Several readers have complained that the New Haven Register blew out of proportion a story about Hamden sixth graders fashioning prison-style weapons out of pencil sharpeners. It appeared on the front page of the Register's print edition Saturday.
"I can't believe you would print this garbage on page 1," one reader said in comments on the online story. "Slow news day?"
The same reader said the principal of the school in question was right to send parents a letter warning them about the phenomenon.
And that is exactly what pushed this story from one somewhat hard-to-believe rumor about scary student behavior to a page one story. The principal took it seriously, and so there is either a story if you believe it's a scary trend or if you believe the principal went overboard.
That being said, a topic worthy of discussion is how well the Register puts into context stories about the "extreme exception."
Hamden sixth graders aren't stabbing each other left and right. Eleven-year-olds aren't shanking each other in gym class.
So how do you report what is an interesting - and alarming - story, without giving the wrong impression? What do you think?