High School Journalism for Shellyne

A Conversation with Reuven Fenton

03 October 2023

Shellyne Rodriguez (2022). "On the Subject of Defiant Mobility."

Preface:  Mr. Fenton and I disagree, but I appreciate his response. I have included his reply below, so that this page presents both sides of the story.

Dear Mr. Fenton,

You got the guilty plea that you wanted yesterday. You can stop celebrating.

Instead of congratulating you, I am writing to share the advice that my advisor gave me when I was a 17-year-old high school journalist.

For reference, linked here and attached is a news article (27 Jan 1993) with an account of his advice to me. I invite you to read the article and compare my high school journalism with your coverage of Shellyne Rodriguez.

Our student newspaper routinely covered school board meetings and commented on the issues that affected us as students. We often interviewed politicians. And in the course of our reporting, the school board president yelled at four student journalists on four separate occasions.

Yes. The school board president yelled at us. Four times.

After the fourth occasion, we decided to write an editorial about the way she was treating us. And we would have published it, but our advisor encouraged us to give her an opportunity to respond.

So instead of publishing it, we sent her a letter with a copy of the proposed editorial and we gave her a whole month to respond. We wanted to meet with her and interview her (like other journalists).

She never responded. And because she never responded, we intended to publish our editorial. As you'll see in the news article, our editorial got censored, but reached a much larger audience.

Comparing those events 30 years ago to your coverage of Shellyne Rodriguez today, I remember that our advisor encouraged his student journalists to give the school board president a whole month to respond.

And I'm writing to share his advice with you. Instead of driving to someone's home with a freelance photographer and a car full of cameras at 7:30 in the morning, please give the subject of your interview a proper opportunity to respond.

Pro tip:  If you're going to surprise someone, it's better to surprise them with coffee than photography.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. In the future, I hope you will interview people like a high-school journalist.

Sincerely,
- Eryk

ps:  As your NYPost colleagues reported, the terms of the deal that she agreed to yesterday will wipe her record clean. She'll complete the counseling and avoid trouble as the terms require. And then her record will be clean.

As you said in your own video: "I don't believe that she, for a second, that there was ever any intention to actually do me harm."

references:

• "NYC professor avoids jail with plea deal." (02 Oct 2023). New York Post. (PDF copy)
• "Emmaus School Paper's Editorial Banned." (27 Jan 1993). The Morning Call. (PDF copy)
• "Exclusive: Post reporter tells all." (24 May 2023). NYPost on YouTube.

Eryk, thank you for your letter. I always appreciate when someone takes the time to organize their thoughts, and you went the extra mile with the citations. Look, all I can say is that in the fast-paced word of NYC journalism, I'm like a short-order cook. Today's news is yesterday's history, and I'm obligated to try for interviews as quickly as I can. If I gave her a month to respond, the story would have been ancient. Also, it wasn't 7:30 a.m. I think it was around 10:30. And I was with one photographer with a single camera. (His car is equipped with dash cams, which he installed for his safety). And I was gentle and conciliatory on the doorknock, believe it or not. Brandishing a machete was not cool.

Yours, 

REUVEN FENTON
STAFF REPORTER, New York Post