While the events of the recent shooting were unfortunately familiar, the response has been unique. Survivors at Marjory Stoneman Douglas have stood up instead of backed down, with the intent to save other students from the pain and tragedy of school shootings. After witnessing their friends, family and teachers sacrifice themselves in acts of bravery or become victims of a disheartened criminal, the students hold a spirit of determination. They are taking action. They have given speeches calling out lawmakers, and arranged a march to leave school in protest. Several days ago, a couple of the students were invited to CNN’s “Town Hall,” appearing and asking legislators questions, like Marco Rubio. The airing went well, with the exception of one student, who claimed he did not participate because he was given “scripted questions.”

Stoneman Douglas survivor Colton Haab accused CNN of giving him scripted questions instead of allowing him to ask his own during the Town Hall. Because of this, he claims he chose not to participate. His father Glenn Haab attempted to back his son’s decision and provided a copy of the email exchanged between Colton and CNN in which they supposedly scripted his question. However, CNN rebutted this claim, saying they “did not script his question nor have they ever,” providing their own copy of the email. This caused even more controversy and an allegation against Glenn for doctoring the email. Glenn’s was missing a phrase that very much changes the guilty party. Glenn offered his own questions, and CNN denied it, saying it was too long and Colton should stick to the ones he submitted. Also noticeably different between the two was the time, which was off by one minute. CNN now claims Glenn doctored the emails exchanged in an attempt to discredit the station.

There are two things very wrong with this story: the idea that a station would script personal questions and the act of doctoring any exchange in order to discredit someone. The intent to discredit someone falsely is absurd and possibly unlawful. To go along with that, scripting personal questions to sway a discussion is not right either. News bias is endlessly argued, especially against “liberal media.” To sway a discussion for the benefit of the media and the popular agenda rather than allowing students to confront what they believe is the problem. The last thing we need is more dishonesty and controversy. This is a misrepresentation of the media, and in this day and age, we do not need more questions whether we can trust those reporting to us and the stories they are providing.

False charges toward the media and dishonesty from the media both need to stop. We need to be able to trust the people we rely on for big stories and coverage of events around, not only the country, but the world. It is very unfortunate and disheartening that, as of late, that is a hard concept to achieve.

Photo provided by DonkeyHotey via Flickr