Press can turn spoken words into new truth
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April 20, 2010
Amy Yakubowski
People want to get their name out there, voice their opinion and share their story. But when does talking to the press get out of control? I recently had an experience with this, and it somewhat back fired on me, my friends and our school.
To sum it up, I didn’t go to school, went to the Indians home opener with some friends, got interviewed and was placed on the front page of the Akron Beacon Journal.
We shared a story to the reporter about how my friend Katelyn and I have been to home openers for four years now and decided to bring some more people with us. That would be a cute little article for the back of the sports page, right? Wrong. It showed up front and center on A1. Why? I couldn’t tell you. It was not in any way a news story and it was not the story my friends and I thought would be written.
The article somewhat focused on us six girls “skipping” school. I also can say there were some things written that were jokingly said and names mentioned that should not have been published in the context they were. We were casually just talking and he took what he wanted to form his story.
My parents knew I was attending the game, along with the rest of the girls’ parents. That was and is the only day my parents will call me off school for any other reasons besides being sick or a doctor’s appointment. My parents and I did not lie to the school of where I was. On my green slip it said, “Baseball game.” I have no clue why people are making such a big deal. Students miss days of school to go on vacation or long weekend trips. My situation just so happened to be shared and people act like it’s a federal offense.
As a member of the Hoban Visor staff, I’ve been taught to use direct quotes from people. I was also taught to listen and understand the tone of their voice. I jokingly said, “…our teachers don’t care.” Reading and seeing that quote in the context that it was written makes me sound snobby and stuck up and makes it sound like I don’t care about them. I had no idea that would be used. Was it smart for me to say that? No, but I did. I feel people took that quote the wrong way, and I am deeply sorry for that. I should’ve never said it, jokingly or not. I did not mean it in a negative way at all. I am not a stuck up person and I do not want people to regard me in that way, or that Hoban is a snotty school.
My friends and I have been successful in school and we give all of that credit to our teachers and staff members at our schools. We did not think taking one day off would affect or interfere with our current grades in the classroom.
We aren’t “school skippers,” and to be realistic here, we went to a baseball game. We weren’t smoking or doing drugs outside of school. If people are going to criticize us or our schools, which has nothing to do with any of this, then let them. If that’s the worst thing I’ve done in my high school career, I don’t think my parents are going to be too upset with me.
I feel like a lot of people took this article in a negative way, and I apologize. Should we have talked to the reporter? No, but we did. We did not want to do any harm or cause bad press towards the staff or schools of Hoban or Walsh. We just thought it would be a cute idea to share our story of our last home opener together. We’ve learned from our mistake and realized we need to watch what we do or say outside of school because it will somehow be a reflection of our schools as a whole.
But, in the writer’s defense, he has every right to write his article, whether I or anyone else did or did not like it. He can also take whatever angle he wants. It’s journalism; they have their constitutional rights. A journalist job is also to get people talking—and that’s just what he did via radio, word of mouth and internet.
So next time that ten point, Times New Roman font is speaking louder, bigger and bolder than any casualty or jokingly spoken words, remember that the truth can often be hidden in between the text.
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