Censorship strikes Playwickian again
by Jane Blystone
PA School Press Association president
Today was one of many days I have talked to students from Neshaminy High School in eastern Pa. over the past three years regarding censorship of their school newspaper, the Playwickian. Once again censorship is lifting its ugly head under different student editors and has now escalated to compelling students to write content the principal wants published, not stories students have agreed to write and publish.
The issue:
One student editor wanted to publish a story in this month’s issue about a pageant for guys in said school called Mr. R—— (the pejorative name for Native Americans) that took place in in March. The majority of the editorial board did not agree to using the pejorative term. As per a 2014 agreement after a national blowout about the pejorative term, students editors have the right to redact the term or not run the story. The student editor, who reported on the story was not satisfied that that word would be redacted, so took the issue up with the principal. The principal demanded it be run unredacted. The editors chose to post the story with the term redacted.
A result:
The adviser resigned effective at the end of this year because she refuses to force student journalists to print the word in their publication as the principal has directed (compelling content) and the website has been locked down today by the principal (censorship) as you can see here: http://playwickian.com/
How can you and your student journalists help? Simply write letters to these media outlets in their area supporting student rights to choose content and right to edit as per their printed policy.
http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/
Here is the principal’s email as well.
RMCGEE@neshaminy.org
Also post thoughts and support on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #freetheplaywickian. Their Twitter acct. and Facebook acct. are not under auspice of the school but private accounts students own. If you go to these sites, you can also see what the students have posted about the incident. You can also post, share and retweet at these social media sites to support them.
https://www.facebook.com/playwickia/?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/search?q=The%20Playwickian&src=typd
Yes, they have contacted JEA SPRC, the SPLC and others. They are doing all the RIGHT things for support. Now I am asking you to help. These students are still fighting this many years-long battle to choose what they will and will not publish without interference from administration, as per our state code regarding Student Free Expression.
Read More
JEA endorses legislation
for New Voices in 8 states
The Journalism Education Association, at its spring convention in Los Angeles, endorsed eight states’ efforts to pass legislation ensuring protection for student expression.
The states are:
“JEA is spot-on to endorse these states’ efforts to pass New Voices legislation,” JEA president Mark Newton said. “Student voice is absolutely essential in all aspects of education. And, it is absolutely essential to participating in a democracy. It is a civic duty to empower — and defend — each freedom in the First Amendment. I am glad to see so many states see the plethora of values of responsible student freedom of expression.”
The eight are part of the New Voices movement, a project of the Student Press Law Center.
According to its website, New Voices hopes such legislation “will restore the Tinker standard of student expression in America’s high schools. That standard protects student speech unless it is libelous, an invasion of privacy or creates a ‘clear and present danger’ of a ‘material and substantial disruption’ of the school.”
[pullquote]When we teach responsible expression to students, and empower them to use it without fear of review or restraint, we will see positive benefits for decades and decades. It’s not only an educational sound best practice, but a civic one as well. – JEA President Mark Newton[/pullquote]
States already having state protection for student expression are:
- California
- Massachusetts
- Colorado
- Arkansas
- Kansas
- North Dakota
- Iowa
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania Code
- Washington Code
“When we teach responsible expression to students, and empower them to use it without fear of review or restraint,” Newton said, “we will see positive benefits for decades and decades. It’s not only an educational sound best practice, but a civic one as well.”
JEA is the largest scholastic journalism organization for teachers and advisers, educating teachers how to educate students. Among its programs and outreach, JEA provides training around the country at national conventions and institutes, offers national certification for teaching high school journalism and monitor and actively defend First Amendment and scholastic press rights issues across the country.
New Voices USA is a student-powered grassroots movement to give young people the legally protected right to gather information and share ideas about issues of public concern. New Voices works with advocates in law, education, journalism and civics to make schools and colleges more welcoming places for student voices.
