Tweet25- Paying the cost of Hazelwood
Tweet-25 Information coherence and civic engagement cannot develop under Hazelwood. #25HZLWD
http://jeasprc.org/payingthecost/
by John Bowen
Information coherence is at the core of democracy.
Information coherence allows those in a democracy to compare, digest and use information. With it, communities can make informed and intelligent decisions.
Without it, communities falter.
Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in The Elements of Journalism also refer to this approach as one that allows audiences to make sense of information.
“Coherence,” the authors write, is “making sense of the facts. Coherence must be the ultimate test of journalistic truth.”
Accuracy, they write, is the foundation on which everything else – context, interpretation, debate, public communication and trust – is built.
Journalistic truth is a process, they say.
“If the foundation is faulty, everything else is flawed,” they say.
Neither the journalistic process nor information coherence works under an educational system guided by foggy and manipulative Hazelwood thinking, where prior review and prior restraint keep information from making sense, silence debate and undermine trust.
Information coherence is been a priority in schools and communities where 25 years of Hazelwood have limited – or should we say strangled – exchange of ideas and development of information coherence.
We could call it the cost of Hazelwood. Unless cured, this cost of Hazelwood has been, and will continue to be, high.
This cost includes:
• Citizens who do not trust authority figures because they never were involved with decision making in a learning environment
• Citizens who do not trust information authority presents because their background has shown them it has always been slanted or incomplete
• Citizens who do not participate in civic engagement because they have taught or have experienced education in which they had no voice
• Citizens who cannot respect the principles and actions of a free and responsible press because they have never seen one in their schools.
Given this heritage, these costs will only deepen in the future as schools reach out to control expression outside the school environment because untrained students misuse social media and the Internet to bully others.
We must, as the Student Press Law Center says, develop a cure for Hazelwood, one that empowers students to practice the essential freedoms and skills of a democracy, and become engaged with decision-making that creates an impact on their lives and on the lives of others.
We honor schools which have not paid Hazelwood’s price. We salute these schools and celebrate their leaders, whether administrators or community members, for actions leading to the path of learning and civic enrichment.
But, in the end, we have not done enough. It is not enough to note that Hazelwood has led to a decline in information coherence as well as in civic engagement. If we have not tried to intercede in this process in and outside schools, then we are, in many ways, responsible for it.
Others in this series have said it well: Hazelwood is, has been and will continue to be everyone’s problem.
Its effects will only continue unless we do all in our power to educate ourselves, our students and our communities about why we must have a Hazelwood Cure.
And then work to create one.
If we continue to ignore Hazelwood’s cost, if we do not seek a cure, then we bear the burden of responsibility for the lack of action that enables such cultural malaise to continue.
To do nothing to is chose.
What will be at the core of your plan of action? What will you do to empower a Hazelwood Cure?
Resources:
• Press Freedom in Practice
http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/docs/Foundation/Training/pressfreedom.pdf
• Cure Hazelwood
http://www.splc.org/cure.html
• Resources for school newspaper advisers
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/student-journalism-resources-for-school-newspaper-advisers/
• Media Adviser’s Forum
https://www.splc.org/classroomresources/mediaadvisers.asp
• Scholastic Journalism Resources
http://www.asjmc.org/resources/scholastic/index.php
• Statements
http://jea.org/home/about-jea/statements/
• Teaching and learning about journalism
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/teaching-and-learning-about-journalism/
• Scholastic journalism resources
http://www.hsj.org/teachers/index.cfm?requestAction=goMenuContent&menu_id=6&menu_page_item_id=16&CmsPagesID=181
• High school journalism
http://www.journaliststoolbox.org/archive/high-school-journalism/
Student journalists can ward off prior review, Hazelwood with TAO pledge
Student journalists can ward off prior review, Hazelwood by taking TAO pledge #25Hzlwd http://jeasprc.org/tao-pledge/
by Kathy Schrier
Hazelwood stories: Student journalists who take the TAO of Journalism Pledge, promise to be “Transparent, Accountable and Open” in their practice of journalism. Upon taking the pledge, they may post the TAO of Journalism Seal with their masthead. It’s a public promise to do the best journalism possible, and a way to tell readers/viewers and school administrators that their trust is valued.
