Student, principal win courage awards for high school journalism
By Preeti Vasishtha
05.25.00
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| Marina Hennessy |
ARLINGTON, Va. — A high school student's exposure of brutal hazing practices by the school football team and a school principal's strong stance against Internet filtering won them the Newseum's third annual Courage in Student Journalism Awards.
Last November, 17-year-old Marina Hennessy, a junior at Avon High School in Avon, Ind., wrote an article on hazing for Echo, the school newspaper, despite the principal's efforts to censor it and the athletic director's accusations of yellow journalism.
"If [the article] stopped something bad happening to some kid who just wanted to play a game, yes it was worth it," Hennessy said after accepting the award. "That was the goal from the beginning — that parents should know about it (hazing)."
In the article, Hennessy quoted players who described beatings with objects ranging from tennis balls in socks to belts, electrical cords and chairs. Although student newspaper faculty adviser Pam Essex met the principal to defend the students' right to run the story, the principal ordered the story be pulled. After Essex informed the principal that Hennessy intended to take the story to the school board and the Indianapolis Star, the principal allowed the story to be printed, but only if Hennessy substituted the coach's comments with a prepared statement.
The article ran in Echo with an editor's note saying that school officials had it. Local news media picked up the story, and the school began taking steps to stop hazing. The coach resigned; summer football camp has been canceled.
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| Henry L. Caudle |
Fellow award-winner Henry L. Caudle, principal of Davenport Central High School in Davenport, Iowa, supported his students' efforts to publicize and protest the school district's decision to place Internet filters on all computers for students from kindergarten to the 12th grade.
"It was easy to support the students because in high school there should be free access to information," Caudle said. "When high school students did not get the access they should have, there was no reason for me not to support their cause. They wanted to gather signatures on their petition, they wanted to have a rally, and they did write a number of articles in the student paper. It was easy for me to say yes to those things. They did it in the right manner."
Student journalists complained that the filters were censoring information needed for their research. With Caudle's support, student journalists from two area high schools worked together to persuade the school board to change its policy on Internet filters. The district now provides an unfiltered computer in the library and journalism office of each of the district's high schools.
Charles L. Overby, chairman and chief executive officer of The Freedom Forum, said, "Authorities are always trying to filter your freedom. It's some sort of natural instinct."
"The Internet filter has made us understand what the First Amendment is all about even better because of that word 'filter,' " Overby said. "I hope that we will stand up for people who are courageous and are trying to overcome efforts to filter our lives in ways that endanger our freedom."
Joe Urschel, senior vice president and executive director of the Newseum, said the journalism award honors both students and administrators because "we recognize that an active student press is a two-way street." It's borne out of mutual respect between student journalists and appreciative school administration, he said. "Student press cannot do its job effectively if the school administration will not allow it to."
Hennessy and Caudle each received $5,000 and a glass plaque.