to a high level of journalistic integrity and that the Record Searchlight editors stop reinforcing the growing negative public opinion of their publication.
All of our institutions, including the Record Searchlight, should aspire to raise the level of respect and civility in the community and call us all to the highest standards.
We all are stewards of American democracy and need to participate in it with reasoned thought, class and dignity knowing that differences of opinion are healthy and not reason for the destruction of one’s reputation and credibility.
If you have an opinion on a local topic and would like to share it with Food for Thought, drop a note to attndoni@gmail.com to get guidelines for writing.
