The importance of student free expression
and widespread information on legislation
As journalism teachers, we know our students learn more when they make publication choices. Prior review or restraint does not teach students to produce higher quality journalism.
As journalism teachers, we know the only way to teach students to take responsibility for their decisions is to give them the responsibility to make those decisions freely.
As journalism teachers we also know democracy depends on student understanding all voices have a right to be heard, knowing they have a voice in their school and community and keeping both informed.
[pullquote]As journalism teachers, we know the only way to teach students to take responsibility for their decisions is to give them the responsibility to make those decisions freely.[/pullquote]
“America needs ‘informed communities,’ places where the information ecology meets people’s personal and civic information needs,” reported a 2009 Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, “They need information to participate fully in our system of self-government, to stand up and be heard. Driving this vision are the critical democratic values of openness, inclusion, participation, empowerment, and the common pursuit of truth and the public interest,” the Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age report indicated.
Recent passage of New Voices legislation in Illinois and Maryland and steps to pass similar bills in numerous states point to the importance of student free expression. Attempts also point to a need for students to engage their communities so all know about the importance of such legislation.
[pullquote]Whether advisers and students live in a state where legislation has passed or in a state where legislation is an active project, the accompanying materials can be used to strengthen the understanding of legislation, deepen the resolve for passage or reinforce communities’ understanding and thus support for student free expression.[/pullquote]
Whether advisers and students live in a state where legislation has passed or in a state where legislation is an active project, they can use the materials in this package to strengthen the understanding of legislation, deepen the resolve for passage or reinforce communities’ understanding and thus support for student free expression.
Sometimes, despite legislation and all the best intentions, censorship and other limitations of guaranteed rights occurs. The accompanying resources are also designed to help student journalists, their advisers and administrators provide answers about the importance and benefits of student freedom expression.
Resources can help provide additional background on student free expression and approaches to information your communities need to know about the importance of such freedom, including passage of free expression legislation.
- Contents of this package:
- Importance of state legislation: Although many educators and advocates think of the First Amendment (and the court decisions interpreting it) as the most important tool for interpreting student press rights, there is another equally important source of law: state statutes.
- Why protecting student free expression is important: Students and advisers in states with recent freedom of expression legislation may want to inform their communities of educational rationale for the legislation. Additionally, those states working to pass such legislation might want to use the same points to gain support
- Talking Points: With legislation giving students decision-making power over their student media comes questions about roles, purpose and standards. If the school cannot make content decisions who is responsible? What is the role of the adviser? Of students? If the adviser cannot control content, what guidelines will students follow and why?
- Breakdown of Illinois HB5902: Showing what the bill’s language means.
- Tips for engaging communities: With new legislation, or attempts to pass it, comes the need for ways to engage those who would support it. The ways can run from concept to concrete and can be delivered in many approaches with details determined locally.
- Legislation terminology: A compilation of important terminology so everyone can better understand the language and issues surrounding student free expression language.
- What to do if school officials threaten censorship: Even though state legislation can provide protection, sometimes others do not understand that and need further education. Use a friendly and informative approach and help them understand. Here are some steps we recommend.
- Sample press release on state legislation: Another option for letting your various communities know about the benefits of free expression legislation is to create a press release to media, civic groups, school board and others.
- Resources on state legislation: Links to additional information and contacts.
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Read More
What is media role
during election campaigns?
What is the role of media during election campaigns?
Description
Students will design ethical guidelines they can use this fall and in later coverage (reporting and viewpoint) of elections, candidates and issues.
Students will work on the following questions:
- What makes comprehensive reporting about an election, a candidate or political issues?
- How would students achieve these comprehensive stories?
- What processes would students use to build comprehensive coverage?
- What resources would students use to build comprehensive coverage?
- What ethical principles could they apply to their coverage?
Objectives
- Students will investigate the best processes to investigate and verify political claims and issues in terms of print, broadcast, visual and online platforms.
- Students will develop ethical standards and questioning and verifying political issues.
- Students will create their own procedural processes to apply these ethical standards.
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.11-12.1 | Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2 | Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.6 | Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others. |
Introduction
Journalists and citizens have independently raised concern this election year, seemingly more so than other years, about the verification process for what candidates say in campaigns, what “facts” are raised with issues and who is the most honest. Similar concerns exist about information passed on by state and local candidates, including those running for school board and community offices.
This lesson will enable student journalists to create ethical guidelines or processes, or to sharpen existing ones, enabling them to better fulfill their social responsibility of getting accurate and complete information and presenting it in context.
One note: If more current questions of a particular candidate’s action occurs, please feel free to replace, or add, resources.
