10 resources to strengthen
your journalism program: FSW
Solid reporting makes arguments for free expression in student media easier. Here are 10 articles journalism teachers and advisers can build from to put newsthinking into their journalism programs.
- How to do good journalism between now and election day
http://www.poynter.org/2016/how-to-do-good-journalism-between-now-and-election-day/431978/
The key here is how to apply important points to all reporting, even after the elections. What can be applied here to make your student media reporting even more effective so it better fulfills journalistic responsibility
- Fact check: Trump and Clinton debate for the first time
http://www.npr.org/2016/09/26/495115346/fact-check-first-presidential-debate
This experiment in real-time fact-checking runs more than 40 pages and drew more than 7.4 million pageviews, Poynter.org reported. Its links to accurate sources is a treasure trove scholastic journalists can use in other reporting.
- Emotion in reporting: use and abuse
https://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/2010/08/23/emotion-in-reporting/
High on this year’s ethics in journalism discussion list is objectivity and its side issues. Scholastic media have been particularly affected by this: whether emotion or self-promotion is acceptable. Ethicist Stephen J. A. Ward makes the argument emotion in journalism can be manipulated.
- Why journalism education has much more progress to make
While this article is primarily aimed at collegiate journalism education, it has key thoughts for scholastic media: there will be journalism jobs for those who can make sense of information, no matter the tools.
- Is solutions journalism the solution?
http://niemanreports.org/articles/is-solutions-journalism-the-solution/
In addition to just reporting negative impacts of issues or events, solutions journalism reporters will look at efforts to deal with those problems. This article outlines who one reporter tackled local issues in an approach that focused on searches for solutions along with just highlighting the problems. Also see Solutions Journalism Network.
- Interviewing: The ignored skill
http://www.poynter.org/2003/interviewing-the-ignored-skill/12413/
Good questions bring about good stories but they are not the only skill needed in interviewing.
Asking the right questions based on skillful listening is also a key.
- Data Journalism Handbook
http://datajournalismhandbook.org/1.0/en/index.html
In its Beta stage, the handbook is well organized with descriptions that put this growing journalistic skill into perspective. The handbook also shares examples of data stories. Good for teachers looking for a basic understanding of data journalism. See also The challenges and possible pitfalls of data journalism, and how you can avoid them for the ethical concerns of this approach.
- Do you know which news media to trust?
This Newsela/American Press Institute collaboration is aimed to help teachers and students with materials to strengthen news literacy in election coverage.
- Joining forces in the name of Watchdog Journalism
http://niemanreports.org/articles/joining-forces/
Old instincts argue for competition instead of collaboration. Here is a story on the importance – and need – for collaborative watchdog journalism.
- Resources for journalism educators (in covering sensitive issues)
http://dartcenter.org/content/tip-sheet-package-for-journalism-educators#.U95vP0gzEd9
As scholastic journalists delve more and more into reporting sensitive issues, these materials will help provide background and reliable and credible sources.
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Determine content ownership ahead of time: FSW
Recent discussions on the Journalism Education Association listserv focused on who owns the copyright of content produced for student media
This group of links and other material should offer informed choices to advisers and students
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Who owns the copyright to work created by a student journalist? It’s a fascinating, important — and potentially complicated question. It’s also one that can and should be addressed early on by every student media staff. Check the link for more.
Scenario: Student journalists have just completed their first converged media assignments and are just about ready for publication across the various platforms. Several indicate they think their work is good enough to share with other groups.Can they legally or ethically do that with repercussion?
The question of who owns the copyright of work created for scholastic media is complex, but at some point, advisers need to answer that question. The sooner that is decided, the better for all. 
One thing for certain, Mark Goodman, former executive director of the Student Press Law Center and current Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism at Kent State University, said it is almost impossible for a school to claim copyright in the works students create. Check the link for more.
Copyright law can be both the friend and foe of the student media. While the law protects student journalists against the unauthorized use of their stories, drawings or photographs, it also limits their ability to reproduce the works of others. The following guide, which explains the basics of copyright law, should provide student journalists with most of what they need to know to both safeguard and exercise their rights. Check the link for more.