JEA and the SPLC encourage other states to press for similar legislation, and would also endorse legislation that would do so.
Students and advisers interested for more information can contact the SPLC at 202-785-5450 or JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee.
For more information about starting state legislation, check this SPLC resource, this resource and this JEA resource.
Read MorePolitical attacks on media
should concern student journalists
by Stan Zoller, MJE
The cantankerous tone and rhetoric of the 2016 presidential primary races has raised more than a few eyebrows.
That’s not breaking news.
What may be of note for journalists, and not just student journalists, are the incessant and seemingly extreme attacks on the media by candidates.
And it’s not just Donald Trump, although he tends to precipitate many of them. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex) has launched his share of barbs at the fourth estate as well.
One things that raised my ire was Trump’s response to protestors during one his rallies. Feeling the need to acknowledge them, he retorted “Go home to mommy.” Was this his way of saying that young people, as a disturbing old adage goes, “should be seen, but not heard?” If it is, then student journalists need to be concerned because there should be serious concerns over how far this could go in a Trump administration in the White House.
Journalism educators should be concerned that continued assaults on mainstream media could filter down the collegiate and scholastic administrators, which could lead to further controls and restraint of First Amendment rights on student media outlets.
[pullquote]Journalism educators should be concerned that continued assaults on mainstream media could filter down the collegiate and scholastic administrators, which could lead to further controls and restraint of First Amendment rights on student media outlets.[/pullquote]
Trump has also chided reporters and blasted media organizations with little concern for their professionalism and expertise. And we’re not just talking Fox News here.
During the Feb. 25 GOP debate, which included Telemundo anchor María Celeste Arrarás from as a moderator, Trump said he does not pay attention to what Telemundo says. It wasn’t his first attack on Telemundo. Trump has taken issue with the network for many other reports.
Trump’s campaign manager was charged with simple battery of former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, according to Jupiter, Florida police. Trump sided with his campaign manager, saying Fields made the whole thing up.
Cruz has also entered into the media-bashing arena, saying it was the “liberal media” that has catapulted Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton into the limelight.
Has the use of social media led to a new wave of attacks on mainstream media by candidates? Probably not. Social media has, however, made it more convenient for politicos to rapid respond and post – often without thinking – to media reports.
Concern for the mainstream media by candidates is far from unique during the 2016 campaign. Word was that the during the 2012 presidential race the Obama Campaign wanted to prior review stories about campaign appearances by Obama. Needless to say, that didn’t, as the saying goes, play in Peoria – or anywhere else for that matter.
Journalism educators at all levels need to re-enforce with their student journalists the need for incessant and thorough fact checking. With questions of media credibility tossed around like snow balls, the potential for a trickle-down effect to administrators’ offices is very really.
Fact-checking sites like politifact.org or factcheck.org are excellent resources for checking candidates’ statements.
[pullquote]Journalism educators at all levels need to re-enforce with their student journalists the need for incessant and thorough fact checking. With questions of media credibility tossed around like snow balls, the potential for a trickle-down effect to administrators’ offices is very really.[/pullquote]
But fact checking should not be limited to political stories. With the eyes on student media bigger than ever, student journalists and their advisers, need to be scrupulous in making sure every “t” is cross and every “i” is dotted.
Trump says he considers media coverage free advertising. And as we’ve seen, if he doesn’t like “the ad” he goes ballistic.
When a paid ad goes awry, a media outlet can correct it and do a ‘make good’ – which is simply running the ad again.
If the ‘ad’ is a news story and it’s inaccurate, there is no change for a ‘make good.’
The result is a slam to the media outlet’s credibility.
As they used to say at the old Chicago City News Bureau: “If your mother says she loves you, check it.”
It’s an old adage; but one that is so important today.
Read MoreDon’t let ‘funny things’ happen
on the way to your forum
by Stan Zoller, MJE
I can’t help but wonder if Pseudolus and Marcus Lycus had been journalism educators if a funny thing would have happened on the way to the forum.
