They need the freedom
to make mistakes, too
by Lindsay Coppens, adviser of The Harbinger, Algonquin Regional High School, Northborough, MA
Scholastic press freedom is a big responsibility, and true freedom comes when young journalists aren’t just free to do great journalism but also are free to make journalistic mistakes and learn from them.
As teachers and advisers, we work hard to teach our student journalists the principles, skills and ethics they need while fostering their abilities to problem solve and communicate.
We need to continually remember, though, that it is the students’ publication, and while it can be tempting to continually hold their hands or catch them before they fall, the most powerful lessons can come from failures. My new editorial board recently had one of these learning-from-failure experiences, and I am confident they are stronger journalists because of it.
[pullquote]We need to continually remember, though, that it is the students’ publication, and while it can be tempting to continually hold their hands or catch them before they fall, the most powerful lessons can come from failures.[/pullquote]
Like many publications, at our paper a new editorial board begins its work in the spring. The new editors take the reins continuing established traditions, figuring out how to make their own mark, and tackling the behemoth task of organizing and creating social media posts, daily online updates and a final print issue of the year.
This year’s new group of 15 editors did a particularly great job putting together an ambitious 24-page print issue two weeks before school let out for summer. They set a goal (and met it) of pushing their page design in a more creative direction while taking on issues of substance.
They took a stand by writing an editorial which reprimanded the graduating class and others of recent years for destructive pranks and behaviors at celebratory school events, encouraging future seniors to have fun while being less harmful to others. They did all of this working as a team for the first time while I, their adviser who is normally there for most of the long after school “press week” hours, was largely absent due to a family medical emergency.
As I told the editors, my absence during their first issue was a true test of their skills and will. I hadn’t read about half the published pieces until the print issue hit the stands, and while I saw many of the pages pre-publication (mainly through pictures editors texted me asking for feedback) and gave some suggestions, this was the most hands-off I’ve been with any issue since I started advising eight years ago. I was incredibly proud of what they accomplished.
Then a few hours after the paper was distributed, I received an email from a senior class adviser who was angry about the editorial. She listed at least four key facts she claimed they got wrong, and while she recognized it was an opinion piece, she was “very disappointed with the wild inaccuracy of the article.”
Immediately my heart sank. What had happened? Was she right or were the kids?
I briefly replied, thanking her for the feedback, affirming that accuracy is of the utmost importance and letting her know I was forwarding her concerns to the student editors-in-chief who would be in touch with her soon.
I wanted the communication to be directly between her and the editors, but I also respect my relationship with my colleague. After meeting with the editors who looked physically ill when they realized their mistake in reporting rumors which they had not fact checked, I sent her one more follow up email the same afternoon:
“I just wanted you to know that the kids are having an editorial board meeting right now, and the biggest topic is the editorial–what went right, what went wrong (and how & why). They are picking apart their process and how they do or don’t fact-check, and what to do when mistakes are made. Anyhow, it sounds as if the process fell apart and they forgot about being skeptical reporters and that opinions need to be based on verified facts. The editors should be in touch with you soon to talk.”
[pullquote] “‘Thanks for following up with me and hopefully this can be a good real-life learning experience for our budding journalists. :-)’”[/pullquote]
She wrapped up her reply to me on an understanding note, which reaffirmed that much of our community understands the school paper isn’t just a product but an educational process: “Thanks for following up with me and hopefully this can be a good real-life learning experience for our budding journalists. :-)”
Meanwhile, at their lengthy meeting the editors identified every single fact that needed to be verified (and should have been before publication), and they put a plan into action that two editors would spearhead a fact-checking mission and write a completely new editorial to be published online.
This editorial would be honest in recognizing their mistakes and emphasize transparency in an attempt to not only set the record straight but also regain the trust of readers.
They also realized that the editorial was not a mistake of only one person, but illuminated a weakness and breakdown in their collective process: they had all read and approved of the piece, but not one had questioned the details beyond phrasing, word choices and grammar.
