Houston Bellaire High School to update yearbook review policies after controversy on ‘Times of Palestine’ page – Houston Public Media

Daniela Benites/Houston Public Media

Student journalists at a Houston high school are likely learning some tough lessons as the academic year gives way to summer, as are their campus leaders.

Bellaire High School received negative feedback from many members of its culturally diverse community over a “Times of Palestine” page in its annual yearbook published May 2, according to a statement from Principal Michael Niggli released by the Houston ISD. The page featured a student’s perspective on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, a militant group that controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza and which sparked the conflict by attacking Israel on October 7.

The yearbook article, copies of which were shared on social media by members of the Bellaire community, appears to gloss over Hamas’ role in starting the war and does not include the Israeli perspective. The Bellaire student cited discusses her family’s attempts to contact Palestinian friends in Gaza, noting that a humanitarian crisis has developed there while claiming that she and some of her friends have joined the “pro-Palestinian” movement. “.

Israeli military forces have killed at least 36,000 Palestinians since the start of the war, according to the Associated Press, citing information from Gaza’s Health Ministry. Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis and took another 250 hostage in its October 7 attack on a Jewish holiday.

Those who wrote the yearbook “failed to address a really important topic” by not including multiple perspectives on the issue to reflect the experiences of the student body as a whole, according to Kelly McBride, president of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership at the Poynter Institute, a global nonprofit organization focused on journalism and its role in supporting democracy. She said student directories in general are “horrible at representing” all students and tend to focus more on yearbook staff members and their friends.

“I’m sure many of them learn many different lessons, including how good intentions can go wrong, how a lack of discipline can cause harm and also how adults don’t always support you,” McBride said . “Because I don’t think it’s surprising at all. I think the adults should have provided a better safety net there.”

Along the same lines, Niggli said Bellaire will expand its student publication review protocols as the 2024-25 school year approaches. He also said the southwest Houston campus, which has more than 3,000 students, would provide revised yearbooks, which do not include the page in question, to “any student who desires one.”

Bar Yafit via Facebook

A staff advisor provides legal advice and guidance on the content of the directory, which is ultimately determined by students, according to a list of existing policies on the website for the Bellaire Chime. There is a specific set of policies regarding controversial issues, including that “multiple perspectives will be presented and considered to avoid bias.”

Niggli said he and community members who contacted the directory page were “disappointed to see that it included content that reflected only one perspective on a very complex issue.” He also said it has caused some students in Bellaire, where there are several nearby synagogues and Jewish community centers, to feel unsafe and unsupported on campus.

“Sharing our views on difficult issues is a strength,” Niggli said. “We meet regularly to discuss and address difficult and complex issues. It is important that as a staff we provide guidance to students to include multiple perspectives on issues that have such a dramatic impact on different communities.”

Instead of removing the “Times of Palestine” page, avoiding the topic altogether, or adding an article from the Israeli perspective in an attempt to provide seemingly equal coverage, McBride said it would be better to dig deeper the issue and its impact. a wider range of Bellaire students. To that end, she encouraged student journalists to “understand who their audience is and what their duty is to serve that audience.”

“The reason we teach journalism to high school students is so they can understand why it’s important, both as creators and consumers of journalism,” McBride said. “This is a very good example of the importance of journalism, because something permanent like this is expected to reflect the truth as a whole, and that includes individual perspectives as well as known facts at worldwide.

“When you look through a directory, it’s supposed to reflect the experiences of members of the student body,” she added. “And it’s clear that this yearbook doesn’t reflect those experiences. They’ve chosen a tunnel vision to reflect them, and that’s a shame.”