The TAO of Journalism Pledge was introduced four years ago by the Washington News Council as way for professional journalists to rebuild credibility in a rapidly changing media environment. The idea caught on, worldwide. Now journalists across the U.S. and as far away as Mozambique have taken the TAO of Journalism Pledge, and post the TAO of Journalism Seal with their work.
The Journalism Education Association endorsed the idea three years ago, and included a TAO of Journalism Sign Up Day on the Wednesday of Scholastic Journalism Week. This year, student journalists are again encouraged to Take the TAO of Journalism Pledge on TAO sign-up day, Wednesday, Feb. 20.
Here’s how you do it:
- Go to taoofjournalism.org and click on “Take the Pledge.”
- Click on “Students: Click here to make it official.”
- Fill out and submit the short online form.
- Take a photo of your staff taking the TAO of Journalism Pledge.
Send a copy of the photo to kathy@wanewscouncil.org to be posted on the TAO website.
What you will get:
- Downloadable versions of the TAO of Journalism Seal that can be posted online or with your printed masthead
- Once the Seal is in use, your program will be listed in the “Directory” on the TAO of Journalism website
- Temporary tattoos of the TAO of Journalism Seal for every member of your staff
- A poster with the text of the TAO of Journalism Pledge to display in your staff room
- Improved credibility and trust in your student media by school administrators and your audience in general
TAO OF JOURNALISM: EARN TRUST. TAKE THE PLEDGE. CARRY THE SEAL.
FEB. 20, 2013 – DURING JEA SCHOLASTIC JOURNALISM WEEK
Read More
Educate others about journalism’s role, skills for our future
Tweet-22 Educate others about journalism’s role, skills for our future. #25HZLWD
http://www.jeasprc.org/tweet22-educate-others
Journalism and democracy were born together.
Democracy cannot long exist without an active and professional journalism program. But today’s journalistic role has changed.
We can no longer just deliver information. We must make sense of the world and also help citizens make sense of the flood of information that surrounds them. Transparency is one way.
Citizens have rights, but also responsibilities, when it comes to news.
In an expanding era of media literacy, journalism students have a real opportunity – and an obligation – not only to do the reporting but also some of the teaching.
Resources:
• Journalism’s moral responsibility: Three questions
http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/2242/journalisms-moral-responsibility-three-questions/
• ‘Just the facts’ isn’t good enough for journalists any more, says Tow Center’s journalism manifesto
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/196457/just-the-facts-isnt-good-enough-for-journalists-anymore-says-tow-centers-journalism-manifesto/
• Principles of Journalism
http://www.journalism.org/resources/principles
• Citizen journalism publishing standards
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/07/citizen-journalism-publis_n_184075.html
• Attack dog, watch dog or guide dog…The role of the media in building community
http://www.pewcenter.org/doingcj/speeches/s_batonrouge.html
• Online journalism ethics: Guidelines from the conference
http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/80445/online-journalism-ethics-guidelines-from-the-conference/
Eager to learn, students find Hazewlood as inspiration, provocation to ‘ruffle feathers’
by Don Bott
Hazelwood stories: My favorite part of teaching Journalism 1-2, the beginning class made up mostly of freshmen, is the unit on press law and ethics. Up until that point, we focus mostly on writing for various pages. A few in the class by this point are beginning to grasp the power of journalism. It is not merely self-expression but something more meaningful. These students want to be on staff next year.
This is the time in the year when I outline the significant rights — and responsibilities — that high school journalists have, especially those in California.
Students become fascinated to learn about something as fundamental as First Amendment rights. They marvel at what a brother and sister went through at an Iowa high school long before they were born. My students, who mostly see clothing as a matter of fashion, are now thinking about a black armband and the abstract notion of protest. They then shudder to see how student voice, protected in one historic Supreme Court ruling, could be challenged some 20 years later because of articles that potentially “make the school look bad.” This is history they can relate to.
