Watch the Tinker Tour April 1 via live streaming
Watch the western segment of the Tinker Tour as it visits Whitney High School and students from northern California April 1, 10 a.m. Pacific time.[pullquote]To watch the presentation live, visit www.wctv19.com[/pullquote]
The Tinker Tour is a special project of the Student Press Law Center. Its goal is to bring real-life civics lessons to schools and communities through my story and those of other young people, according to the Tour website.
“I made a difference with just a simple, black armband,” Mary Beth Tinker is quoted. “Can you imagine what a shy 13-year-old could do today with all of the extraordinary speech tools available?”
To watch the presentation live, visit www.wctv19.com.
Also follow the Tinker Tour at #tinkertour.
Read MoreFond du Lac English department statement
should be guide to those who face review
When the Fond du Lac English department issued a statement supporting embattled student journalists there March 21, they signaled clear support against those who would censor student expression.
We urge other groups in high schools across the country follow their lead, especially if their student media labor under prior review.
[pullquote]We urge other groups in high schools across the country follow their lead, especially if their student media labor under prior review.[/pullquote]
Students at the school have faced censorship since their principal imposed new prior review directives March 10 following student publication of “The “Rape Joke” story, a look at what student journalists felt was a “culture of rape” at the school and focused on three students who said they were raped.
Important parts of the English department statement include:
• …“The story, itself, stands as an exemplar of high quality, responsible journalism that has helped countless readers feel supported, speak up, seek help, and come together in a way that has undoubtedly resulted in a more positive environment in our school. We need more stories like this one, not fewer.
• “The fact that the new guidelines were drawn up so quickly, in defiance of past precedent, without warning or consultation with the school newspaper advisor or staff or other interested parties, and in the most restrictive form possible has the students worried that such stories, while powerful and community-building, may be controversial or not be “positive” enough to gain future approval.
• “Our students, allowed some freedom to work together to think critically and make informed choices on their own along with the guidance of a highly qualified instructor, are capable of truly amazing things. Such work should be celebrated, not censored.”
The group also urged the superintendent and school board to support the open forum for student expression and to drafted new guidelines “in collaboration with students, community and experts in the field” to accomplish that.
We absolutely agree, for these reasons and countless others:
• No one has ever demonstrated legitimate educational rationale for prior review. Defenses almost always come in the form of public relations and personal administrative preferences. Not even the Hazelwood decision supports that.
• Academic rigor and civic engagement require student decision-making and critical thinking where students apply the principles they learn. Anything less prevents the authentic learning a journalistically responsible student media must demonstrate.
• A free and unfettered journalism is at the core of a democracy. If students see they cannot practice what they are taught, they will come to see that democracy as flawed, unreal and unworthy of protection.
• Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in The Elements of Journalism and its follow-up book Blur, say journalism’s first obligation is to the truth. Achieving that, through accuracy, balance and coherence of content cannot occur under the practice of prior review.
• In Blur, Kovach and Rosenstiel emphasize the discipline of verification, which is also limited if not impossible in an atmosphere of prior review.
• We strongly support the Questions about Prior Review the department mentions as they substantially reflect JEA policy and beliefs.
We strongly urge English departments, social studies departments, parent booster groups and any citizen or educator who supports learning and rigor in schools to examine the Fond du Lac English department statement.
The statement provides a summary of essential positions JEA and other scholastic media groups have advocated for years. For more about those beliefs and principles, go here.
[pullquote]Whether we teach freedom of expression in English and journalism, social studies or news/media literacy, we must practice that belief or all the rigor and literacy we give lip service to will be shallow, meaningless words.[/pullquote]
As we move forward with authentic learning, expanded news literacy and civic engagement, we must prime our students with real practices that reflect what they are taught.
Whether we teach freedom of expression in English and journalism, social studies or news/media literacy, we must practice that belief or all the rigor and literacy we give lip service to will be shallow, meaningless words.
Read More
Fond du Lac English department
posts support for students
in censorship fight
Fond du Lac (WI) High’s English department has submitted a statement supporting student journalists and advocating the need for an open forum for student expression at their school.
