by Rakhi Kundra ’17, Editor-in-Chief 

I have spent the past seven years writing and editing for The Minuteman and while I definitely had the opportunity to write about important world and NA events, looking back on my experience, I find that there were times where I did not fully express myself and felt limited in my abilities to say what I truly wanted.

My NA journalistic career has been very rewarding.  I’ve gained invaluable thinking and investigative skills, and I’ve grown immensely as a writer and reporter.  Yet, a lot of my time with The Minuteman was filled with performing the tasks my editors set out for me: interviewing the necessary teachers and students, covering the news stories I was assigned, etc.  When junior year came around, I was extremely excited; as News Editor, I finally had the freedom to decide what I wanted to write about and how I wanted to go about it.

My biggest concern with the paper at the time was its lack of popularity and prominence within the NA community—yes, part of the issue was the fact that it was not physically handed to students to read, but I think another problem was, and still is, the lack of interest students and faculty held in the stories we were writing.  This dilemma was especially prominent in the News Section, as it was often difficult to relay information the NA community wasn’t already aware of.

So, at the end of my junior year, I decided to do an exposé on the underage drinking scene in my grade.  I wanted to write an article that made students and faculty curious and uncomfortable, but most importantly, I wanted the NA community to have a true desire to read what I was writing.

I started this endeavor by creating a basic anonymous survey for students in my grade to fill out.  The survey asked questions like “do you drink at parties?” and “have you ever gotten into a car with someone who has been drinking?”.  I posted the survey in our grade Facebook group, and asked students to consider answering the questions.  To my great excitement, over 70 students participated, giving me sufficient data to write the article.  Yet, when I showed the final product to the NA administration, they would not let me publish it as it was.  I was told my article conceivably defamed our school image, did not display reliable data, and had to be re-written under the guidance of the NA Health Department if it was to be printed.

I was shocked.  This was the first time anything I had written was prevented from being published.  I met with the paper’s faculty advisors, administrators, talked to teachers and students, and tried to figure out a way to get around the censorship I thought I was facing.  I was very frustrated—I felt as if my right to freedom of speech was being taken away, and I began to doubt my journalistic freedom and capabilities at NA.

Maybe I should have more determinedly challenged what I was being told by the administration, or maybe I should have sat down and re-written the article under approved guidelines.  But instead, this experience made me hesitant to produce controversial material throughout what would end up being the rest of my high school career.  I decided that my goal as Editor-in-Chief was to get people published—even if that meant potentially limiting their journalistic freedom as well.  As a consequence of my passivity, I never felt completely liberated and independent in my literary capabilities.  There are so many things I wanted to write about, but I was too afraid to speak out.

This year, a few members of our staff were also disenchanted as they felt their writing was being censored—and as I reflect on my own personal experience with censorship, I completely understand why.  The Minuteman should be a vehicle through which students in our community can freely express their voices.  Especially in a time where the notion of “fake news” threatens to delegitimize the media sources we rely on for information, it is vital that our community generates honest and critical reporting.  Yet, it becomes difficult to feel completely vested as a writer when every piece we create is reviewed by a higher authority.  So, whether we are actually regulated or have the illusion that we are, this proves to be frustrating not only because our expression is limited, but also because the values of freedom and empowerment that are enforced in our everyday environment are tested.  But when I look back at the stories that never made it to print this year, I notice a lack of sophistication and elegance in their attempts to create unrest or crack a joke.  We’ve spent so much time refraining from assigning controversial topics because of the feared response from those above us—but we have not actually professionally attempted to break free from the cloud of censorship we believe we are operating in.  My one bad experience should not have stood as an example for the future of the paper this year.

So, my message to future writers and editors is to not do what I did.  Yes, writing for the paper will help you gain skills you might not find anywhere else, but don’t be afraid to challenge authority—don’t be afraid to write about controversial topics that could negatively impact our school’s image.  Be aware of the fact that writing for our high school paper is not as easy as it seems, and you won’t always have complete journalistic freedom.  But, the skills you have gained throughout your time at NA are more than enough to allow you to speak your mind in an effective manner.  The Minuteman has the potential to be an extremely powerful voice within the NA community–be brave and inspired enough to let it.