Advisers in California should not have to worry about Hazelwood, about a principal as “publisher.” Sure enough, my 20-plus years of advising newspapers have been free of administrative intrusion. Still, in this favorable atmosphere, educating students is almost more important. With more rights comes greater responsibility — for the adviser and for the students.
Curiously, I have found that students are often timid when it comes to how far their reach should be in a story. Regardless of law or ed code provisions, many are reluctant to offend. They want to look good and sound good and not be seen in any way that is bad. Rather than wait for some outside authority to stop them, they are too willing to censor themselves. The boldness of a staff from Hazelwood East High School must serve as inspiration, provocation: Find the story out there that is compelling, the story that must be told, the story that will ruffle feathers.
The legal restrictions of Hazelwood, I like to say, have “never applied to California.” But Hazelwood has always mattered in this state. Students need to be educated, and sadly so must many educators, even administrators.
As I write this piece, I am closing out the unit on press law and ethics, a unit that gets longer every year. Students are more excited about journalism than they have been all year.
Read MoreTweet14: Use anonymous sources sparingly
Tweet-14–Use anonymous sources sparingly and have good reason for doing so. #25HZLWD http://jeasprc.org/tweet14-use-anonymous-sources-sparingly/
For any journalist, using anonymous sources creates a true predicament—one in which the newspaper’s credibility is on the line, and the reporter takes full responsibility for the authenticity and accuracy of whatever the anonymous source says. This is a difficult and precarious situation to be in, and it is one all student publications should enter only after careful consideration.
• Guide to using anonymous sources
http://www.jeasprc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SPRC-Foundation6-anon.pdf
How do you know when using an anonymous source is appropriate and justified? Consider our tips for using anonymous sources, and then be sure to create your own staff policy that dictates how and when anonymous sources are OK.
Read MoreHow to seek truth from power
By Marina Hendricks
At the recent JEA/NSPA Fall National Convention in San Antonio, members of the Scholastic Press Rights Commission conducted open forums for students and advisers to discuss issues they are having with prior review and restraint.
One discussion yielded a gratifying display of peer mentoring, with students who freely practice journalism in their schools counseling others on how to build sounder journalistic relationships with their administrators. Reflecting on it later, I was reminded of how important it is for student journalists to develop the habit of questioning authority – not as rebels, but as reporters.
“When journalists don’t fully understand how power shapes language to serve its own ends, they inevitably become pawns to those who do. Power then takes the wheel of society, and drives it where it will,” writes Doug McGill, a veteran reporter and author of The McGill Report media blog.
The following lesson plan is designed to help student journalists become more comfortable with interviewing and holding sources accountable – particularly the sources who are considered “authority figures.”
Goals for Understanding:
Essential question:
How can we conduct effective interviews, especially with authority figures?
Critical engagement questions:
• How can we go beyond face value with our sources?
• How can we respectfully push for the information we need?
• When we don’t understand something a source says, how can we ask for explanations or elaborations?
Overviews and Timeline:
Activity 1 (one 50-minute class)
Students will read “A Syllabus for a Moral Journalism.” In small groups, they will review stories from the school publication (chosen in advance by the instructor and the editor) to identify cases where sources could have been more thoroughly interviewed. Groups will consider what information is missing, what information is not adequately explained, what terms are not defined, what points of view are not included, and so forth. For homework, students will read “Handling Tough Interviewees” and “Avoiding the Suits.”
Activity 2 (one 50-minute class)
Groups will present the results of their content reviews. Led by the editor, students will discuss how they would report the stories in light of the three readings in Activity 1. The editor will note key strategies on a board or flip chart, then will use those to create an interview tip sheet.
Activity 3 (one 50-minute class, plus advance preparation time)
The instructor will invite an “authority figure” from the school community to participate in an interview with the class. The editor will moderate the interview, and will work with students in advance to help them develop questions. The instructor may want to record the interview for future reference.
Assessment (one 50-minute class)
Led by the editor, students will discuss the interview with the authority figure. They will review the tip sheet from Activity 2 and update it based on their experience. Grading will be based on participation in group and class discussions, and demonstrated ability to analyze situations in a mature, logical fashion.