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monday, february 25, 1980
daily nebraskan
page 5
oliciesset standards, test new ideas
Editorial p
Most professions have ethics that people within that
profession look to as guidelines for their conduct.
Journalists also have a standard of conduct which they
look to. Generally the standard includes fair and unbiased
reporting, no libelous stories or pictures, not disclosing
sources who wish to remain anonymous and not printing
off-the-record comments.
Driving age likely
will remain at 16
By Mary Jo Pitzl
A bill to raise the minimum age for obtaining a driver's
license to 17 appears to be driving toward a dead end,
according to a member of the Legislature's Public Works
Committee.
Sen. Don Wesely of Lincoln said he is "pretty certain"
the bill won't win committee approval. He said a
committee decision will be announced early this week.
LB804, proposed by Omaha Sen. Patrick Venditte,
would raise the minimum age for getting a driver's license
from 16 to 17.
Presenting his bill to the committee Friday, Venditte
said the measure's advantages would include saving gas,
reducing the number of teen-age traffic accidents and
allowing youth "one more year, of maturity" before
taking the wheel.
Venditte said restricted licenses could be assigned to
those youths who must drive to help with farm chores and
to those students living in rural areas who must drive to
school. 1
.Studying lacking
A former high school instructor, Venditte said he is
concerned about the lack of studying he sees among high
school youths. Much of their study time is spent working,
he said, and often the jobs are dependent on the student's
access to a car. .
"I guess I really question the need of 16-year-olds to
drive," Venditte said, citing the mass transportation
systems available in urban centers as alternatives. ....
' Dr. Ben Meckel of Burwell spoke in favor of LB804:
"It's my impression that most males at the age of 16
are not ready Jor driving privileges." Meckel said he has a
16-yeaf-oid son: who' would -probably, "beat me up" for
supporting the bill, but added that he believes his son is
not mature enough to handle the responsibilities of
driving. . . -'.-'.
Meckel, a former member of the State Highway
Commission, said states with a higher minimum driver's
license age report fewer traffic fatalities. In order to
reduce traffic fatalities, he said, the number of drivers on
the road must first be reduced.
' Students testify
Five of the six people testifying against the bill were
high school students. ; . :
. Debbie Kaminski, representing the student council at
Millard High School Level II, presented a list of students'
complaints. Among them were lack of effective mass
transit , in the Millard area, lack of busing for Level II
students living within a four-mile radius of the school, and
the hindrance the bill would be to student employment.
Many 16-year-olds at Millard work, Kaminski said, and
making parents chauffeur a student to and from a job
results in two wasted trips.
"The reason why a lot of kids work now is to continue
their education into college," Kaminski said.
"Experience doesn't come with age, it comes with
practice," she said. Kaminski said she and three other
students carpooled to get to Lincoln for the hearing.
Two other Omaha students who testified Friday also
said they carpooled for the 50-mile drive.
Lincoln High School sophomore Mary Samson, 15,
told the committee she recently finished a driver's
education course and believes she is qualified to drive.
Although rising gas prices have curtailed joyriding and
drag racing, Samson said "there's always going to be a
percentage of people doing this at any age group."
Samson added many 16-year-olds need jobs because
their parents are unwilling to continually support them.
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To say the standards are never broken would be a bold
faced lie and to hope that someday newspapers will be
errorless is a pipe dream. As long as journalists are merely
human, no matter how hard they strive for accuracy,
there will be mistakes.
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The standard of conduct is broken in all professions,
but when it happens in a newspaper it is more noticeable
to the public.
On the other hand, journalists know that the
newspaper is subject to daily reader criticism, so they
should have a higher standard of accuracy than most pro
fessions. The press guidelines are really so general that most
editors set standards within individual newspapers for
their staff.
For the Daily Nebraskan, this means new rules and a
new editorial policy each semester. .
Editors from semester to semester basically follow the
policy of the editors before them and change in the Daily
Nebraskan is fairly gradual.
But there is nothing that says that the change can't be
radical, that a new editorial stand can't be taken, that
innovations to make the paper look different can't be
made and so on. ,
Sometimes people get so ingrained in tradition they
can't see there might be something better. It also stands
to reason that unless the new idea is tested, it will never
be known if it would be good for the paper.
But then, there are many ways new ideas can be tested
without just taking the plunge. Readers are sometimes
polled, staff meetings called and ideas discussed before the
major change is made.
However it is done, the step has been taken, and the
decision then must be made about the success or failure.
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