Monday, April 23, 2012

Iowa paper devotes front page to fighting bullying

From Coleman

Iowa paper devotes front page to fighting bullying


This image shows the top half of the front page of The Sioux City
Journal's Sunday, April 22, 2012, edition, featuring a full-page piece
to an anti-bullying editorial after a gay teen committed suicide. The
Sioux City Journal's front-page opinion piece calls on the community
to be pro-active in stopping bullying and urges members to learn more
about the problem by seeing the acclaimed new film, "Bully," which
documents the harassment of Sioux City middle school student.
Relatives have said 14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn Jr. suffered intense
harassment, including threatening cellphone calls and nasty comments
posted online, after coming out to family and friends about a month
ago. He died April 15 from what the local sheriff's office described
only as a "self-inflicted injury." (AP Photo - The Sioux City Journal)

TIMBERLY ROSS
From Associated Press
April 22, 2012 5:05 PM EDT
In a rare and forceful act of advocacy, an Iowa newspaper devoted the
entire front page of its Sunday edition to an anti-bullying editorial
after a gay teen committed suicide.

Relatives have said 14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn Jr. suffered intense
harassment, including threatening cellphone calls and nasty comments
posted online, after coming out to family and friends about a month
ago. He died April 15 from what the local sheriff's office described
only as a "self-inflicted injury."

The Sioux City Journal's front-page opinion piece calls on the
community to be pro-active in stopping bullying and urges members to
learn more about the problem by seeing the acclaimed new film,
"Bully," which documents the harassment of a Sioux City middle school
student. It notes that while many students are targeted for being gay,
"we have learned a bully needs no reason to strike."

"In Kenneth's case, the warnings were everywhere," the editorial said.
"We saw it happen in other communities, now it has hit home.
Undoubtedly, it wasn't the first life lost to bullying here, but we
can strive to make it the last.

Editor Mitch Pugh said the newspaper has run front-page editorials
before but has never devoted the entire page to one.

"A lot of newspapers shy away from putting editorials on the front
page, but we feel we have to be a strong advocate for our community,"
he said. "And if we don't do that, we're not sure who else is."

Weishuhn's mother, Jeannie Chambers, told the Journal last week that
she and the rest of the family knew he was being harassed but didn't
realize the extent of the bullying. His sister told a local television
station that Weishuhn, a freshman, had many friends and was popular at
South O'Brien High School in Paullina until he came out. Then students
turned on him.

Weishuhn's family couldn't immediately be reached Sunday by The
Associated Press.

Pugh said the newspaper didn't consult the family before printing the editorial.

"This was a bigger issue than one person," he said.

Andy Marra, a spokesman for the national anti-bullying group GLSEN,
said the Journal's decision makes "complete sense."

"Public education is absolutely vital to addressing bullying and
harassment in schools," he said, adding that community pressure could
push schools to do more.

___

Online:

Sioux City Journal editorial:

http://bit.ly/ImgOYm


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