As a group they agreed they needed to be more skeptical and rigorous in their reading, even and perhaps especially of each other’s work. They also recognized the need to establish a clear fact-check protocol for every published piece.
In the end the editors formally interviewed seven sources, informally spoke with many others, and attempted to interview additional key players, all while preparing for and taking their final exams. As a result, they wrote and published an editorial, “Be skeptical of rumors, thoroughly check facts,” that I am incredibly proud of.
The piece begins candidly: “We made a mistake because we listened to rumors instead of skeptically stopping and checking the facts.”
The editorial continues by revealing and apologizing for their mistakes, sharing their process of determining the facts and affirming their commitment to their readers. Their work clearly demonstrates humility, transparency and dedication to being good journalists.
Yes, they stumbled and briefly fell, but my team learned more than I could have taught them in a classroom lesson. They are stronger journalists for the experience.
Read MoreIt’s the real thing: journalists at all levels
need to take the lead in offsetting secrecy
by Stan Zoller, MJE
In 1968, Tammi Terrell and Marvin Gaye teamed up on a hit song, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing, Baby.”
While the romantic lyrics may tug at a person’s heartstrings, the message is a good one for journalism educators – there’s nothing like the real thing, baby.
Real journalism. Real reporting. Real information.
Unfortunately, real information has emerged as one of the biggest, if not the biggest challenge for journalists today, whether professional, collegiate, or scholastic. The shrouding of secrecy by public bodies appears to have escalated to the point that recent discussions about a national health care bill were done by Senate Republicans behind closed doors.
Transparency be damned, the American public was left in the dark until GOP leaders announced their latest effort.
So how does this impact scholastic journalism educators? They need to work with their students on being vigilant in keeping track of discussions and decisions made by public bodies that impact their school district or school. These can include city councils, village boards, park districts, and. Of course, school boards.
[pullquote]Many school boards have an unsavory reputation of being little more than rubber stamps for decisions made by district or school administrators. A lack of transparency does not serve constituents well, nor does it give the media, at any level, the opportunity to provide news consumers bias-free and independent information.[/pullquote]
Many school boards have an unsavory reputation of being little more than rubber stamps for decisions made by district or school administrators. A lack of transparency does not serve constituents well, nor does it give the media, at any level, the opportunity to provide news consumers bias-free and independent information.
As their professional and collegiate counterparts, scholastic journalists need to take the lead in getting access to and reporting public information. Advisers can facilitate this by making sure students know how to access public information while being kept up-to-date on the actions of the School Board. Teachers and advisers should, for example, make sure their students:
- Receive all packets of information issued to the public and media by a school board. These should include, but not be limited to, agendas, meeting minutes, committee meeting schedule, committee meeting minutes and all notifications of any school board or board related committee. Students not familiar with these procedures should check with their state’s attorney general to learn about the state’s open meeting laws and sunshine laws.
- Understand how a meeting works. Most states are specific as to what can be discussed in executive (also called closed) sessions. It’s fairly common for an agency to reveal the nature of the topic being discussed. Public agencies in most states cannot merely say they are going to meet in closed session. They must stipulate why. For example, a board president needs to say that the board is going into closed sessions to discuss personnel matters, or litigation. They do not have to reveal the name of individuals involved, but open meetings laws prohibit public agencies from deviating from the announced topic. After an executive session, a board needs to vote on the actions, albeit in generic terms, taken in closed session.
- Understand Freedom of Information laws. FOI laws are not limited to adults or the media; student journalists can file requests for public information using a state’s or federal Freedom of Information Act. Laws vary from state, so teachers and advisers should work with students on getting a copy of their state’s FOI Act. This too should be available from the state’s Attorney General.
- Know how to use the FOIA. Local advocacy groups as well as the Student Press Law Center offer excellent resources as well as FOIA-request letter generators.
Important steps? Yes, they are. That’s because high school journalism educators have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure their students practice the real thing – journalism that not only informs, but engages news consumers. Awards, staff bonding and designing T-shirts are important to students. But so too is the need for a student media that is the watchdog and voice of the school.
