A seventh-grade student in Georgia was forced by his school to change his shirt before a field trip to CNN headquarters because it mocked CNN as a fake news network.
The shirt had featured a logo that was stylistically similar to that of CNN’s logo, but with the letters “FNN,” with the words “Fake News Network” beneath the logo. Jaxon Jester had to change out of his shirt at his teacher’s strict direction before the tour at CNN’s headquarters.
Jester’s father, Stan, is a member of the DeKalb County Schools Board and his mother, Nancy, is a DeKalb County Commissioner. They were not happy at all with the teacher’s decision, saying it violated their son’s right to free speech.
“This year when the CNN tour was announced, my 7th grade son Jaxon asked me if he could purchase an FNN-Fake News Network shirt to wear for his field trip,” Jaxon’s father had written in his blog post. “As an advocate for the First Amendment, I agreed to his request. He picked out the shirt he wanted and ordered it from Amazon. His mother cautioned him that he might cause a controversy and needed to be prepared for that. He was fully aware of the implications of his decision and made the affirmative choice to wear his shirt.”
Jaxon’s mother had said that the principal of the Peachtree Charter Middle School and Jester’s teacher had apologized over the incident.
“The teacher involved said that she told Jax to change his shirt because she thought his shirt said ‘F-CNN.’ I told her that it absolutely did NOT say that. She apologized and said that she now realizes that the shirt has no profanity or suggestion of profanity on it,” Jester’s mother said. “The principal stated that he should have been made aware of the situation before Jax was made to change his shirt. He apologized for the incident. We discussed how the shirt could have provided valuable learning opportunities if Jax and his fellow students could have explored how we get news and how we process it. The teacher agreed.”
The school has a policy of taking the students on such educational trips and tours to create more exposure for the kids and to equip them to make better and more aware occupational choices for themselves. Such trips are said to give the children an in-depth insight on how various businesses are run.
CNN has been forever branded as a pathetic outlet for nothing but lies and propaganda. Just days ago, a live CNN broadcast was interrupted by a brave citizen, speaking truth to power, while the newscaster attempted to smear Alabama Senate candidate, Roy Moore.