Student journalists there have been in a prior review and restraint battle with school officials over a story on rape, called “Rape Joke.”
Kettle Moraine Press Association director Linda Barrington also noted the students aired a video on school announcements March 21, with administration approval. The video had some explanation from the principal about why he thinks the guidelines for prior review are needed.
The video can be seen here.
Arguments made on the video include the general thought that the school would like more oversight, the thought that some of the words used in the story were too edgy, and a reference to the argument the principal has been giving lately that reporters should have gotten the permission from the rapists who may have been involved in the stories of sexual abuse related by the anonymous sources in the “Rape Joke” story.
Barrington said in am email to the Journalism Education Association’s listserv that the next school board meeting for the district is Monday, March 24 at 5 pm at the Fond du Lac School District Administration Center at 72 Ninth St.
“Students are looking for as much support there as possible,” Barrington wrote.
Students journalists have received more than 5,300 signatures on a petition to their superintendent to reverse his prior review and censorship decision.
Additional coverage links:
• Trust kids to speak
http://www.redeyechicago.com/news/censoring-rape-high-school-20140320,0,1091161.story
• High school student protest censorship of the ‘The Rape Joke,’ school publication restriction
http://www.stevenspointjournal.com/article/20140312/SPJ01/303120258/High-school-students-protest-censorship-Rape-Joke-school-publication-restrictions
• Fond du Lac student protest censorship mandate for school publication
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20140312/SHE0101/303120232/Fond-du-Lac-students-protest-censorship-mandate-school-publication
• High school cracks down on student paper that published rape culture article
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/13/fond-du-lac-rape-article_n_4959167.html
•How far is too far? The issue of rape in the high school
http://wisoapbox.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-far-is-too-far-issue-of-rape-in.html
• High school administration teaches student journalists valuable lesson: We will censor you early and often
http://wonkette.com/543939/high-school-administration-teaches-student-journalists-valuable-lesson-we-will-censor-you-early-and-often
• oped: Rape culture article in school paper leads to censorship policy
http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/politics/rape-culture-article-in-school-paper-leads-to-censorship-policy/article/376415
• Wisconsin administrators impose prior review after news magazine’s story on sexual assault
http://www.splc.org/news/newsflash.asp?id=2691
• Principal requires approval of high school paper’s stories after rape culture article
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/243237/principal-requires-approval-of-high-school-papers-stories-after-rape-culture-article/
• WI school offices seize control over student paper after ‘rape culture’ article appears
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/12/wi-school-officials-seize-control-over-student-paper-after-rape-culture-article-appears/
Read More
Court ruling may give
new meaning to ‘open mic’
by Stan Zoller
The ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court that strikes down the state statute prohibiting the recording of conversations without permission may not be the panacea a lot of people are hoping for.
The Chicago Tribune reports the statute was considered among the strictest in the country. The Court said loud conversations in public could not “be deemed private,”,noting “…a loud argument on the street, a political debate on a college quad, yelling fans at an athletic event, or any conversation loud enough that the speakers should expect to be heard by others.”
The case was, to no surprise, complicated and came as a result of recordings made by Annabel Melongo who recorded three telephone conversations she had with a court reporter supervisor at the Leighton Criminal Court Building about the policy for correcting a hearing transcript. Melongo was convicted and spent 20 months in Cook County Jail. Melongo also posted those recordings on the Internet.
[pullquote]At a time when there are more and more “citizen journalists,” professional journalists need to maintain or raise the bar of ethical news gathering. A gentle reminder that a conversation is being recorded is a great step to incorporate.[/pullquote]
While the Court’s ruling does not specifically cite the recording of telephone conversations, you can bet that there are those people who will record anything without asking.
And therein lies the problem.
For responsible citizens and journalists, the use of recording devices is a useful backup to ensure accuracy as no one likes to be misquoted. Freedom to record does not diminish the need for courtesy and ethics. It seems logical that a reporter, or other individual seeking to record a conversation, would inform the interviewee – whether it’s an in-person or phone interview. I imagine there will be a new round of protocol for both interviewers and interviewees.
For interviewers, inform; for interviewees, ask. If the Court ruling does in fact cover telephone interviews, do people now have to answer their phone “hello, please don’t record this?”