There are advisers who say if students publish or post something a principal or superintendent doesn’t like; they may get mad at them.
If it’s “the real thing” – well reported, verified and independent journalism – there should not be anything to fear.
Besides, if you’re worried about getting someone mad at you because of good media coverage – maybe you shouldn’t be teaching journalism.
Read MoreNevada makes 12. Who will be next?
Nevada became the latest state to pass New Voices legislation when Gov. Brian Sandoval signed SB 420 into law June 2. The law goes into effect Oct. 1.
Nevada’s signing followed a similar signing a week earlier in Vermont, making 12 states protecting state legislation.
Supporters of Nevada’s New Voices Facebook page posted, “Thank you, followers and supporters, for making history and giving real meaning back to Justice Fortas’ reminder that neither students nor their advisers ‘shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.’ You have helped ensure that student journalism in Nevada can be, as Justice Brennan famously said, uninhibited, robust, and wide open.'”
As Dan Brown had main character Robert Langdon say in The Lost Symbol, “We are builders. We are creators…” Creating state protection for student free expression is one of the best ways to ensure a long-term foundation for democracy.
Advocating free expression is not a decision to rush into lightly, but there are a plethora of resources available, and people ready to explain them and assist you. And results creates achieve are immensely worthwhile.
Here are some key links:
• Center of Scholastic Journalism video of its 2016 Legislation Conference
• New Voices website or Facebook pages
• SPRC’s Blueprint for state legislation
• Individual states seeking to pass legislation have online sites and Facebook links.
Read MoreWhy society needs New Voices legislation
Arizona Gov. Ducey shows why
we need journalists who
question those in power
by Lori Keekley, MJE
The idea any New Voices bill would result in students being unsupervised or teachers not mentoring students is preposterous.
That’s the excuse Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey gave for vetoing the Arizona New Voices legislation. The New Voices bill clarifies the roles of advisers, students and administrators; it empowers student voices; it doesn’t protect speech that is libelous, obscene, etc.
The governor did say in the Arizona Capitol Times article these are the next group of journalists “who will hold our government and leaders accountable.”
If students first learn only the news a school administrator deems appropriate is accepted, then we will have fewer journalists who question authority. We should teach students how to question authority — including requesting Freedom of Information Act requests.
We’ve seen how legislation similar to the current New Voices campaign has fostered this authority check Ducey would like to see. In Kansas, students were the only ones who questioned the incoming principal’s credentials.
Additionally, the SPRC has helped students whose administrators try to censor stories on types of birth control, cost of a stadium, coverage of rape culture.
This censorship may impact girls more than boys. According to the SPLC’s The Active Voice campaign, girls make ups a majority in high school media. When girls try to cover topics administrators attempt to censor, they may not re-engage.
The fact that Ducey said if this had been college students, he would have signed the bill into law. Too bad for many of our students, they may be too defeated by college to question authority.
It’s time for students’ voices to be empowered and not stifled.
Read More
Teaching grit for citizenship —
why we must empower, not shield students
by Kristin Taylor. The Archer School, Los Angeles, CA
Teachers, advisers and administrators want to help our students. We want to give them the tools to succeed, but we also sometimes want to protect them — to shield them from harsh truths and difficult situations.
If we want students to value citizenship, however, we must let them be citizens in school. Citizenship isn’t easy, and it isn’t “safe.” Citizenship means taking an active role, speaking truth to power, and taking risks. If we want them to learn to be citizens, we must resist that urge to shield and protect and instead empower them to make their own decisions and take responsibility for the outcomes.
By now you’ve likely heard a lot about the remarkable team of high school journalists who uncovered fraud in their incoming new principal Amy Robertson’s resume, which eventually led to her resignation. These students clearly understand citizenship and their role as watchdogs after making the hard choice to write a story directly targeting an administrator.
Equally inspiring is the Wichita Eagle’s article about Emily Smith, the adviser who gave her students the strength to take this risk. The article outlines how a student uncovered some discrepancies and asked Smith for help looking into them. A little research and a meeting with the superintendent led to disturbing information and raised troubling questions about the validity of Robertson’s educational credentials and experience.
