Week 3: Discussion 1 and 2 and Assignmen

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Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

You are the editor of the Town Times. The paper reported on Tuesday that a fire raced through the middle school, causing major damage. The 200 students enrolled at the school must move to other buildings. On Wednesday you discover that two 13-year-old students are being held on suspicion that they set papers on fire in the basement after the school day had ended Monday. You are told their names. Your newspaper has an “unofficial agreement” with the County Prosecutor’s Office that the names of juveniles ages 14 and under accused of crimes are not published. It is at the newspaper’s discretion whether to follow this policy. One of the boys accused of setting the fire, Damon Roderick, is the nephew of the newspaper’s general manager, Roland Bradstreet. As editor, do you publish Damon’s name in Thursday’s edition even though he is only 13? Do you also publish the second boy’s name? Why or why not? Are there any special circumstances that make it important to publish the boys’ names in this case? Explain your reasons for publishing or not publishing the boys’ names.

Your initial post should be at least 250-300 words in length. Support your claims with examples from required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7.