Response to a News Story: WLBZ2 Bangor

Toy Gun Suspension


This particular newscast pertains to 9 year-old Patrick Timoeny, who sat in the principal's office facing possible suspension from school for playing with a two-inch plastic gun. This news story was very well written for the most part, as I only heard a passive verb tense once in the broadcast, which is when the reporter stated that Patrick was, "threatened with suspension". Other than that, the story was well written in terms of style and mechanics.


In terms of content, however, I felt like the story lacked an objective aspect of reporting the story. To the average person, this story would seem to only have one side to it. However, I think it is important to keep in mind that the people in charge of running schools should always be on guard, and take nothing lightly. Obviously the toy gun could do little or damage to anyone in the school, however, it seems as though whenever guns are concerned, it raises concern. The reporting on this story heavily favored the side of Patrick and his family. Patrick, along with his mother, father answered questions for the reporters. On top of this, another parent and student answered questions, and gave their respective commentary on the events. The reporters, however, failed to interview anyone from the school, and only mentioned that the principal would not comment to the press in this situation.


In addition to the lack of reporting on the other side of this controversy, the actually writing of the story favored the side of Patrick. Patrick was "threatened" with suspension, he "sat in the principal's office in tears", and at one point little Patrick even called out the principal herself, telling reporters that he did not know why the principal wanted to create a "commotion." Although I do agree with the angle that the news station took on this story, I feel like the reporters and people working on writing this story could have taken a less biased approach to an issue that does in fact have two sides.