From Ai to book banning and news deserts, Constitution Day empowers journalistic thinking
JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee wants to help you and your students celebrate their free speech rights this year. Constitution Day, observed Sept. 17 yearly in commemoration of the signing of the United States Constitution, is an excellent time to explore and discuss the status of the Constitution in today’s USA.
• Bringing help to news deserts (by Candace Bowen, MJE) Think about it: If voters don’t know what’s going on in government, how can they make informed decisions in the voting booth? How can they choose the right leaders if all they hear is hype from one side or even conflicting information from several sides? As far as schools go, how can they decide who should be on the school board, the group that makes important decisions about curriculum, administrators and policies that impact everyone?
• Localizing Book Banning, 2023 Constitution Day Activity (by Kristin Taylor, MJE) Focus: One of the key skills of a good reporter is the ability to localize national news. This activity can be used on Constitution Day as part of a larger discussion of students’ access to information or another time as practice localizing news. The topic: Rising instances of book bans across the United States.
• Litigating social media platforms: editorial judgment and the First Amendment (by Mark Dzula) Currently, there are major legal battles over who has the right to regulate content on social media. Should companies make decisions about what to publish or have the ability to limit what goes out on their platforms? Or should government have the ability to determine which companies are protected by the First Amendment and to what extent?
A key distinction in these cases is the difference between a newspaper/publication (which is beholden to a certain set of laws) and a social media platform. In which ways are these entities similar? In which key ways are they different? Based on these differences, how should laws and the First Amendment apply?
• Ai, Fair Use and the First Amendment ( by Mark Dzula ) Writers are on strike in Hats against AI companies, and consider what’s at stake in each situation.Students will research and weigh the role of precedent to predict how the courts may rule in these cases, including work with primary source documents.
Constitution Day puzzles: Puzzle 1 | Puzzle 1 key | Puzzle 2 | Puzzle 2 key (Kirsten Gilliland) Looking for a break between lessons and activities? Try these Constitution Day crosswords puzzles (with keys) on legal terminology, court decisions and more.
• In addition to this new material, check out our numerous lessons and activities from previous years: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013.
• This is also a great time to review student press rights particular to your community. How aware are your students of their own editorial policy? School board policy? Guidelines for ethical performance and meaningful, all-encompassing staff manual? How about the existence (or lack thereof) of a New Voices law? Are there ways your students could strengthen or improve their specific protections? You can always check out additional resources on this website or the Student Press Law Cente
Constitution Day Coordinator: Mark Dzula, the Webb Schools (CA)
Additional Contributors:
Candace Bowen, MJE, Kent State University (OH), retired
John Bowen, MJE, Kent State University (OH), retired
Kirsten Gilliland, Bryan High School in Omaha, NE
Kristin Taylor, MJE, The Archer School for Girls (CA)
A message from Marion: Attacks on press freedom have no limits
By Stan Zoller, MJE
The next time you’re grousing because an administrator wants to review a story or, worse yet, an entire issue of your student publication, think of Eric Meyer.
And what the heck, think of Joan Meyer too.
Do the names ring a bell? Hopefully, but sadly, they should.
Eric Meyer is the editor and publisher of the Marion County Record which saw its offices raided by Marion, Kansas police and all of its equipment, records and notes grabbed.
They also raided the home of Joan Meyers, Eric’s 98-year-old mother, co-owner and matriarch of the Record.
The stress of the raid of both the Record’s office and her home was reportedly a contributing factor to her death on Aug. 12, a day after the raids.
So, what does this have to do with scholastic journalism?
Everything.
I bristle when someone says “Oh, they’re just high school journalists.”
Let’s clarify that. Scholastic journalists are journalists who just happen to be in high school. And while they may be enamored with attending conferences, entering contests and winning awards, the root of it all is this: Scholastic journalists are practicing journalism.
They are not immune to the barrage of attacks on journalism and journalists. The raids on the Marion County Record and the Meyers’ home, which Eric Meyer shared with his mother, is an assault on journalism as a whole.
Whether it’s a large urban paper, a local suburban newspaper, a well-funded high school paper, or a bare-bones publication in an inner-city school, the raids in Marion, Kansas hit home.
Obviously, they were an assault on the First Amendment. No one can, or should, argue that. More so, experts are noting that the raids were also an assault on the Fourth Amendment.
Marion, Kansas is a town of around 2,000 people, the size of many United States high schools. The Marion County Record, by virtue of reaching outside Marion’s city limits, has a circulation that eclipses 4,000, a number that has grown since the raids. Papers of all sizes are subject to assaults on press freedom.
In addition to First and Fourth amendment rights, the raids seemingly violated Kansas’ FOI laws.
So why is this important to scholastic journalists and scholastic journalism programs? FOI and Sunshine laws do not carry age requirements as they are in place to enhance openness and transparency by government agencies, whether village boards, city councils, school boards, park boards, county boards or state legislatures.
A stellar piece posted on Aug. 14 by Tom Jones, senior media writer for the Poynter Institute, explicitly and elegantly details the impact of the raids on press freedom. It should be required reading in all scholastic journalism classrooms. Also worth taking a look at is the PBS Newshour interview with Eric Meyer, also on Aug. 14. To no surprise, his thoughts are compelling.
Professional media doesn’t have the Student Press Law Center to go guide and support them. Instead, they need to rely on resources such as the Society of Professional Journalists’ Legal Defense Fund, which provides resources to fight situations like those endured by the Marion County Record.
All of the sites offer insights and resources about the assault facing journalism whether, as mentioned, it’s a high school newspaper, yearbook or a major media outlet.
At the end of the day, journalists are all in this together.
For scholastic journalists, it may be a somewhat arduous fight if prior review or prior restraint shows its ugly head.
But unfortunately, at the end of the day, it’s everyone’s fight.
The reality is this: scholastic journalists must not only learn about journalism, they must vigilantly practice it and, now more than ever, defend it.
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