Sharing your state law with others
by John Bowen and Lori Keekley
Title
Sharing your state law with others
Description
State laws protecting student press rights mean nothing if students, administrators, school boards and others don’t know what they mean or how they impact the community. For this lesson, students will create an action plan for the various groups in their community about the state legislation.
Objectives
- Students will evaluate what their state law covers and identify key points to share with others.
- Students will research key points of their legislation, outline them and seek ways to effectively present them.
- Students will synthesize these steps into Action Plans for sharing key points with various local communities.
Common Core State Standards
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.4 | Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.D | Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1.D | Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives; synthesize comments, claims, and evidence made on all sides of an issue; resolve contradictions when possible; and determine what additional information or research is required to deepen the investigation or complete the task. |
Length
50 minutes
Materials / resources
Computers
State Law (see list at the end of the lesson for state links)
Lesson step-by-step
Step 1. Warm up — 5 minutes
The teacher should ask the class if they had last minute questions about their state law. Discuss them as needed, or tell students they will move on create an Action Plan to sell the new state law to administrators, community and board of education.
Step 2. Large group — 5 minutes
Tell students they will create an Action Plan to convince groups, administrators, community and board of education, the value of the new state law. Students can refer to the State Law Sheet and the role play from the earlier lesson.
An Action Plan would be an outline of the arguments, process and rationale for each they would use to explain the importance of having the state law to discuss this with selected community groups. Its contents might well vary depending on the group being addressed.
Step 3. Small groups — 40 minutes
The teacher will divide the class into a group for each of the categories, administrators, community, school board, and ask students to choose one they feel most comfortable with. Remember, each group will target a different audience to inform.
Each group will appoint a team leader (a student with journalism experience or editor would be best) to lead discussion and to record role and process.
Suggested talking points would include:
- A timeline for the presentation session and which students would present information
- A plan for publicity to invite members of their target audience
- Securing a place for the presentation
- Presentation materials effective for each targeted audience
- Research need and student responsibilities for that material
- A script for the presentation
- Arrangements for sound, lighting and visuals as needed
- Plans to have publicity/reporting of the presentation
Each team would also plan for future meetings to create materials and finalize times and places. The class, with input from the teacher, would ultimately decide the timeline for presentations (most likely, though, the presentation to the board of education would come last).
Teacher note: Depending on the class composition, this lesson may take more than one day. The students may need an additional day to create the presentation.
State Laws and Codes:
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Nevada
- North Dakota
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
The importance of an independent and active press
by Matthew Smith
Title
The importance of an independent and active press
Description
Having a press that is independent and active enough to hold the government accountable has long been considered important for the proper functioning of a democracy. In fact, although the benefits of an active, adversarial press has come under fire, recently, many people (even public officials) have argued that a press that actively challenges public officials for the truth is a necessity for our own democracy to work at all.
This lesson provides some thoughts from public officials and others about the importance of an independent and active press and then asks students to weigh in on these perspectives and consider the state of the free press today and how important it still is and why. This lesson could be applicable in any class that discusses the press or government (including journalism, social students or English classes).
Objectives
- Students will recognize the relationship between an independent press and the functioning of a democracy
- Students will discuss and demonstrate the effect of an independent press on their own lives
- Students will see the importance of the press and its being the watchdog of the government.
Common Core State Standards
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1 | Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.7 | Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.9 | Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features. |
Length
50 minutes
Materials/Resources
Video: Importance of an Independent and Active Press
Handout: Importance of an Independent and Active Press
Prompts: Importance of an Independent and Active Press Discussion
Activity/lesson Step by Step
Step 1 — Introduction (1-2 minutes)
Briefly introduce the topic of the relationship between an independent and active press and the proper functioning of a democracy (feel free to use the language provided at the top of the “Importance of an Independent and Active Press Handout”).
Step 2 — Video (5 minutes)
Play the “Importance of an Independent and Active Press Video.”
Step 3 — Reaction (5 minutes)
Ask for some brief student reactions to the video (feel free to use any of the suggested prompts, below):
-
- How do public officials seem to feel about the press?
- What are some reasons given in support of a free press, even if they don’t always like what they do?
- What can a press (free from government control and active enough to bug public officials about things, even if it’s unpleasant) provide for citizens in a democracy?