Length
150 minutes (three 50-minute classes)
Materials / resources
Balance, fairness and a proudly provocative presidential candidate
Mirror and candle theories of the press
Social responsibility of media
Ethical guidelines and procedures model
Lesson step-by-step
Homework/preparation
- Student discovery — 40 minutes
Have students go to Balance, fairness and a proudly provocative presidential candidate and 5 types of fallacies for historical perspective and current thinking on media roles during elections and with political issues. After reading the links and in Day 1 of the exercise, students will share their findings in a list of key points with others on their team. Each group will be ready to discuss them in small discussion.
Discussion points could include:
- Is the role of media to report is said or to try to show perspective of what is said?
- Do media have an ethical obligation to show context and background of information in political campaigns?
- What is the best was to ethically serve the reading and viewing publics about information presented in political campaigns or on political issues?
- What is the social responsibility of media in election campaigns and issues?
- Do these approaches also apply to scholastic media?
- Assignment — 10 minutes
For homework, assign each student to prepare a beginning list of ethical guidelines for approaches that would exhibit social responsibility in covering election year candidates and issues. This will aid them to compile a working list of ethical guidelines for their teams.
Day 1
- Group breakdown (5 minutes)
Students will be divided into groups representing print, broadcast, visual and online media (depending on class size there might be more than one group of each).
- Student work time (35 minutes)
Students will compile ethical guidelines in each of their areas for covering political elections, candidates and issues for their platforms. Such guidelines might overlap.
- Large-group discussion/reports (15 minutes)
Each group should report briefly on what it discussed, focusing on unsolved issues or approaches.
- Homework/practical application
A student (or team of students) will take their group’s work home and shape it into a poster for class discussion and acceptance the next day.
Day 2
- Presentation — 35 minutes
Each team shares its concepts, sources and presentation attempting to reach class consensus.
Teams will discuss the ethical issues raised in the coverage and well as the news principles and judgment of story and card selection and prepare to adapt agreed upon suggestions into the staff manual and ethical guidelines.
Alternative/additional activities
Consider these additional questions:
- In verifying information, do journalists/can journalists step outside the traditional role of objectivity?
- Should they do so in their reporting if they feel they have enough facts and feel it is their social responsibility? How do they know what is a fact?
- Should opinion writers, in particular, follow the same criteria as content reporters and verify sources they use in their pieces?
- Why or why not?
Extension
Students could write ethical guidelines addressing political coverage.
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Political attacks on media
should concern student journalists
by Stan Zoller, MJE
The cantankerous tone and rhetoric of the 2016 presidential primary races has raised more than a few eyebrows.
That’s not breaking news.
What may be of note for journalists, and not just student journalists, are the incessant and seemingly extreme attacks on the media by candidates.
And it’s not just Donald Trump, although he tends to precipitate many of them. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex) has launched his share of barbs at the fourth estate as well.
One things that raised my ire was Trump’s response to protestors during one his rallies. Feeling the need to acknowledge them, he retorted “Go home to mommy.” Was this his way of saying that young people, as a disturbing old adage goes, “should be seen, but not heard?” If it is, then student journalists need to be concerned because there should be serious concerns over how far this could go in a Trump administration in the White House.
Journalism educators should be concerned that continued assaults on mainstream media could filter down the collegiate and scholastic administrators, which could lead to further controls and restraint of First Amendment rights on student media outlets.
[pullquote]Journalism educators should be concerned that continued assaults on mainstream media could filter down the collegiate and scholastic administrators, which could lead to further controls and restraint of First Amendment rights on student media outlets.[/pullquote]
Trump has also chided reporters and blasted media organizations with little concern for their professionalism and expertise. And we’re not just talking Fox News here.
During the Feb. 25 GOP debate, which included Telemundo anchor María Celeste Arrarás from as a moderator, Trump said he does not pay attention to what Telemundo says. It wasn’t his first attack on Telemundo. Trump has taken issue with the network for many other reports.
Trump’s campaign manager was charged with simple battery of former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, according to Jupiter, Florida police. Trump sided with his campaign manager, saying Fields made the whole thing up.
Cruz has also entered into the media-bashing arena, saying it was the “liberal media” that has catapulted Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton into the limelight.
Has the use of social media led to a new wave of attacks on mainstream media by candidates? Probably not. Social media has, however, made it more convenient for politicos to rapid respond and post – often without thinking – to media reports.
Concern for the mainstream media by candidates is far from unique during the 2016 campaign. Word was that the during the 2012 presidential race the Obama Campaign wanted to prior review stories about campaign appearances by Obama. Needless to say, that didn’t, as the saying goes, play in Peoria – or anywhere else for that matter.
Journalism educators at all levels need to re-enforce with their student journalists the need for incessant and thorough fact checking. With questions of media credibility tossed around like snow balls, the potential for a trickle-down effect to administrators’ offices is very really.
Fact-checking sites like politifact.org or factcheck.org are excellent resources for checking candidates’ statements.