Scroll down to get to ownership section
In an email to JEA’s listserv, Student Press Law Center executive director Frank Limonite stressed several points:
• Copyright law is simple. It starts with the proposition that the person who creates a piece owns it. Only two legally recognized ways to lose that – sign it over or receive a salary in exchange for it.
• There is a “persistent myth” that using the school’s equipment transforms your work into the school’s property. It’s like a school telling a parent to return a picture the child took home that was made with school crayons.
• “What the school has (in the eyes of the law) is a ‘license’ to use the work that is submitted for the publication — and once incorporated into the publication, it then becomes a part of a collective work, over which the individual contributors no longer have exclusive ownership. So the school is free to republish the work in ways that are a direct extension of the original — for instance, re-using a sports photo in a ‘year in review’ of the best touchdown catches of the season — within the terms of that ‘implied license.’ But what the school does not have is ownership.
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Free speech?
Protests and the national anthem: FSW lesson
Title
Analyzing and creating meaningful discussion about free speech issues over protests during the national anthem
Description
Discussion on whether refusing to stand during the national anthem is an acceptable and effective form of protest have grown in recent months. This lesson enables students an opportunity to research and clarify their views as they share them with others.
Objectives
- Students will analyze legal and ethical aspects of the issue.
- Students will share their findings.
- Students will discuss what they find.
- Students will report their position on the issue using information gathered from research and discussions.
Common Core State Standards
| 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.9-10.4 | Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper). |
| CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.5 | Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter). |
Length
60 minutes for two days
Materials / resources
Access to internet resources on the issues of standing for the Pledge of Allegiance by citizens in and outside schools.
Access to the US Supreme Court decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette.
Background on this issue:
The teacher would share these quotes introduce the assignment and to background the issue.
From Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin: ““I think it’s disgusting, frankly, I can appreciate the fact that people have freedom of speech, people can stand for, figuratively and literally, things that they choose to, but to use an opportunity to denigrate our nation’s flag — it’s not the flag and it’s not the national anthem itself, what it represents is the sacrifice of one and a half million Americans who died.”
http://mycn2.com/politics/bevin-calls-athlete-protests-during-national-anthem-disgusting
From the court decision: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.”
“We think the action of the local authorities in compelling the flag salute and pledge transcends constitutional limitations on their power and invades the sphere of intellect and spirit which it is the purpose of the First Amendment to our Constitution to reserve from all official control.”
Lesson step-by-step
Step 1 — introduction to the assignment and homework at the end of the session the day before (10 minutes)
The teacher should ask how many students are aware of the varied protests, in and outside of schools, against standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. The teacher would point out the introductory quotes as representative of the sides on this issue.
The class would discuss pros and cons of the issue before the teacher introduces the assignment: researching current events on the issue, examining legal and ethical positions on the issue and preparing a personal position statement either as a letter to the editor to local or national media or in a personal blog.
Stress that students can begin information gathering at home using live sources as well as digital ones.
Day 1 –
Step 2 — Research (15 minutes)
The teacher will remind students of the assignment and give them 15 minutes to add to and organize information they gathered the night before. Students should also begin to formulate a statement of personal position on the issue. Tell them they will be expected to discuss possible positions and arguments during the second 35 minutes.
Step 3 — Discussion (35 minutes)
Ask students to share information they gathered with others in the class. They could have made pro-con lists based on information they gathered and shared.
Then, students could use of PowerPoint, whiteboard or Google Docs to list possible positions and/or questions they might have about the issue. Such lists should be available for student use after class by them copying the lists and positions or having access to the Google Doc.
Focus during the discussion should be to verify information for possible positions, to clarify issues involved, to develop personal positions and support for them. Students should prepare annotated bibliographies for sources they used as a way for all to examine credibility and reliability.
Step 4 — Clarify assignment (10 minutes)
Reiterate the details and purpose of the assignment and ask students to have a draft of the statement of position or blog post for the next day’s class.
Day 2 –
Step 5 — Group coaching and editing (40 minutes)
Students should break into groups of three for peer coaching and position revision. The teacher can move from group to ask questions and offer suggestions as asked. The teacher should not edit student work but encourage peer coaching and editing. Final coaching and editing should enable all student work to be sent to or posted on designated media.