Step 4 — Reading (5 minutes)
Pass out the “Importance of an Independent and Active Press Handout.” Ask students to read through the handful of additional views expressed for further discussion.
Step 5 — Discussion preparation (5 minutes)
Pass out the “Importance of an Independent and Active Press Discussion Prompts” and ask students to complete the front.
Step 6 — Pair or small group discussion (5 minutes)
Have students discuss/compare their answers/reactions in pairs or small groups. (Consider having groups put a “+” symbol next to the statement that the entire group mostly agrees with and a “-” symbol next to the statement the group most disagrees with and wishes to discuss in front of the class.)
Step 7 — Large group discussion (20 minutes)
Have students (and/or groups) share responses to the prompts from the handout.
(Consider calling on specific groups/students to discuss and explain the statement they put a “+” or “-” symbol next to. If some students repeatedly take the side of limiting the press or allowing government officials to stop particular debates, it would be helpful to refer back to the main points made in the quotes provided, especially in the handout. Students don’t need to come away convinced the press should be as free and/or active as possible, but they should understand and appreciate the reasons many officials/experts have given for supporting such a press, even if they don’t agree with them or believe most of the press is evil in some way. It may be especially helpful to refer back to Hannah Arendt’s passage and propose back to the students and/or class, what the danger is in citizens coming to believe that everyone is lying. What benefits can a trustworthy press provide? Why? What would it be like if there was no press at all, or if all press was owned/run by the government? These questions may help re-direct discussions if necessary.)
Step 8 — Assessment (5 minutes)
Require students to respond to the following final exit-ticket prompt on the back of the discussion prompt sheet:
-
- How important is the existence of an Independent and active press to your life, today? Explain why.
Differentiation
If time is short, you could drop either the video or handout and complete the discussion prompts and discussion with only one set of quotes.
If more background is needed by students on press rights, you may have the class view “Freedom of the Press: Crash Course Government and Politics #26” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtpd0EbaFoQ) before this lesson.
Assessment
Skim through the “exit ticket” responses to judge understanding of the reasoning provided.
Extension
In a future class, you could further discussion by providing (anonymously) some of the responses to the exit-ticket question and asking for some additional thoughts related to those.
Students could also be asked to find one additional quote concerning the free press that they most agree (or disagree) with and then explain why. Some decent sources of additional quotes would be the following:
Article, Speaking of a Free Press, American Newspaper Association Foundation
Wiki website, Freedom of the Press
Brainy Quotes website, Free Press Quotes
Particularly if this is for a journalism class, students could be asked to evaluate their own publication and how well it has kept students informed about the local school powers (administrators, district officials, etc.) and possibly how well they have been active in holding them accountable (in an objective, truth-based manner). What are some stories (or some information) that have been missed and/or should be covered? What are some questions that should be asked of local school community leaders?
Read MoreNew Voices: Learning the lessons
by Candace Perkins Bowen, MJE
There’s good news . . . and then there’s news when it comes to New Voices bills to protect student journalists.
First, the exciting part. Chris Evans, from the University of Vermont and chairman of College Media Association’s First Amendment Advocacy, posted Friday, May 5 on the New Voices USA Facebook page: “Today, Vermont’s New Voices legislation passed BOTH the Senate and House of Representatives. Student free-speech activism FTW!”
And a win it is. As Frank LoMonte reported on the SPLC website, “After months of back-and-forth, student press protections are on their way to the governor’s desk in Vermont.”
The article explains that this was part of “an omnibus education bill” and will now move to Gov. Phil Scott, “who is expected to sign it into law,” SPLC.org reports.
The fourth New Voices bill to get this far since North Dakota started the momentum in 2015, Vermont’s law would give protection to student journalists in K-12 schools and public colleges plus protection to faculty advisers who refuse to censor the legally protected work of their students.
But the other news demonstrates some of the challenges for those attempting to pass similar legislation in their states. Nevada and Michigan both have active bills at the time, but for varied reasons, they are still in process.
Patrick File, a media law professor at University of Nevada, Reno and former SPLC intern, said the way Nevada’s legislature operates creates a couple of challenges. First, the Senate and Assembly meet only every other year. “It’s an absolute sprint for 120 days from February to June,” File said.
File worked with LoMonte, plus a UNLV associate professor, the executive director of the Nevada Press Association and an attorney from the SPLC attorney network to find Senator Nicole Cannizzaro, who was willing and able to sponsor the bill.