[pullquote]Journalism educators at all levels need to re-enforce with their student journalists the need for incessant and thorough fact checking. With questions of media credibility tossed around like snow balls, the potential for a trickle-down effect to administrators’ offices is very really.[/pullquote]
But fact checking should not be limited to political stories. With the eyes on student media bigger than ever, student journalists and their advisers, need to be scrupulous in making sure every “t” is cross and every “i” is dotted.
Trump says he considers media coverage free advertising. And as we’ve seen, if he doesn’t like “the ad” he goes ballistic.
When a paid ad goes awry, a media outlet can correct it and do a ‘make good’ – which is simply running the ad again.
If the ‘ad’ is a news story and it’s inaccurate, there is no change for a ‘make good.’
The result is a slam to the media outlet’s credibility.
As they used to say at the old Chicago City News Bureau: “If your mother says she loves you, check it.”
It’s an old adage; but one that is so important today.
Read MoreScope & Sequence: Morse Teaching Units
Introduction
Before you begin working through this document, I’d first like to thank you for trying this unit in your classroom. This unit’s main emphasis is on customization because every media program is different. You may find that all the activities in these units are applicable to your media program, or you may find them none of them are applicable. Above all, make sure each aspect of your lesson is relevant to your staff.
Just as importantly, this unit can only improve if I receive feedback from teachers who try it in their classrooms. Please email me at peter.barringer@evsc.k12.in.us with any feedback, including (but not limited to):
- Timing of the activities
- Relevance of the activities
- Suggestions for improvement regarding the topics
- Better videos, handouts, or other materials
Which unit should I choose?
Four different unit models are available. They’re based on 90-minute block scheduling class periods, so modification will be necessary for teachers on a traditional bell schedule. As you attempt to determine which unit to choose, keep the following factors in mind:
- How much time do you have?
- If you’re teaching a media class, you will have less time than if you’re teaching intro to journalism classes
- How much time does this court case deserve?
- If you’re in one of the circuits that has narrowly interpreted Morse, you may wish to devote less time to it
- If your circuit has interpreted Morse broadly or hasn’t interpreted it at all, more time may be needed
- If your program has encountered issues regarding student free expression, especially if it related to illegal drug use or illegal activities, consider selecting a longer unit
- Does your media manual contain a statement regarding Morse and/or student free speech?
- If not, consider modifying the one-day unit or simply teaching one of the longer units
- If so, consider skipping this activity or choosing the one-day unit
- Is illegal drug use a common topic for your program?
- Are “illegal activities” a common topic for your program?
- In some circuits, Morse has been broadly interpreted to justify the censorship of expression advocating topics besides illegal drug use
Breakdown of topics:
One-Day Unit
- Bellringer: Tinker, Hazelwood, and Fraser review
- CNN YouTube video explaining Morse
- SPLC article about the Morse decision and its implications
- Case Handout describing lower courts’ narrow, broad, and incidental interpretations of Morse in each circuit
- Group project: analyze broadly interpreted lower court cases
- Closing: Discuss Morse’s applications to scholastic media
Two-Day Unit
- Bellringer: Tinker, Hazelwood, and Fraser review
- Teacher’s YouTube video explaining Morse and its decision
- SPLC article about the Morse decision and its implications
- Case Handout describing lower courts’ narrow, broad, and incidental interpretations of Morse in each circuit
- Closing/Homework: Start group project (analyzing broadly interpreted lower court cases)
- Bellringer: Examine lower court cases with narrow interpretations
- Student presentations (broadly interpreted lower court cases)
- Discuss Morse’s applications to scholastic media
- Create a media manual statement regarding Morse
Three-Day Unit
- Bellringer: KWL chart about Supreme Court cases and anticipation guide (survey regarding Morse)
- Tinker, Hazelwood, and Fraser review
- Teacher’s YouTube video explaining Morse and its decision
- SPLC article about the Morse decision and its implications
- Case Handout describing lower courts’ narrow, broad, and incidental interpretations of Morse in each circuit
- Closing/Homework: Start group project (analyzing broadly interpreted lower court cases)
- Bellringer: Examine lower court cases with narrow interpretations
- Student presentations (broadly interpreted lower court cases)
- Discuss Morse’s applications to scholastic media
- Create a media manual statement regarding Morse
- Bellringer: Students and adviser pick one of three culminating activities (role-play a scenario, draft a persuasive letter, or teach Morse and its applications to a group)
- Complete the culminating activity (detailed directions can be found on the three-day unit or five-day unit)
Five-Day Unit
- Bellringer: KWL chart about Supreme Court cases and anticipation guide (survey regarding Morse)
- Tinker, Hazelwood, and Fraser review
- Teacher’s YouTube video explaining Morse and its decision
- SPLC article about the Morse decision and its implications
- Handout describing lower courts’ narrow, broad, and incidental interpretations of Morse in each circuit
- Closing/Homework: Start group project (analyzing broadly interpreted lower court cases)
- Bellringer: Examine lower court cases with narrow interpretations
- Student presentations (broadly interpreted lower court cases)
- Discuss Morse’s applications to scholastic media
- Create a media manual statement regarding Morse
- Bellringer: Role-playing introduction and instructions
- Read case details and split into groups
- Groups prepare for the scenario (prepare arguments, review cases, etc.)