So while people will point the finger at over-zealous interviewers, there seems to be a possibility some people, especially public officials, may clam up out of fear of being recorded. Good bye transparency. At some point, in some way, the two sides need to work together. Responsible recorders, and for the sake of argument, journalists, need to have full disclosure from public officials no matter how the information is being taken down – writer or recorded. Conversely, journalists will need to follow ethical standards and not be deceitful in how they record (written or audio) information.
The Code of Ethics for the Society of Professional Journalists state that journalists should “…Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story…”
Quite simply, in most cases, do not be deceitful.
At a time when there are more and more “citizen journalists,” professional journalists need to maintain or raise the bar of ethical news gathering. A gentle reminder that a conversation is being recorded is a great step to incorporate.
Conversely, interviewees, especially public officials, need to recognize the need for transparency and not hide behind a microphone.
It’s a two-way street and in the end, it’s the news consumer who benefits the most.
For a look at the opinion by the Illinois Supreme Court, go to Eavesdropping Opinion
Read MoreNoteworthy views and events
on student expression questions
Three recent incidents involving censorship make for interesting reading. Students, and advisers, can learn that not everyone agrees with such actions and that the best remedy for censorship is vigilance.
New Jersey – A local columnist sides with the students in censorship of story about students smoking cigarettes
• This policy needs a rewrite
• Pemberton students say district unfairly censoring newspaper
• New Jersey students to appeal administrators’ censorship to school board
Wisconsin – article about rape culture bring change in policy to prior review
• Principal requires approval of high school paper’s stories after rape culture article
• Fond du Lac high schools protest new censorship mandate for school publication
• High school cracks down on student paper that published rape culture article
Arkansas – yearbook censors profile of gay student
• Arkansas high school administration censors yearbook profile of gay student
• Students say profile on gay teen is removed from yearbook
• Sheridan high squelches yearbook profile of gay student
Read More
Let the Sunshine in
by Stan Zoller
In the musical “Hair,” they sang about letting the sunshine in.
John Denver sang about sunshine on his shoulders.
Next week journalists will be heralding sunshine not because Spring is (supposedly) around the corner but because it’s the ninth annual “Sunshine Week,” a week dedicate to ensuring open and transparent government.
According to the American Society of News Editors, Sunshine Week was “…Launched in 2005 and partnered with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in 2012, Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.”
Sunshine Week 2014 is made possible by an endowment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and by generous donations from Bloomberg and the Gridiron Club and Foundation.
Sunshine Week, and other events like it, are essential to call attention to the need for open government. And this includes School Boards. Advisers and student journalists need to not understand the keys to open government, but practice them as well. It’s likely that there are some advisers who may not want to pursue transparency from a school board because they fear retribution for their actions. Conversely, some veteran advisers might have the attitude that it’s best to leave well enough alone.
Both practices are wrong. In addition to producing a publication, broadcast or website, journalism educators have a fiduciary responsibility to take the lead in promoting transparency in government and should expect their students to do likewise. I had a discussion recently with an adviser who said the role of a school paper was to highlight student achievement and the positives at school.
Granted, that is a role of a student media outlet, but it is not the role of student media. A school newspaper, for example, is a community newspaper, and like any newspaper, it needs to inform the news consumers about what is happening in that community.
Much in the same way as the local paper covers city hall, school media needs to be able its city hall – whether the principal’s office or school board with the expectations that are receiving full information. Just because Claire or Jimmy are student journalists does not preclude them from dealing with government officials as any journalist would. Public officials need to be transparent with all media and everyone in the community whether it is disclosure at an open meeting, releasing public information or addressing all issues with the student press.
Struck on how to teach “Sunshine Week?” ASNE says “…Another great resource you may find useful is the “Schools & Colleges” page, which features resources for student journalists who want to learn more about open government. The page also links to lesson plans, activities and events that ASNE’s Youth Journalism Initiative has prepared on SchoolJournalism.org to help high school students and teachers bring Sunshine Week 2014 into their journalism classrooms.”
The professional media gets it. So should high school journalism teachers. Make sure your students know the importance of letting the sunshine in.
Read More