Not-so-socially-acceptable media
If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. In elementary school, I was taught this little piece of advice to avoid petty fights with my friends on the playground. I was taught this little piece of advice in middle school when girls would be rude and not invite everyone to their birthday parties. I was taught this piece of advice in high school when boys were hurtful and all I wanted to do was take it out on social media where I didn’t have to say it in person. This little piece of advice was clearly not taught to E.J. Miller before he went on a Twitter tirade against Mitch Eden, journalism adviser, last Friday.
I understand the school board is under increasing pressure due to the failure of Prop A. TKC chose to shed light on Prop A by writing a news piece as well as a staff editorial about the school board’s failure to share much-needed information about the debt with the community. Eden has nothing to do with our coverage and especially our decision to cover this issue that we felt was important to the community because it greatly affected our school. However, Miller chose to take to Twitter to attack Eden publicly about a sidebar on the same page as the staff editorial. In this sidebar, TKC wanted to answer common misconceptions about where money was used regarding the new journalism building and the Walker Natatorium. The question posed was, “Why does KHS need money when they have a $2.5 million journalism center and $10 million pool?” to which The Call responded, “Both the pool and the journalism center were private donations made to the school meaning the money afforded for those buildings could only be used for those buildings.”
Miller failed to contact me, the editor-in-chief, about his grievances with our sidebar. It is Call protocol that I am the first person someone should contact, if they have an issue or concern with our magazine. We always welcome criticism of our pieces because it makes us better journalists. But instead of sending an email or writing a letter to the editor, Miller chose to contact Eden, who had nothing to do with our coverage, through a tweet.
Miller’s attack began in response to Eden’s daily leadership tweet early Friday morning, “There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group– less competition,” with the hashtag “SJquote.”
Miller responded with, “Then don’t forget to give credit to Scott Anderson and those who worked to fund improvements to the J-Center; not all donations.”
The Call recognizes those who helped give us an absolutely stunning building where we can grow and improve. We even shared a video of our building at a national journalism conference to show people how lucky we are.
However, the point of our piece was not to talk about our journalism building but rather the failed attempts by the school board to pass Prop A. Miller analyzed a very small part of our page, took a tweet out of context and ran with it, not caring who he bullied along the way.
Many times throughout the Twitter fight, I found myself laughing and thinking it was a joke. At one point in time, I actually thought someone had hacked Miller’s account and was creating jibber-jabber. But no, it was the real deal. Eden, following Call protocol, suggested Miller contact me, if he had an issue with our story. Instead of contacting me or emailing me in a professional manner, he then tagged me in his response to Eden, suggesting he contact me stating, “I’ll ask that EIC give credit where due.”
I ignored the tweet, and maybe Eden should have as well because clearly a public battle on Twitter wasn’t the best idea. But then, just before 8 p.m., eight hours after Eden’s last tweet, Miller attacked Eden for being a Duke fan. Miller accused Eden of being a “smug Dukie wannabe” and that just didn’t sit too well with me and plenty of other KHS students, alumni and teachers. Many took to Twitter in defense of Eden, saying he was the greatest teacher they had ever had while calling Miller immature and unprofessional.
In retrospect, Twitter was too public of a forum for this discussion and the manner in which it was discussed by Miller was unprofessional. If Miller had kindly described his issues with our writing, I would have gladly accepted it. However, angry Twitter tirades are not advantageous for anybody. And if only he had learned that little piece of advice all those years ago, we could have avoided this mess altogether.
Storify by Kaitlin Kilby
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Grade: 12
Twitter handle: @miwright_uwrong
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Christine Miller • Feb 9, 2016 at 7:24 pm
The February 1, 2016 Kirkwood Call article entitled “Not-so-socially-acceptable media” begins by admonishing: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” It is incredibly ironic that the article then proceeds to make a mockery of that statement, continuing for paragraphs with statements about Mr. Miller that are anything but “nice.” In doing so, The Call participates in the behavior it condemns.
Consider another relevant moral statement: “Whoever is without sin among you, let him be the first to cast a stone . . .”. I do not defend Mr. Miller’s Twitter comments to Mr. Eden. However, I am certain that nearly everyone reading this has said something they have regretted, something that hurt somebody’s feelings. When that happens nearly all of us apologize, as Mr. Miller did. Even so, Mr. Eden amassed the power of The Call to demonize Mr. Miller and escalate the dispute far beyond its original context. Mr. Eden’s response here calls to mind an image of using a cannon to kill a mosquito.