- Role playing scenario
- Judges deliberate and decide a winner, using Tinker, Hazelwood, Fraser, or Morse as precedent
- Closing: Discussion (protecting against issues and the role of the media manual statement)
- Bellringer: Decide whom to write to and what to write about
- Split into groups
- Groups work on individual sections of the letter
- Editors lead a group discussion: how to streamline and improve the letter
- Closing/Homework: Finalize the letter. Editor-in-chief takes it home to unify the writing style.
- Bellringer: Discuss whom to inform about Morse (or student First Amendment rights in general) and the best way to teach them about it
- Split into groups.
- Create the teaching model in small groups using approved resources
- Initial check of the teaching model’s quality
Justification:
Without lively and open discourse, society weakens. Students’ First Amendment rights were explicitly established through the Tinker v. Des Moines Supreme Court case in 1969, and those rights have only diminished since. Current literature offers an abundance of analysis on pre-Morse v. Frederick (2007) court cases related to student First Amendment rights. The amount of literature relating to the courts’ applications of Morse is even more abundant, but cogent analysis and quality teaching resources related to these cases are difficult to find.
The goal of this project—a set of unit plans and resources—is to help scholastic journalists and media advisers develop a working understanding of the courts’ interpretations of Morse. Not every adviser has the time to read through scholarly literature to create original lesson plans regarding this case, and little has been published so far. Some lesson plans and materials are available on sites such as jea.org; however, the plans that are readily available simply provide a basic understanding of the case and its possible effects, rather than an understanding of how it has actually been applied. This project could help advisers and students develop a current understanding of Morse—how it has been applied, and how those applications could affect student media.
Objectives
- Students will demonstrate knowledge of the facts of the Morse decision and how it fits with previous Supreme Court decisions. (1, 2, 3, and 5)
- Students will analyze recent lower court cases, and use outside sources to determine why the judges interpreted Morse broadly. (1, 2, 3, and 5)
- Students will utilize discussion outcomes regarding potential limitations the Morse decision could place on student journalists in order to create an effective statement for the program’s manual. (2, 3, and 5)
- Students will complete culminating activities reinforcing Morse’s applications to their media program. (3 & 5)
Key Common Core Standards
The first three standards are addressed in all four unit plans. The fourth standard is only addressed in the 2, 3, and 5-day units. The final three standards are all addressed in the 5-day unit; one of the three (staff’s choice) is addressed in the 3-day unit.
| Standard Number | Description |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.9 | Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1 | Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.2 | Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.5 | Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1.A, B, C, D, and E | CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.A
Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.B Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.C Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.D Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.E Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.7 | Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1 | Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. |
Please note, there are sample rubrics available in the Ancillary Materials folder of each unit.
Read MoreDon’t drink the water
Making a difference…part of a series
When the water in the fountains and spigots at Rockville High School (Md.) ran rusty, Rampage contributing editor Xavier Rivera knew something had to be done. The three-part investigative report Rivera wrote caught the attention of a state senator and brought the issue to the forefront motivating administration to seek a remedy to reduce the levels of lead in the water to acceptable EPA levels.
Rampage adviser, Jessica Nassau explained that the “story began during a Rampage staff brainstorming session, when students mentioned that the water coming from the fountains tasted “funny.” Editor Xavier Rivera decided that it was a story worth exploring, kicking off a three-story investigative series. He sent water samples to a lab and the results showed lead levels that surpassed the EPA limits.
He interviewed professionals and district officials to get the full story, and the online edition came to the attention of Senator Karen Montgomery, who wrote a letter to the school board. It was clear that this was a safety issue that could not be ignored.
Due to the story, the school began the EPA recommended water-flushing protocol, which brought the lead presence down to what is considered a safe level. The articles really got the attention of students and staff at our school, and we definitely heard from many of them that they wouldn’t drink the water until the problem was fixed.
That the district ultimately had to take action based on a student publication was tremendously empowering for the whole staff of the Rampage, who came to see that journalists really do make a difference. Though the article was primarily Xavier’s, I would like to mention that he had tremendously supportive editors-in-chief who helped him. This was a story that was bigger than one person, and it was wonderful to see the staff come together to make it the best it could be.”
Read the stories at the links provided.
Administration Responds to Water Quality
Flushing Protocol Meklit Bekele– The Rampage Fixes Water Quality
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