Omaha High School Newspaper Under Fire

The Register is recognized as one of the best high school newspapers in the nation, but it isn’t receiving much praise from some school administrators, teachers and parents.

Student reporters have been focusing on hard news, including student drug use, and just won their second straight “Best of Show” honor from the National Scholastic Press Assn. and the Journalism Education Assn.

But critics say the Register also sensationalizes some coverage, and they would rather see stories about school activities, such as talent shows and plays.

Principal Gary Thompson was especially upset with the Register’s front page Oct. 31: One story was about a football player allowed to play in spite of an arrest that should have sidelined him; another, about a student’s methamphetamine use. Thompson described the latter as almost a “how-to” article.

“If you talk to a lot of the faculty, they don’t feel it represents Central High School very well,” said Thompson, principal of the 2,400-student school.

Thompson said he doesn’t plan to censor the Register. However, he said the paper should better reflect Central High, whose alumni include actor Henry Fonda, NFL Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers and billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s three children.

The football story Oct. 31 said school administrators knew that the player was ineligible because he was charged with assault, but he played in five games. Thompson said his biggest concern was that the article included the minor’s name.

Editor-in-chief Matt Wynn wrote the article and said he used the name because the student body already knew who the player was and booed him at a pep rally.

The Register’s 17-member staff is also criticized for neglecting their other classes and putting too much time into the school’s monthly full-color, broad-sheet newspaper, which has included 40 pages and a 36-page newsmagazine. Students worked on the paper at school until at least 11:30 p.m. on weeknights until Thompson recently imposed a 10 p.m. curfew.

Kirk Wynn, Matt’s father, said his son may be tired, but the paper has revitalized his interest in school.

“It has a lot to do with finding that one teacher you really relate to,” Kirk Wynn said.

That teacher is Matt Deabler, the school’s journalism teacher and seven-year advisor. Deabler worked as a television intern and has degrees in print and broadcast journalism.

The newspaper’s staff contends that administrators are trying to discredit the publication and fear that it could lead to censorship. Deabler does not want the paper to become a public relations tool for the school.

“That’s not what journalism is,” he said.

Deabler said he saw the problem coming. He had received memos questioning his decisions, and he knew that some school board members were unhappy with past stories.

Matt Wynn sees it all as an attempt to alter the paper’s content.

“It’s not censorship in its purest form, which is tripping a lot of people up,” he said.

He has been contacted by the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va., and may take legal action, depending on what happens.

Professional journalists and newspapers are rallying behind the paper. Made aware of the Register’s accomplishments by Wynn and former Central students around the country, reporters from the Washington Post and Kansas City Star have written letters of support. Another has called from the Boston Globe.

The Society of Professional Journalists and university journalism departments have also written, expressing their concerns about the potential loss of what they see as an outstanding program.

Thompson and other administrators have met with the Register staff to discuss the newspaper’s content. Thompson said he has never asked to see the paper before publication.

Deabler said he hopes that the meeting will end the controversy.

“It changed us,” Deabler said.

He described the latest 12-page issue, all black and white, as OK. “It’s very vanilla,” he said. “Who knows what the next one’s going to look like?”