I wonder whether Mr. Eden considered the fact that Mr. Miller’s two children are Kirkwood High School students. I wonder if Mr. Eden considered how those children would feel going to school each day after a negative story about their father was published in their school’s newspaper and made available to every single one of their teachers and classmates. Perhaps Mr. Eden considered the interests of Mr. Miller’s children but decided they were mere collateral damage. Perhaps Mr. Eden decided that their interests paled in comparison to the opportunity to bring attention to himself and The Call. If so, that decision makes further mockery of the moral concept embodied in The Call article’s opening statement.
I also wonder whether Mr. Eden considered the staggering amount of time and effort Mr. Miller has poured into the Kirkwood School District since his election to the school board in 2011. Mr. Miller has generously volunteered countless hours seeking only to serve the district and make it the best possible environment for all members of its community. Perhaps Mr. Eden considered all of that but decided that it just didn’t matter, and picked up a handful of stones.
J.P.K. Wood • Feb 2, 2016 at 8:45 pm
“According to the original 1918 publication, The Call was created shortly after the Webster Groves High School paper The Echo, and was named The Call to appear-rightly so-superior to its Webster counterpart.”
“Luckily, the Kirkwood High School administration frequently supports student’s First Amendment rights…”
While it is not the KHS administration attacking the Call, this combination of ideas taken from TKC’s “About Us” epitomizes the essence of what is happening here. A trivial and silly attack based upon a perceived slight. One side still clings tightly to the local “What high school did you go to?” mentality that revels in each J.Maclin touchdown as if it were their own, while the other sees there is a world that doesn’t care about who you think you are or where you are from and probably is still mad they drafted Maclin on their fantasy football team in the first place.
This argument is foolish and stupid. The Call wrote an editorial that was beholden only to the students it represents and while others may disagree with its content, there are better ways to express this. Question the writers of the editorial, provide a rebuttal but attack the newspaper adviser?
In the end the editorial, the twitter responses and this article were written by students. Students who are still learning, students who make mistakes, students who need guidance and directions. Yet to call their adviser out for an innocuous FAQ response, he didn’t write, on social media is hardly a way to show 21st century leadership but rather a fall back into the tribal past of 1918…
“Luckily” Kirkwood has teachers like Mitch Eden, who open their student’s eyes to the world around them, who use these “teachable moments” to guide rather than tell and who realize the importance of student journalism is seen what the word can do not what it can say.
Most schools would love to be in the “dire” situation KSD is in, if it meant they could have all Kirkwood has, but until those who run the KSD realize this they will be no more than the tired pun the paper is named for…
Eileen Love • Feb 2, 2016 at 3:55 pm
Hi there to Flacko and Ellie Nash. Mr. Miller stepped in it by calling out a student publication and a student editor in a public forum. Not only that, he “trash talked” a teacher in a public forum. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes. A board President calling a public school teacher a “smug (Duke) wannabee” and then referring to the same teacher as “Saint Mitch?”
Did that really happen? Yep it did right here in Kirkwood.
Ms. Nash do you really expect the student newspaper to refrain from responding when the school board President criticized them on social media about their published story and by referencing the “Jkids” in his criticism?
Mr. Or Mrs. Flacko- are you familiar with the meaning of an “editorial”? Hint: It isn’t the same as “an article”
Finally, to the EIC- M. Wright-nicely done.
Flacko • Feb 2, 2016 at 2:16 pm
While EJ Miller should have never made such childish remarks, it is perhaps just as juvenile to publish these in a school-wide forum such as the kirkwoodcall.com. In addition, students should never be involved in matters regarding two employees of the district, regardless of the tweets’ content in its relation to Mr. Eden.
Ellie Nash • Feb 2, 2016 at 2:37 am
I feel as though this article is a bit one-sided. Considering that it comes from the only side of this fight that holds a large platform, it’s understandable. I just don’t understand what this article was attempting to accomplish. The piece is started with an anecdote about restraining negative and unproductive comments, but then continues to both endorse and create them. By no means am I justifying what Mr. Miller said, I agree that he acted rather immaturely, but then the Call staff reciprocated these actions. Mr. Miller is an adult who should understand how to approach these sort of things, but he’s a sole individual. This is a publication, which largely serves as a representation of this school, that includes numerous members of the student body, as evidenced by the multitude of relplies to Mr. Miller. The tweets in response to him come with the same faults that his did. I don’t consider myself an authority on morality, but I don’t think equating Mr. Miller to an elementary schooler in social understanding necessarily falls under that. While Mr. Miller completely failed at respecting the proper guidelines of the Call, I don’t think the barrage of tweets in response or this article are becoming either. I feel as though you may need to take a step back to examine this situation and your role as a publication. Or at least not label this as a nonpartial piece. (I understand that I am being hypocritical in writing this comment at all, especially as it doesn’t fit the guidelines you talk about above, but what’re you going to do? Write an article about me?).