Rockport Beaches and Notes on Confidentiality

Yesterday, I had a pretty easy day. I was assigned to help out the people who are working on the Cape Ann Summer Guide, which compiles information about things to do on Cape Ann during the summer for local residents. I called up someone at the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce and got all the information on the numerous beaches in Rockport. After that, I took a look at the beach rules for Rockport: turns out, some of them are pretty hilarious. Here are some of the highlights of that particular venture:

• No person is permitted to carry a spear and/or a spear gun between the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 15 through September 1.
• In accordance with local laws, no person shall be in possession of a lobster one half hour after sunset to one half hour before sunrise at any time.

On another note, I got to have a talk with my editor about the confidentiality rules of journalism. In my experience, most kids under 18 seems to be under the impression that if they get in trouble, the newspaper is not allowed to publish their names. That is actually incorrect. In reality, newspapers can publish whatever TRUE information they find out (freedom of speech also covers freedom of press, DUH!) and it is the police departments that aren't supposed to release information. Schools, on the other hand, are not bound by the same confidentiality laws and although they can't officially attest to whether or not a student has been arrested, they can say if students have been suspended or expelled from the school. In addition, any information that reaches the newspapers by accident--like an error where the police forget to take the name of a minor off of the police report, or someone comes in as a source to spill the information, newspapers can still publish it regardless if the information was obtained legally. If it was illegally obtained, unless an individual from the paper was directly involved in the actual illegal activity to GET the information, the newspapers are not at fault for publishing the information, the source is.