For you nonmovie buffs, Pseudolus, played by the late Zero Mostel and Marcus Lycus, played by the equally late Phil Silvers, were leads in the comedy play and movie, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” a slapstick comedy about Rome.
Had they been J teachers or advisers, it’s likely one of their daunting tasks would have been, aside from reserving hotel rooms for a JEA conference, determining what kind of forum they wanted to help students establish for their student media.
Sounds simple, yes? Actually, no.
Many scholastic media outlets appear to come up short when developing and posting an editorial policy. It appears that common practices are to:
- Just call a publication “a forum.”
- Call it an open forum.
- Call it a limited-open forum.
Or if all else fails,
- Not have a policy at all.
For the record, none are acceptable. So what’s the solution? Obviously, develop a policy that your readers can easily find and understand. A media level editorial policy generally includes a mission statement, a letters to the editor policy, guidelines for submitting guest essay and, of course, a pronunciation as to what kind of forum your media is.
It’s not a good idea to have your media be an ‘open forum’ because, technically, that would mean you’ll accept any and everything, which could make your media a wild west show. Besides, your building is not an open forum, so you cannot be something that your school is not.
The trend about 15 years ago was for school media to be considered ‘limited open forums,’ but it wasn’t clear as to how limited the forum would be and who would establish those limits.
In the fourth edition of the Student Press Law Center’s “Law of the Student Press,” the discussion regarding limited public forum says the interpretation in “recent court rulings” is that the term ‘limited public forum’ “…has become practically meaningless.”
The book explains that “…in the middle tier of forums – a “designated” public forum – the government’s ability to regulate the content of speech is extremely limited. The book further adds that “Only where a compelling justification exists, and the restriction is narrowly designed so as not to limit more speech than necessary, will a regulation is narrowly designed so not to limit more speech than necessary, will a regulation be upheld as constitutionality permissible.” The entire discussion about limited open forums can be found on pages 52-53 of the fourth edition.
[pullquote]While legal eagles are likely to continue refining the guidelines for establishing a specific forum for student media, it is safe to say designated forums are the best options for student expression and generally (a key word) give student journalists the support they need to produce free and journalistically responsible student media.[/pullquote]
The compromise, so it seems, is to have scholastic media be “designated forums of student expression.” The intent is to clearly establish that the media, print or digital, is not only the source of information for a student community, but also the place where students can voice their opinions.
While legal eagles are likely to continue refining the guidelines for establishing a specific forum for student media, it is safe to say designated forums are the best options for student expression and generally (a key word) give student journalists the support they need to produce free and journalistically responsible student media.
Examples of editorial policies can be found at SPLC.org or at the JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission’s web site, JEASPRC.org.
It’s essential that you and your student media staff research, establish, write and include a comprehensive editorial policy in every issue and on every student digital media site.
Because the last thing you want to end up with is comedy tonight.
Read More‘Law of the Student Press’ available at discount from JEA
Celebrate Scholastic Journalism Week by buying a class set
Here is your opportunity to save 50 percent on the Student Press Law Center’s book, “Law of the Student Press.” Recent court rulings, statutes and new media have drastically changed the legal landscape.
This book, by Frank D. LoMonte, Adam Goldstein and Michael Hiestand, explains what these changes mean and how they impact high school and college journalists, their advisers and others.
Useful in the classroom and as a practical reference guide for journalists who need quick answers to legal questions, this edition updates traditional issues such as libel, defamation, invasion of privacy and obscenity.
Sale price in the JEA Bookstore is $19.50. Regular retail price is $39. JEA members will save an additional 10 percent by using the member discount code at checkout. (Final price, before shipping, is $17.55.)
Buy a classroom set to give your students ready information about their legal rights. Just in time for Scholastic Journalism Week.
School purchase orders may be emailed to staff@jea.org or faxed to 785-532-5563.