Making a case for press freedom
in private schools
by Kristin Taylor, CJE
Private school students do not have First Amendment protections, but that doesn’t mean they have no options. In fact, some private high school students enjoy robust press freedom.
I am fortunate to advise a program at a school that has won the First Amendment Press Freedom Award the past two years. At the recent Dallas convention, my editor-in-chief Cybele and I presented a workshop to help students at other private schools make a case to their administrations for press freedom in the hopes more private schools journalism programs will join the list of FAPFA recipients in the future.
If your program is in California or Rhode Island, you should start by looking at your state laws. Unlike most New Voices legislation, which applies to public school students, both of these states have additional laws to protect private school journalists. Even without a legal recourse, however, students can make a strong case for press freedom in other ways.
- Link press freedom to the school’s mission statement
Private schools, whether religious or secular, are founded on a central mission. This mission guides all aspects of the school, from hiring practices to curriculum and instruction. Making the connection between a school’s mission and supporting a free student press is often straightforward and effective. Here are two examples; I have bolded language that comes directly from the schools’ mission statements.
From my school: “Student media at Archer connects directly to the school’s mission to ‘strengthen girls’ voices’ and ‘promote challenge-seeking and support risk-taking’ in order to ‘graduate courageous, committed, and ethical young women.’ For these purposes, as well as to teach students responsibility by empowering them to make and defend their own decisions, student news media at the Archer School for Girls are designated open forums for student expression where students make all final decisions of content. Therefore, student material published on The Oracle may not reflect the opinions or policies of The Archer School for Girls, and neither school employees nor the school itself are legally responsible for its content.”
From Convent of the Sacred Heart: “’Schools of the Sacred Heart commit themselves to educate to personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom,’ (Goal 5), therefore The Broadview operates as an open forum for free speech and student expression without prior review.”
- Make an argument for civic engagement and 21st century skills — and earning the FAPFA.
Most schools cite building 21st century skills as a key curricular goal, and I would argue scholastic journalism builds more of these skills than any other program. Making a pedagogical argument for the value of practicing democracy, not just preaching it, is another strategy for winning administrative support.
Check out the Framework for 21st Century Skills or this Education Week teacher blog for arguments to help your case. For administrators who are concerned about critical articles making the school “look bad” — an understandable concern for schools who rely on student applications and tuition — reframe “bad press” in terms of showcasing student voice and practicing democracy.
A vibrant, free student press acting as a watchdog reveals important issues that the administration can then address. These schools don’t just say they empower student voices — they live it. I also recommend sharing information about the FAPFA and the prestige of winning this award. Only three private schools have ever won it; wouldn’t they like to join that list?
- Ground the publication in journalistic ethics and best practices.
If you don’t have a state law or the Constitution to protect freedom of the press, building credibility as a publication is key. How does a staff you do that? Good reporting, careful fact-checking and an ethical framework.
When my students and I were initially building our program, we spent a lot of time talking about the adage, “Just because you can publish doesn’t mean you always should.” Although press freedom should never be tied to an administrator’s beliefs about what should or should not be published, the student editorial board needs an ethical code to guide them through difficult decisions — and they need to practice applying that code to tough situations.
- Build a relationship with administrators. Educate them about the process and sustain respectful, but firm, communication.
Once you have put the previous steps into practice, it’s time to showcase your program. Invite administrators into the classroom to see the staff at work. Have student reporters explain the process they go through to ensure accurate, fair reporting. Have student editors walk administrators through a hypothetical ethical dilemma so they can see how the editors apply their ethical code to real-world scenarios. Administrators who understand the process are much more likely to trust it.
The editorial board — and especially the editor-in-chief — also needs to practice navigating conversations with administrators when problems arise. For example, when our middle school director wanted to see middle-schoolers’ quotes before a potentially controversial story was published a few years back in our grades 6-12 school, my 12th grade editor-in-chief sat down with her to explain prior review and why our publication doesn’t participate in it. She also explained the careful process the reporters and editors go through to ensure quotes aren’t taken out of context or used to humiliate young sources.
The conversation resolved the problem — the middle school director was reassured, and the article was published without prior review. The editors also decided to include a new ethical guideline in our staff manual to have upper school reporters consider the age and maturity of middle school sources when quoting them.
For those working in public schools, some of these strategies may feel like pandering. But private schools are about relationships, and sometimes private school students have to persuade where public school students can demand. Once persuaded, however, administrators can become ardent press freedom supporters. That has been the case at my school. I hope these strategies will help more private schools join us on that FAFPA list in the future.
Read MorePrior review v. prior restraint: Quick Tip2
In brief, the Journalism Education Association has found prior review has no educational value. Instead, JEA believes it is simply the first step toward censorship and fake news. Prior review also contributes to self-censorship and lack of trust between students, advisers and administrators. Prior review conflicts with JEA’s adviser code of ethics.
Prior review occurs when anyone not on the publication/media staff requires that he or she be allowed to read, view or approve student material before distribution, airing or publication.
Prior restraint occurs when someone not on the publication/media staff requires pre-distribution changes to or removal of student media content.
Prior review itself is a form of prior restraint. It inevitably leads the reviewer to censor and student journalists to self-censor in an effort to assure approval.
