Overview[]
The Avonlea Gazette is a small newspaper published by the older students of the Avonlea School where it is headquartered. Muriel Stacy is the lead editor. The newspaper is distributed on Sundays at church, year-round.
History[]
It's not clear when the Gazette's first publication is, although we see the students working on it in the first episode of Season Three. The paper covers news in the local community, including the Mi'qmak village and lifestyle, obituary information, farming tips and recent events. In its early publications, copies of the Gazette are handwritten. Later, the paper is loaned a printing press from the local school board, which is repaired by Miss Stacy to be usable.
The students learn to use a printing press to publish the Gazette.
Censorship Dispute[]
In the special county fair issue, Anne works behind her fellow writers' backs to publish a bold article titled What is Fair. The article highlights injustices towards women that are normalized, and when the article is distributed the community is in shock. Though she was not mentioned by name, Josie Pye is upset and runs from the church as the article was published directly after she was violated by Billy Andrews, resulting in harsh judgement from both her family and the Andrews family despite her being the victim. Following this, Anne is removed from writing and her classmates and teacher are upset that she worked impulsively rather than including them in her ideas. The male school board members are also upset and threaten to take the printing press back if the publication doesn't follow strict guidelines of acceptable topics. Eventually realizing that Anne's intentions were good, her classmates join her in a public protest against the board, insisting their right to free speech.
Even with increasing support from the community, especially Marilla, Matthew, Prissy and Rachel, who is the only female member of the board, the men on the board sneak into the schoolhouse at night and take the printing press. They also burn down the schoolhouse and attempt to frame it as an accident. As a result, Rachel threatens to ruin their reputation in the community through gossip if they do not add more female members to the board. They relent, adding Marilla first.
After the fire, the Gazette continues to meet and publish, moving their headquarters to Miss Stacy's house.
Special Issues[]
The Fair Issue is a special issue of the Gazette published in the summer after the county fair.