Angelika Schwamberger, Sage English Instructor
Having seen issue 26 of the CNM Chronicle, I would like to add my view on this topic. First, while I’m not a journalist or journalism teacher, my thought was that a newspaper is supposed to report news, not create it.
Issue 26 seized on a sensational¬ized topic (SEX) and created news, but also discussion, more readership, and a reaction from students, faculty (myself included), and administration.
Further, by broaching this topic, the Chronicle brought to the fore¬front the problem that while we have or have had sex, we don’t want to talk about sex.
Hence, there is little sex education that takes place in our public schools and homes.
Instead, sex is glamorized in the media and used to sell anything from cars to shampoo, but the health aspect of sex gets little attention. And the less education and discussion that takes place, the more unwanted pregnan¬cies and diseases we will see.
It’s certain that people will have sex, regardless of whether you write about it or not, and yes, especially minors.
Minors are the ones putting New Mexico at the top of the list of states with the highest teenage pregnancy rate.
Instead of pre¬venting minors from accessing informa¬tion about sex, we should inform them much more about sex, which is hardly as glamorous as it is portrayed in movies, magazines, and advertisements, and instead illustrate to them that sex can have serious, real life consequences that will last a lifetime.
The only real dif¬ference the Chronicle can make here is to inform its readers about safe and health¬ful sexual behaviors.
And while I have no problem with the topic of issue 26, the slant of some, not all, of its articles could have benefitted from some adjustment. Going forward, please provide more information about sexual health instead of sexual pleasure.
As one of the organizers of the Student Health Fair, I saw abso¬lutely no coverage of our event by the CNM Chronicle. Posters advertising the Second Annual Student Health Fair in February 2013 were taken down before the event.
There was little to no publicity for the event anywhere, but especially none in the Chronicle. Both student health fairs provided valuable information about reproductive health/ choices, maternity issues, and rape crisis management.
Why was there no coverage by the CNM Chronicle about the more mundane matters related to sexuality?
