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The student news site of C. M. Russell High School

Rustler News

The student news site of C. M. Russell High School

Rustler News

EDITORIAL: Stampede aims to inspire literacy, criticism from readers

It’s 16 future ink stains on your clothes. It’s 16 more squares of trust for your new, not-so-potty-trained puppy. But, before it’s any of this, it is much more.

It is 16 pages of knowledge. It is 30 pages of controversy. It is 24 pages of heart wrenching material.

Regardless of what it is to you, it’s never just about you, or just about CMR.

It’s about those who are involved, those who are not involved, and those who wish to be involved.

It’s about athletic stars, foreign exchange students, club members, student government leaders, but most importantly, unity. It is news.

News is a word with many definitions in our society, today. Sometimes it means the opinions of who provides it, or what they choose to inform you, as a reader, with.

Sometimes it is a politically misleading message, a cry for money, libel, or slander.

We at the Stampede hope to remain above what is too often perceived as “news.”

Highly prestigious news programs have reported that The Affordable HealthCare Act was not passed, have twisted phone call information in the George Zimmerman cases, and have been untruthful in many situations.

Whether these events come from an intentional agenda to destroy a viewer’s perception or a lack of careful attention to information is irrelevant.

What is relevant is the apparent lack of integrity within each of these events.

If the public’s source of information is full of lies, bias, and persuasive motives, how is any person to get stable, correct news?

We want to present you with unbiased, true information that allows each student to take an individual view.

Your beliefs and opinions should not necessarily be the same as ours. Our pieces should provide you with equal information from both sides so that you may make your own decision.

However, we can’t always do it alone. That’s why we ask for your help.

Each year we ask you to be literate and informed, to read papers and know the issues.

This year, however, we ask more of you. We ask you to be critics.

Delve deep into the truth behind the stories, evaluate the sources you see in your school paper, and attempt to help us create the most just paper that we can by coming to us with your problems, commentary, and suggestions.

As a newspaper staff, we make up a small section of this school’s only population. In fact, too small.

For this very reason, we strive to obtain the opinions of the majority. However, without your letters, essays, and opinion pieces, we cannot do this.

We scrutinize our papers with a careful eye, but we need your eye as well.

As a reader, you recognize bias from the media and have the ability to correct the information that you see.

It is partially your responsibility to make sure that you get the news that you deserve, so help us out.

It’s your 16 pages, 24 pages, or 30 pages, not ours. Each ink stain belongs to you.

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EDITORIAL: Stampede aims to inspire literacy, criticism from readers