Smith could have protected her students. She could have withheld information or told them —accurately — that pursuing this story was going to rock the boat in a serious way and could result in an adversarial relationship with their new principal. She also could have sat down with them and told them what to do — pursue it, or let it be. Instead, Smith gave them the information and left the room, leaving them to discuss and decide if they wanted to report this story. She empowered them to make a hard choice.
She told this team of six student journalists that she would support them no matter what they decided, but she also made sure they considered their societal responsibilities.
[pullquote]Smith could have protected her students. She could have withheld information or told them —accurately — that pursuing this story was going to rock the boat in a serious way and could result in an adversarial relationship with their new principal. She also could have sat down with them and told them what to do — pursue it, or let it be. Instead, Smith gave them the information and left the room, leaving them to discuss and decide if they wanted to report this story. She empowered them to make a hard choice.[/pullquote]
“If you guys decide this is not your place or it’s over our head, I would completely respect that,” Smith said in a video interview about the conversation she had with them. “However, you need to think about your responsibility to the community and the situation you’re in,” she said. “It’s not always easy to do the right thing, and I think what you’re doing is right.”
Despite skepticism from superintendent Destry Brown and a Skype interview with Robertson (supervised by Brown) where students had to interrupt Robertson to ask their questions, they pursued the story. Despite being scolded by Brown for being too hard on Robertson in that interview and being told he hoped they would write “a nice piece welcoming Robertson to the community” to make up for it, they pushed on.
Despite losing Smith’s advice after Spring Break when she recused herself on the advice of the director of Kansas Scholastic Press Association due to a potential conflict of interest — she’d been on an early hiring committee panel — they kept going. Smith brought in local reporters to act as adult advice but stepped back from the process and didn’t see the final story until it was printed. Despite how hard these professional journalists pushed the students to corroborate and fact-check and sometimes re-interview, they wrote the story and met the deadline.
This is a story about grit and trust. It’s a story about teaching students to push forward despite obstacles. It’s a story about teaching teenagers that they are strong enough and smart enough and trustworthy enough to be citizens. It’s also a story about that terrifying moment when we advisers decide to step back and trust that we have given our students the tools and ethical foundation to be journalists.
As Smith notes in the video, had her students been wrong, this would have been a very different story. They would not have been invited to the White House Correspondents Dinner, nor would they be flooded with congratulatory messages from national publications or an invitation from Duke to apply to its journalism program. Smith would have been in a very awkward position with the new principal, who would likely have placed some of the blame for the students’ decisions on Smith herself — however unfairly, since students have all final say on content as per Kansas’ free speech laws.
[pullquote]But making mistakes is also part of being a citizen, and accountability is another crucial lesson about adult life. Part of being a good adviser is knowing you, too, are taking a risk, but the risk is worth it.[/pullquote]
But making mistakes is also part of being a citizen, and accountability is another crucial lesson about adult life. Part of being a good adviser is knowing you, too, are taking a risk, but the risk is worth it.
The Eagle’s article ends with Connor Balthazor, one of the team of six students who reported the story, reflecting on the difference between Superintendent Brown’s and adviser Smith’s approaches to the situation:
“Although they will be recognized for their perseverance, Balthazor says he will always remember how, even as Brown tried to shield them from the dangers of the adult world, Smith pushed them to take responsibility for it.
“’She’s probably the best teacher I’ve ever had,’” Balthazor said. “’Simply from a human being perspective. She has incredible moral integrity.’”
“’You are fighting the good fight; you’re doing the right thing by doing this,’” she told them 20 times a day, he said. “’This is some of the most important work you’ll ever do.’”
“’And she was right.’”
Students need guidance, advice and foundational skills. They need an ethical framework and adult feedback from a qualified adviser to provide perspective along the way. Ultimately, though, we adults must have the courage to let our students be citizens. If they can be this brave, so can we.
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