An officially designated adviser, when working with students and offering suggestions for improvement as part of the coaching and learning process, who reads or views student media before publication is not engaged in prior review.
Possible Guideline: Prior review and restraint
Question: What does prior review mean and how is it different from prior restraint?
Key points/action: In brief, the Journalism Education Association has found prior review has no educational value. Instead, JEA believes it is simply the first step toward censorship and fake news. Prior review also contributes to self-censorship and lack of trust between students, advisers and administrators. Prior review conflicts with JEA’s adviser code of ethics.
Stance: JEA would define prior review and restraint as follows:
• Prior review occurs when anyone not on the publication/media staff requires that he or she be allowed to read, view or approve student material before distribution, airing or publication.
[pullquote]Quick Tips are small tidbits of information designed to address specific legal or ethical concerns advisers and media staffs may have or have raised. These include a possible guideline, stance, rationale and resources for more information. This is the second in the series[/pullquote]
- Prior restraint occurs when someone not on the publication/media staff requires pre-distribution changes to or removal of student media content.
- Prior review itself is a form of prior restraint. It inevitably leads the reviewer to censor and student journalists to self-censor in an effort to assure approval.
- An officially designated adviser, when working with students and offering suggestions for improvement as part of the coaching and learning process, who reads or views student media before publication is not engaged in prior review.
When an adviser requires pre-distribution changes over the objections of student editors, his/her actions then become prior restraint
Reasoning/suggestions: Students learn more when they make all publication choices. Prior review and restraint do not teach students to produce higher quality journalism.
The only way to teach students to take responsibility for their decisions is to give them the responsibility to make those decisions freely. No administrator has ever shown any educational value in prior review.
Continued democracy depends on students understanding all voices have a right to be heard and assuring all viewpoints have a say in their communities.
Resources: Questions advisers should ask those who want to implement prior review, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Prior Review, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
SPRC Talking points blog
SPRC Talking points
Definitions of prior review, prior restraint
Lesson: Understanding the perils of prior review and restraint
Why we keep harping about prior review
Related: These points and other decisions about mission statement, forum status and editorial policy should be part of a Foundations Package that protects journalistically responsible student expression.
Talking Points: Starting a discussion between advisers and administrators
to build the case against prior review, restraint
by Lori Keekley
Advisers and administrators should be partners in education, not adversaries.
Advisers must teach principals about the importance of journalism and its relevance to today’s curriculum as well as enlighten them about the pitfalls of prior review and restraint.
We’ve created these Talking Points, based in part on Quill & Scroll’s new version of The Principal’s Guide to Scholastic Journalism (available in print from Quill and Scroll) to help advisers begin to build their cases for a strong, student-driven journalism program.
Most points are further referenced in the Principal’s Guide, which are the page numbers that appear following the main point. Others have links in which advisers can find more information on the topic, including links to the online version of The Principal’s Guide and materials from JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission.
School censorship costs advisers, students at Illinois student media
by Randy Swikle
Hazelwood stories: Here is a nutshell of Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois., and how Hazelwood diminished Barb Thill’s J-program:
In Illinois, all but four staff members of one of the nation’s most honored student newspapers quit the publication and dropped their journalism class after school officials publicly rebuked student reporters and their adviser, repeatedly censored accurate articles, revoked the “designated forum” status of the paper, adopted a policy of prior review and edited the paper themselves.
The adviser, a nationally recognized teacher, lost her position. (In a year’s time, two replacement advisers also lost their “newspaper adviser” assignments.)
In an editorial, the Chicago Tribune criticized school authorities and praised student journalists for the high quality of their censored work.
Read More
Students, the First Amendment and the Supreme Court
by Jan Ewell
Permission granted to use at will for non-commercial purposes
The Bill of Rights and Schools
The First Amendment, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights, became the law of the land in 1791, but 216 years later in 2007 Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in Morse v. Frederick, “As originally understood, the Constitution does not afford students a right to free speech in public school.”
Thomas was an originalist, one who interprets the Constitution and the Bill of Rights according to what the Founding Fathers—the original authors—intended. Public education was virtually non-existent at the time. Thomas says the Founding Fathers did not intend the Bill of Rights to limit the power of schools and were not specifically concerned about the rights of public school students.
Fortunately for the student press, the other eight justices instead debated which First Amendment rights students should have. They looked at past court decisions for precedents, that is, earlier rulings by the court, that set a rule or pattern for deciding similar cases.
The precedent for almost 100 years was the 1833 Supreme Court decision in Barron v. Baltimore, which said the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal government. According to Barron, “Congress shall make no law” meant the United States government—Congress–could not make laws “abridging freedom of speech, or of the press.” States and cities—and school districts–could and did make laws that established religions, and abridged free speech and freedom the press, and limited the right to assemble. “A local school teacher was not Congress within the meaning of `Congress shall make no law,’” said David L. Hudson Jr. in Let the Students Speak! Only the federal government was forbidden to make such laws.
The Supreme Court began to apply the Bill of Rights to the laws and practices of states starting in 1925 with Gitlow v. New York. By 1965, in Gideon v. Wainwright, the court indicated that all forms of government—not just the federal government–were restrained by the Constitution and its amendments, including the Bill of Rights. Public schools are a form of government.
Read More