File found support from high school advisers in both Reno and Las Vegas. Casandra Workman, CJE, spoke at a Senate committee hearing in Las Vegas, where she teaches, to “address some of the concerns” that had come up. Liz Walsh, MJE from Reno, wrote testimony and Christy Briggs, MJE, also from Reno, took students to the Senate session..
Senate Bill 420 was drafted, as all Nevada’s bills are, by the Legislative Counsel Bureau, a group of lawyers working for the legislators. Although the original bill had been patterned after the successful one in Maryland, the LCB later added amendments its members thought would improve the bill.
Not so, said File and others. Included was language that essentially requires prior review and a disciplinary process for students and advisers (but not administrators) who would prohibit free press.
As of Monday, May 8, File indicated some confidence that LCB would remove the problematic amendments, and the bill could go to the Assembly.
“My takeaway,“ File said, “is the need to be the eyes and ears of the sponsor, who’s not always as knowledgeable about student media and has 20 or 30 bills to follow, but we only have one. We have to stay on top of the language.”
Jeremy Steele, Michigan Interscholastic Press Association executive director, said, “A lot things can happen during the legislative process, and every New Voices campaign will be thrown at least one curve ball. Expect a surprise. Plan for it as best you can.”
That state currently has a bill in the House, sponsored by a Democrat, Rep. Darrin Camilleri, a former high school social studies teacher, “so this bill speaks to issues that he’s passionate about,” Steele said.
The challenge here? Republicans far outnumber Democrats in the Michigan House, 100 to 63.
But Steele and those in Michigan working on New Voices say they appreciate Camilleri’s interest and “look forward to finding ways to work with him.”
Meanwhile, Steele said they have a good record from last year with bipartisan support in the Senate. The previous sponsor, Sen. Rick Jones, chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and is now working with them on a new version of the bill to “address many of the concerns we heard from stakeholders last session,” Steele said.
Sharing lessons learned like these seems to be one thing that’s helping current legislation move forward. Steve Listopad, then from North Dakota and the driving force between the first New Voices legislation, maintains a website that also contains helpful content from the SPLC.
Other useful tips come in videos from a November 2016 symposium hosted by Kent State University’s Center for Scholastic Journalism. Student media advisers at both the high school and college levels, scholastic press association leaders, lobbyists and others concerned with student voices from 17 states and the District of Columbia, participated. Videos captured all the panels, including one sponsored in part by JEA: “Part 6: Getting Advisers/Students/Scholastic Press Associations Engaged.”
Read More
More resources for
alternative facts, fake news
With the events surrounding Inauguration Day comes a new journalistic concept, alternative facts. As we teach our students to be aware of fake news and now alternate facts, check out some additional resources that might lead to lessons and activities that rebuild trust in journalists – and journalism.
• Kellyanne Conway says Donald Trump’s team has ‘alternative facts.’ Which pretty much says it all
• Student journalists especially vulnerable to Trump’s press-as-enemy rhetoric
• Don’t let Trump get away with ‘alternative facts’
• What does a news organization optimized for trust look like
And, as a lead-in to JEA’s One Book reading for this this spring, 1984:
George Orwell on ‘alternative facts’
The links take you to our other posts to identify and combat varieties of fake news.:
• Censored news is fake news
• Addressing issues involved in fake news
• Our tasks for the future: Building a Tool Kit of Trust, Integrity
Censored news, including that created by prior-review limited outlets and insistence on alternative “facts,” leads to distortion and misinformation.
That is something we must address through leadership, enlightened publication and community education.
Read More
Introduction to 2016 Constitution Day materials … and more
Constitution Day lessons, activities and related materials
In preparation for Constitution Day 2016, several members of the Scholastic Press Rights Committee (SPRC), a committee of the Journalism Education Association, created lesson plans specific for the event.
We suggest celebrating Sept. 16 since the official Constitution Day is Saturday this year.
We created these lessons to help celebrate the Constitution and Bill of Rights, as mandated by Congress. Legislation requires schools to offer lessons on the Constitution and how it affects all Americans. Our lesson plans emphasize the First Amendment and particularly the freedoms of speech and the press.
[pullquote]Keep reading. There are more special offers at the end of the CD Day materials.[/pullquote]
Please contact me if you have any questions or feedback about the lessons or how to implement them.
