Recognition

The Coeur d'Alene/Post Falls Press, November 3, 2004

A truly free press tests high school
Venture has people talking
by Kerri Thoreson

Yes Holly, there is a First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Holly Bowen, a senior at Post Falls High School, is the publisher/editor/writer of an alternative on-line newspaper. Post Falls Uncensored has drawn both praise and criticism in recent weeks from the school's administration and the students. I've visited the site and read the articles, which are for the most part clever satire.

The difference from the olden days of the 1960s when I was on the newspaper staff at Coeur d'Alene High School is the reach and immediacy of the Internet. With every right we enjoy in this country comes responsibility. It gets a little precarious when a forum to criticize is granted under the cloak of anonymity. News outlets, both print and electronic, are governed by libel laws that protect the public from reckless malice or something published with reckless disregard for whether or not it is false.

That said, I can barely stifle a "go girl" or the phrase, well-behaved women rarely make history. Provoking thought and creating an environment where opinions can come to the surface for public discourse is a noble pursuit. Meanspiritedness is not.

Post Falls Uncensored may have already served a valid purpose at the high school. It has people on both sides of the classroom talking and thinking. In an educational environment that's never a bad thing.