ILLINOIS — A student newspaper has landed itself in
controversy after it published a supplement for the school’s James
Bond-themed prom with a cover page that featured students posing with
guns.
With the headline “Achieving the ‘Bond’ Look for
Prom,” the April issue of the
Kaneland Krier displays a boy in a
tuxedo pointing a water gun at the reader against the backdrop of a martini
glass and a girl holding a prop pistol. The newspaper was distributed to the
students at Kaneland High School on April 5, but did not follow its usual route
after that.
The cover page was slated to be uploaded to the Kaneland
High School Web site and remaining papers were to be distributed to the
community later that month, but the newspaper staff decided against these usual
procedures in light of the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16, newspaper adviser
Laurie Erdmann said.
Erdmann said she felt “pleased and
proud” that the newspaper staff voted against distributing the paper in
the community because they determined that it would not be appropriate to
circulate the supplement widely so soon after the Virginia Tech shootings, in
which more than 30 students and faculty lost their lives.
Erdmann said
the decision to not pass out the paper in the community was not based on the
fear of censorship but was a matter of judgment and taste.
But some
members of the community, including an elementary school principal, obtained a
copy and have expressed criticism about its depiction of violence and drinking.
So far, one parent has met with the principal and the school district
superintendent about the paper and brought the issue to the school board.
Erdmann said she does not think a school policy change or any other action is
likely to be pursued.
Heather Lyons, the district parent who made a
formal complaint about the issue, said she thought the cover page sent the wrong
message to Kaneland students and the community.
“My initial
objection was that they were glamorizing alcohol and firearms,” she said.
“It’s still our responsibility as parents and educators that
students are making wise decisions.”
Erdmann said the controversy
has died down, though not before providing her students with an apt opportunity
to discuss free press rights and journalism ethics.
“Initially the
students were defensive, but then they tried to put themselves in the shoes of a
parent,” she said.
Amanda Smith, 18, who recently graduated and
was the newspaper’s copy editor in chief, said the staff was initially
surprised to see the complaints, but it gradually came to understand that the
paper’s influence extends past the campus.
“We learned we
are reporting not just to a school but to a community that might not be totally
sensitive to issues like this,” she said.
By Judy Wang, SPLC staff writer
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