The SPRC works to provide information and resources on legal and ethical issues to journalism students, teachers and administrators. SPRC members also work to promote the First Amendment rights of students across the nation.
Lessons:
• Students will examine the gray area between political correctness and free speech through peer discussion and real-world examples. Students will explore several topics in small groups followed by a large-group discussion. By Matt Smith
• Since media organizations have moved to online formats, they have struggled with the practice of hosting online comments next to their content. Many news organizations require posters to meet specific standards, moderate the comments, and reserve the right to remove or delete comments and users. Some organizations even require each post be approved by a human before it can be live on their sites. More recently, NPR is the latest news organization to completely remove comments from its news sites. Students will explore the question whether the ability to comment on news stories creates a more or less informed culture. By Jeff Kocur
• Students will design ethical guidelines they can use this fall and in later coverage (reporting and viewpoint) of elections, candidates and issues. They will examine the comprehensiveness election reporting and how students can go about building robust election coverage. The lesson also examines how students can apply ethical principles to this coverage. By John Bowen
• Sometimes politicians misconstrue facts during debates and political ads. This lesson examines the “truthiness” of the ads running currently. Students will analyze one from the Democratic and one from the Republican party. Students could look at a TV ad, online ad or print ad. By Lori Keekley
To see past years’ lessons, go here. Also has links to previous years.
Please send any feedback to keekley@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you!
Lori Keekley
For JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee and the Constitution Day Committee
Constitution Day Committee
John Bowen, MJE, Kent State University (OH)
Lori Keekley, MJE, St. Louis Park High School (MN)
Jeff Kocur, CJE, Hopkins High School (MN)
Matt Smith, Fond du Lac (WI)
And we’re not done yet.
Additionally, we are reintroducing the Making a Difference Campaign.
This campaign will highlight at least one piece of student work each month to help illustrate how students can make a difference through their coverage.
The first Making a Difference in 1988 showed how students reported the impact of the Hazelwood decision.
These are examples of student media that had an impact on the community or school where they were produced. They can be print, digital, video or audio.
On Constitution Day, we’ll release the link to the submission form and explain the process.
SPRC members will select student work that made a difference, post it on jeasprc.org and promote it on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Let others see the work you have created. When you have something to contribute, please send it to us!
Wait, Wait. There’s more…
• Because two states, Illinois and Maryland, passed legislation over the summer and others are poised to do the same, the SPRC created a packet for helping communities of all kinds understand the importance of that legislation. The Student Free Expression Package will be released later in the week, but some of its main points are outlined below:
Contents for this package:
- Importance of state legislation: Although many educators and advocates think of the First Amendment (and the court decisions interpreting it) as the most important tool for interpreting student press rights, there is another equally important source of law: state statutes.
- Why protecting student free expression is important: Students and advisers in states with recent freedom of expression legislation may want to inform their communities of educational rationale for the legislation. Additionally, those states working to pass such legislation might want to use the same points to gain support
- Talking Points: With legislation giving students decision-making power over their student media comes questions about roles, purpose and standards. If the school cannot make content decisions who is responsible? What is the role of the adviser? Of students? If the adviser cannot control content, what guidelines will students follow and why?
- Tips for engaging communities: With new legislation, or attempts to pass it, comes the need for ways to engage those who would support it. The ways can run from concept to concrete and can be delivered in many approaches with details determined locally.
- Legislation terminology: A compilation of important terminology so everyone can better understand the language and issues surrounding student free expression language.
- What to do if school officials threaten censorship: Even though state legislation can provide protection, sometimes others do not understand that and need further education. Use a friendly and informative approach and help them understand. Here are some steps we recommend.
- Sample press release on state legislation: Another option for letting your various communities know about the benefits of free expression legislation is to create a press release to media, civic groups, school board and others.
- Resources on state legislation: Links to additional information and contacts
And, as a special bonus…
• An important part of JEA’s supports for free expression rights for student journalists is the First Amendment Press Freedom Award.
In its 17th year, the award recognizes high schools that actively support, teach and protect First Amendment rights and responsibilities of students and teachers. 
The recognition focuses on student-run media where students make all final decisions of content without prior review.
The award comes in two steps, with Round 1 due before Dec. 1. The entry form and entry information can be obtained here.
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