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Riding out the storm:
Find your way past roadblocks to save stories only YOU can do best
by Candace Bowen, MJE
Unfortunately, the pandemic is the perfect storm for high school media. Students have important stories only they can tell, but administrators really don’t want all these stories out there. On top of that, some admins are already finding ways to hamper reporting – or stop it altogether.
Being aware of these tactics and knowing how to combat them is vital as student journalists and their advisers start back to school this fall. Whether remote, face-to-face or some hybrid, the basic plan is to be sure student media coverage is thorough and professional, able to stand the scrutiny it might have to face.
So far, we’ve seen the usual – students threatened with suspension and punishment, even in states with New Voices legislation. But we’ve also seen more than usual budget-cutting and financial excuses for eliminating student publications. Then, too, FERPA – NOT an act that applies to student media – may again be an excuse to try to limit coverage, and HIPAA, also not applied properly, may become another excuse.
Read on to see how to react and what you may be able to do to stay safe and counter some of these strategies.
Read MoreGagging students but not requiring masks
by Jan Ewell, MJE
Hannah Watters, 15, suspended for five days, Wed. Aug. 5, for tweeting pictures of mostly maskless students in a crowded hallway at North Paulding High in Dallas, Ga, about an hour outside of Atlanta, is free to return to school Monday, Aug. 10.
Friday, Aug. 7, she tweeted, “My school called and they have deleted my suspension.” She added, “To be 100 percent clear, I can go back to school on Monday.”
According to The Washington Post, county schools superintendent, Brian Otott, had acknowledged the images “didn’t look good,” but suggested they lacked context at the 2,000-student high school where masks were “a personal choice.”
Georgia had 200,000 recorded cases of Covid-19 as of Wednesday. Thursday the state death toll from the disease passed 4,000.
Hannah was suspended for violating the student code of conduct, which states students may not use social media during the day and they may not make recordings without permission of an administrator.
“The principal just said that they were very sorry for any negative attention that this has brought upon her,” The Post quoted her mother, adding ” that in the future they would like for her to come to the administration with any safety concerns.”
If all students who use social media during the school day receive five-day suspensions, even the students who post pictures of yummy lunches or of the morning Pledge of Allegiance, then the school probably did not violate Hannah’s rights.
But if only certain types of speech—or pictures—warrant such severe punishment, then the policy is not content-neutral and is meant to stop only certain types of speech, in this case, speech that does not make the school look good.
Likewise the policy that forbids photography would need to be content neutral to be constitutional — even selfies and buddy pic would need to receive five-day suspensions.
But even if content neutral, a policy forbidding photography is questionable. Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas wrote in 1969 in Tinker v. Des Moines that neither students nor teachers “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
True, in places where students have a reasonable expectation of privacy, locker rooms, counselors’ offices, even classrooms, photography can be an invasion of privacy, and a school code of conduct may well forbid it. Or if the photographer substantially disrupted learning, that could also be forbidden. But a crowded hallway is a public space with no expectation of privacy, and students have the right to record the conditions there.
Perhaps Superintendent Otott may wish to review Justice Fortas’s opinion, where he wrote, “In our system, state-operated schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism. School officials do not possess absolute authority over their students. Students . . . are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must respect . . . In the absence of a specific showing of constitutionally valid reasons to regulate their speech, students are entitled to freedom of expression of their views.”
At North Paulding High School, masks may be “a personal choice,” but so is documenting conditions there.
Hannah Watters was well within her rights.
Additional resources:
• Georgia school reverses suspension of teen who shared viral photo hallway packed with students
• Viral photo of crowded Georgia high school hallway lacks context, superintendent says
• SPLC condemns the suspension of Georgia students for posting photos of their crowded school during COVID-19
• SPLC, joined by 28 orgs and individuals, sends letter of concern to N. Paulding High School admin and school board over free speech restrictions
• Georgia COVID-19 deaths surpass 4,000 – Fox5 Atlanta
Working to develop ethical fitness
It’s the perfect storm as Covid-19, questions of police brutality and subsequent violent protestor response mix into an already seething atmosphere of political unease. Each of these issues alone could deeply stress scholastic journalism’s ethical framework.
Together, these and many other questions and incidents, will provide scholastic media students with challenges as they strive to become ethically fit as they bring national issues into local perspective.
Mark’s presentation dealt with legal rights and rules when covering protests. Ethical questions are more like whether students should report the incident. How report it? What if….
Information in this blog is created for a presentation to scholastic teachers, advisers and students Aug. 5 through remote connection to an AEJMC workshop. Please feel free to use it. Links are stories illustrating or about the ethical issue.
Law is “will;” ethics is “should.”
Ethical decisions likely will have varying possible solutions, with few rights or wrongs. Ethical thinking is often about the process as much as the decision.
Read MoreIf covering protests, note these points
With the promised spread of federal agents to additional cities to protect federal buildings, student media will likely join protestors and commercial media in the streets.
Police and federal agents have, several times, injured not only protestors but also student media and those from commercial media groups.
To help student reporters and visual reporters better know how to avoid issues with authorities and to protect themselves, the Student Press Law Center released 20 important points to know. The SPLC also has other points as does JEA’s Student Press Rights Committee.
Other valuable information focused on reporting by 17-year-old Eddy Winford-Ross, a scholastic media editor at Portland’s South Salem High School. Here’s another article about Winford-Ross . Here’s another SPLC story about her, and more.
Other coverage that could provide contextual information about events and issues surrounding protests:
• Photographers are being called on to stop showing protesters’ faces. Should they?
• Leaf-blower wars: How Portland protesters are fighting back against tear gas and forming ‘walls’ of veterans, lawyers, nurses
• Navy vet asked federal in Portland to remember their oaths. Then they broke his hand
• A dangerous new factor in an uneasy moment: unidentified law enforcement officers
Hold the agenda
When information changes rapidly, give the public balance and verification to act on
by Stan Zoller, MJE
During the onslaught of media coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing reporters have been doing is meticulously checking the facts surrounding the outbreak, especially data emanating from the White House.
Student journalists need to follow the same standards as professional journalists. However, it is essential reporting is not only verified, but also balanced.
As news about the pandemic seemingly changes hourly, reporters need to be vigilant in not just taking the word of a single source with a specific view, especially when details about the outbreak have a political overtone.
Welcome to a crisis in an election year.
It seems clear that White House officials are not happy when counter points of view are reported by news organizations. The reality is, however, news consumers want and need to hear multiple sides of the story.
While the facts, such as number of tests, deaths and new cases are quantifiable, explanations about data need additional sources, preferably those independent of ties to current or previous administrations.
Mainstream media has done an excellent job in seeking out researchers at major medical centers and universities for independent data. These sources augment your reporting through their independent research.
It is, however, important to cite any underwriting they may be getting from corporations or foundations as this could skew the independence if the support is connected to a market or political strategy.
But what if there’s not a major medical research facility in proximity to your school? Seeking out experts near your school who can explain data, guidelines and other questions related to COVID-19 will add an excellent dimension to your reporting.
Not only will this give you independent sources, but it will also give you an opportunity to localize, if not hyper-localize, your coverage. While you want to keep your pandemic coverage balanced and independent, the same is true for coverage about political issues related to outbreaks.
It’s also important to make sure comments about the Administration’s handling of COVID-19 in the United States are balanced by comments from politicians on both sides of the aisle.
This is true not only for state legislators, but also for county and municipal officials as well.
Read More