Step 6 — Final discussion and statement emailing or posting (10 minutes)
Conclude the assignment with final discussion and coaching. Assist students as necessary in the mailing and posting of their statement of position.
Step 7 — Assessment (10 minutes)
Have students discuss what they did, how others might react to their statements as well as what they learned about the issue and about issues surrounding it. They should also discuss how they might handle any responses they receive.
Differentiation
Option 1 – Additional media possibilities include broadcast personal statements, video statements or podcasts. Additional lessons could involve pro-con panel discussions or community forums to involve larger groups.
Option 2 – The teacher could organize the class to have a debate whether this form of speech should be allow in society and as a part of school activities. Discussion of the issue and positions on it could take place before the debate. After the debate, students could write a reflection on their views of the issue before and after the debate.
Extension
You could also work with students to assist them in using social media to discuss their experience and what they learned. Another lesson could focus on student reaction to and comment on this comment from Bevin: “If you’re a superintendent, if you’re a principal, if you’re a high school coach, step up, set an example,” Bevin said. “For us to allow everybody to be free range chickens, to not encourage them to know what they are doing and what the impact is and what the denigration of respect is something that is the responsibility of the adults to communicate to these young people.”
- Thanks to Jamie Miller, du Pont Manual High School, Louisville, Kentucky, for sharing information about the Kentucky governor’s quote.
Facing takedown demands: Free Speech Week
A recent article by the Poynter Institute’s Rick Edmonds brings to light free speech choices journalists sometimes have to make.
At issue are Takedown Demands. Scholastic media are not – and will not be – exempt from challenges raised by them.
Free Speech Week is a good time to check out the topic and formalize your student media’s approach to preventing issues such demands can create.
Instead of one way to react to Takedown Demands, we offer choices to help students make informed choices. In all situations, we recommend the SPLC’s existing work on the subject. We also hope these guidelines will offer a roadmap if your students face takedown decisions.
In addition, we also offer series of guideposts to evaluate information before it is posted: A Put Up policy that might prevent hard choices later.
Our guidelines look at legal demands, ethical considerations and possible reactions
Read MoreIn plain view from public places: Photojournalists and free speech
What can and cannot be photographed continues to fall under question, bringing attention to photojournalists and igniting important First Amendment conversations. As part of other Free Speech Week lessons and activities, teachers may use this opportunity to incorporate key readings and discussion geared toward visual storytellers.
For starters, journalism students paying attention to current events likely caught last week’s story of documentarian Deia Schlosberg arrested while filming an oil pipeline protest in North Dakota. If needed, teachers can engage students in a quick research activity to update each other. Key questions: What’s the story? How does this relate to the First Amendment? How does a photojournalist’s role compare to that of a documentarian?
Photojournalists use the phrase “in plain view from public spaces” to describe in broad terms their interpretation of access and privacy as related to their First Amendment rights. What does this mean? Teachers can consider this as a warm-up writing prompt or partner conversation between students before sharing as a larger group.
To read more about photojournalists and the First Amendment, teachers can assign small groups to read and report on any of these articles:
NYT Lens blog: Criminalizing photography
University of Missouri protest “muscle” incident
Pennsylvania student shooting routine traffic stop
First Amendment Center: Photographs as speech
ACLU: What to do if you’re detained
Police, cameras and the Constitution
To tie in a media literacy component, teachers may add “Photography and the Law: Know Your Rights” from Photojojo. How is this article more or less credible? How does the material compare to the other articles under discussion? What factor(s) affected your analysis?
It’s likely that most journalism classes already discussed this photo from Aleppo and a related article back in August, but the connection here is strong between the power of a photo and why the world depends on photojournalists to capture what audiences need to see, regardless of how terrifying, depressing or controversial those images may be.
The National Press Photographers Association offers this statement about its advocacy work protecting photojournalists’ rights.
After reading related articles and discussing efforts underway to protect those constitutional freedoms, teachers may want to present powerful storytelling images that may spark debate about free speech and/or the ethical considerations photojournalists face. One option is to assign students to find and share photos on their own.
