HS Newspaper Student Censored by Principal

Recently, I learned about a story of ethics and journalism in my own school. A high school senior newspaper student was censored and forbidden to run her story last week. The intent of the story was to alert the students of potential security breaches in the school. The student, who was also the newspaper editor, had done extensive investigative work to compile the facts and information. The principal said she would not allow the story to run because it would make the school look bad and could be valuable information for intruders. The principal later took measures to increase security and safety of its students using the information from the scrapped story.

The right versus right dilemma here is that the public has a right to the truth and the principal has a right to protect the school. I can see both sides of the story here. The student had put a lot of hard work into the story and had finally found something that would capture the interest of the students. It would be controversial and create a buzz throughout the school. She felt defeated when all her hard work was going to waste. And then there is the principal. Hard-nosed and arrogant, or is she? She has a duty to protect her students and uphold the name of the school. She also has the right to veto anything she deems detrimental to the greater population of the school.

So which is more important? Knowledge or safety? Personally, I think that the principal made the right decision. She needed to protect her students and she even made extra efforts to fix the problem that was exposed. Exposing security breaches at the school would leave the population vulnerable to anyone who gained the information. I also think it was a character building exercise and a lesson in ethics for the student.