Take risks but be fair and comprehensive when investigating a story, advises a student editor whose staff broke the news of hidden cameras in their school hallways.
The Boston Globe wrote
in an article:
Several hidden security cameras hung in the halls of Newton South High School for months, not yet operational and apparently undetected, until reporters for the school's student newspaper started asking questions.
...Newton South's student newspaper, the Denebola, broke the story in its Dec. 19 issue under the headline "Secret Cameras installed," with an accompanying editorial criticizing administrators for not telling students they would be watched.
The editors won't say how the paper learned of the existence of the cameras, which are hidden inside dark-tinted domes or disguised as smoke alarms. But they said in a statement that the story, written by juniors Jason Kuo and Nathan Yeo, was held a month so they could get comment from the school's principal, Brian Salzer, who had been in China. He confirmed to the students that the cameras had been put in place.
In a followup story, the superintendent took responsibility for installing the cameras, explaining they had been used in another school in the district to control thefts and vandalism. He said he would await a district policy before using them again.
Alex Schneider,
Denebola editor in chief, gave this advice to journalists:
Student journalists should be ready to take risks. One of the
most important aspects of the episode was that we were not afraid to
approach the principal and ask uncomfortable questions. In
Massachusetts, we have the law on our side and the comfort of being
able to print what we want. That's not what we did here. We were
careful to take an honest approach to investigating the story -- one
that would be comprehensive and fair.
Read the student paper's
original coverage, or the school newspaper's
press release about their coverage.