Here is a simple list of possible photos and/or photographers to research and discuss:
- Yannis Behrakis, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography, on the refugee crisis in Greece
- “General Nguyen Ngoc Loan Executing a Viet Cong Prisoner in Saigon” by Eddie Adams in 1968
- Pulitzer Prize-winning photos taken by photojournalist Paul Watson of a dead American soldier being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu
- Image galleries showing treatment of Iraq prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison complex
- “The vulture and the little girl” by South African photojournalist Kevin Carter in 1993
- “The Falling Man” by Richard Drew during 9/11 attacks
- “Fire on Marlborough Street” or “Fire escape collapse” by Stanley Forman
- “The Burning Monk” by Malcolm Browne
From celebrating Free Speech Week and First Amendment protection of what photojournalists can do legally to the ongoing considerations of what they should do ethically, the topic is one worth exploring on a regular basis.
by Sarah Nichols, MJE
Read MoreJust This Once: FSW lesson 2
The American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee released “The Speaker … A Film About Freedom” in 1977. The film, in its original form, comes with a discussion guide. Today, the website for it has the discussion guide and links to coverage about the film and other pertinent articles. Controversial in 1977, the film today hits at many current issues surrounding free speech. Note the date, 1977. Clothing and style reflect that timeframe. It might take students a while to get beyond that and into the First Amendment issues.
Title
“Just this once”
Description
Based on a 1977 film by the American Library Association, The Speaker, on whether a school and its community should allow a speaker to talk on controversial issues. The key question is, essentially, “What is the harm in just this once in preventing a person from speaking an idea.”
Objectives
- Students will analyze the questions raised in the film.
- Students will discuss the issues raised in the film.
- Students will develop a position based on what they find.
- Students will formulate possible alternative solutions to the film’s outcome.
Common Core State Standards
| 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.9-10.4 | Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper). |
| CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.5 | Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter). |
Length
120 minutes
Materials / resources
Internet access for the film’s background: http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2014/05/ala-members-discuss-controversial-film-speaker-annual-conference
The Speaker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojFYx52X-Ys
Lesson step-by-step
Step 1 — introduction (10 minutes)
The teacher should present background to the film from the ALA site and raise the essential question for the activity: “What is the harm in just this once in preventing a person from speaking an idea.” Stress should be placed on the concept of free expression, especially in context with Free Speech Week. The teacher might also have to discuss the difference in clothing and fashion.
Step 2 — Show the film (43 minutes)
Option 1: Show the film in its entirety without stopping for explanation. Students would have to take notes and jot down questions they have.
Option 2: Stop the film at student questions or at teacher-chosen key points for discussion/explanation. This, of course would lengthen the presentation time into Day 2.
Step 3:— Processing the film’s information (7 minutes) (Homework assignment)
Ask students to examine their notes and list key points made for and against the speaker, and to be ready to discuss the issues and to plan for alternatives.
Step 4 — Day 2 Discussion (25 minutes)
Students will discuss the issues of the film, working toward a conclusion of whether the speaker should speak.
Option 1: Small group discussion with each group reaching a decision which would have to be resolved in class.
Option 2: Large group discussion with possible resolutions posted on whiteboard for decisions.
Step 5 — Alternatives and solutions (25 minutes)
With their possible solutions of the whiteboard, have students work in small groups to examine alternatives. Is it an either-or dilemma? Are alternatives possible and would they help accommodate all positions? What types of ethical problem solving is possible? Have the small groups work toward explaining their decision in terms of ethics.
Step 6 — Final discussion (10 minutes)
What surprised you the most? What was the best alternative or solution? How as a journalist should you apply the issues involved?
Assign each student to prepare a 50 word or less statement in the form of a poster of why his or her decision of “just this once” is the ethical stance to take. Statement due the next class.
Step 7 — Assessment
Credit given to student responses in the 50-word statement. Post them in the classroom for continued discussion and possible use in class/staff ethical guidelines.
Differentiation
The teacher might have students watch the video at home and take notes there, shortening the lessons by one day.
Extension
The class could spend an additional day making the issues current by replacing the speaker with a politician/issues from the 2016 presidential election.
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