Is print dead? An ethics lesson
Is print dead?
by john Bowen
Description
Can students read the Constitution in its original form (cursive)? What could this mean for paper consumption? The JEA listserv recently had an extended discussion about whether print student media was dead, or at least in its death throes.
Students will examine the following questions:
• What are student opinions on the future of print media, especially newspapers?
• Why do they feel this way?
• What credible and reliable sources can they find – and explain – to support their views?
• How do their views affect how they look at their student media?
• How do they think their peers feel?
• What would they create as the ideal scholastic publication program at their school and why?
• How does the discussion make them feel about a career in journalism?
Objectives
• Students will create an argument whether print is dead.
• Students will hypothesize on the future of print journalism as we know it.
• Students will create posters on their belief and evaluate the posters of others.
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.
Length
150 minutes (three 50-minute classes)
Materials / resources
• Print is dead? Not so fast
http://www.forbes.com/sites/thesba/2012/06/28/print-is-dead-not-so-fast/
•Who says print is dead?
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jun/03/who-says-print-is-dead
•Newspapers dead within five years
http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2011/12/14/newspapers-dead-within-five-years-usc-predicts
•Hot industry? Warren Buffet is betting on newspapers
http://www.inc.com/francesca-fenzi/warren-buffett-on-newspapers.html
•Are newspapers dead yet?
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/132842-are-newspapers-dead-yet/transcript/
•The end of the printed newspaper
https://medium.com/@cshirky/last-call-c682f6471c70
•Do spinoffs spell death of US newspapers? No and here’s why
http://www.thewrap.com/do-print-spinoffs-spell-death-of-u-s-newspapers-no-and-heres-why/computers
Lesson step-by-step
Day 1
1. Introduction — 5 minutes
Hand out several copies of a printed copy of the Constitution (handwritten). Ask them to read the first 20 lines of a hard-copy of the document.
Now, ask them to find an online copy and repeat the reading and discussion process.
2. Link to content — 5 minutes
What does the exercise say to them about reading cursive and reading print materials? About what they learn in school based on print texts versus online materials. Is it harder to read the cursive writing because schools now downplay it and nothing like it exists online? Work on comparisons between learning from print sources and online ones. (Link here and here for two articles on the impact of reading print versus online material.)
Gradually move the discussion into the future of print, particularly newspapers, and how that could affect education and citizen involvement.
3. Research — 40 minutes
Assign students to find online articles discussing the future of newspapers and print journalism for Day 2. Some sources could include:
• Print is dead? Not so fast
http://www.forbes.com/sites/thesba/2012/06/28/print-is-dead-not-so-fast/
•Who says print is dead?
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jun/03/who-says-print-is-dead
•Newspapers dead within five years
http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2011/12/14/newspapers-dead-within-five-years-usc-predicts
•Hot industry? Warren Buffet is betting on newspapers
http://www.inc.com/francesca-fenzi/warren-buffett-on-newspapers.html
•Are newspapers dead yet?
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/132842-are-newspapers-dead-yet/transcript/
•The end of the printed newspaper
https://medium.com/@cshirky/last-call-c682f6471c70
•Do spinoffs spell death of US newspapers? No and here’s why
http://www.thewrap.com/do-print-spinoffs-spell-death-of-u-s-newspapers-no-and-heres-why/omputers
Additionally, ask them to also consider these points raised in a recent JEA listserv discussion on the topic:
• Studies show students don’t read for news online and prefer hard copy
• Journalism is about information gathering and presentation skills, not about just knowing the tools
• Is print better suited for certain kinds of information than other platforms?
• What do their various communities want and need?
• Are scholastic media bound by the same revenue-driven guidelines as commercial media? Should they be?
• Is the discussion fact or anecdotal driven? Does it make a difference?
• It’s the process of informing, not the product that matters
• If print still works in some cases and ways, how can we invent it?
Use some of these points to find other online or print resources on the topic. Here is a rubric you can use for this exercise.
Day 2
1. Review — 5 minutes
Ask students to go around and state the two most interesting snippets of information they learned from the previous class.
2. Group discussion — 10 minutes
Discuss in groups of four or five what others are saying in the readings about the future of print journalism. Do the students agree? Compare their views and the view of others. Which are more credible and reliable? The most supported by fact or logic?
3. Poster creation — 15 minutes
Narrow the discussion to several reoccurring points, pro and con, in each group. Ask students to combine each group’s findings into a poster or projectable image for the class.
4. Statement creation — 10 minutes
Ask them to create “we agree” statements with each of the most common points and post them in the class. Students should post these around the room.
Day 3
Teacher preparation:
Hang the “we agree” posters as well as a blank sheet of paper next to each.
1. Review — 10 minutes
Ask students to walk around the room looking at the “we agree” posters. While reading the posters, students should comment and provide feedback on the blank paper next to the statement
2. Group review of feedback — 15 minutes
Students should look at feedback given. Does the feedback alter their position? Ask groups to discuss this.
3. Assignments — 25 minutes
Students could decide between the following options:
• Students could create a position statement of their own using the platform of their choice on what they feel the future of print to be and why.
• Students could plan what they want student media at their school to be in five to 10 years, supporting their views with sources and factual statements. They would show how each platform cited for the future would meet student and community needs.
• Students could create a survey instrument for their students and communities on the topic and reported a reported piece using the platform of their choice.
• Combination of any of the above as individuals, teams. Or, create another assignment based on the exercise.
Read More
Effective and complete use of sources
Part of JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission’s Constitution Day lessons and activity package:
2. EFFECTIVE AND COMPLETE USE OF SOURCES
Judges of all types of scholastic media platforms report a definite increase in the lack of sources – and not just appropriate ones. These lessons can help students understand the importance of identifying sources and how to assure their audiences that their stories have the right sources – people or other resources.
Summative evaluation tool: Student task performance and created product
Primary Common Core: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.2
Secondary Common Core Standard(s) Addressed: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2e
21st Century Skills Incorporated: Communication and critical thinking
Supplies, Technology, Other Materials Needed: Handouts, online resources and computers
Length of the Lesson: 90 minutes (2 class periods)
Evaluation tools: In-class and homework assignments
Appropriate for Grades: 9-12
Created by: John Bowen, MJE
Brief description of lesson:
Students will critique existing stories for use of appropriate and relevant sources and then apply what they learned to an existing story of their own or a future assignment for their student media.
Teachers may want to use a coaching writing model for this activity, which an explanation can be found at: http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/chip-on-your-shoulder/11214/the-coaching-way/
Read MoreTweet18: Develop, follow code of ethics
Develop a strong code of ethics, and follow it daily in planning all coverage. #25HZLWD http://jeasprc.org/tweet18-develop-follow-code-of-ethics
No matter which media platform you use, ethics will play a daily role in your decision making.
Rushworth Kidder in “How Good People Make Tough Choices” says ethics is a “right versus right” process.
“Right versus wrong” situations are best decided by knowing and applying press law. The act of deciding involves a concept we will call ethical fitness. Ethical fitness removes the need for control because students practice critical thinking. At the same time, we do not permit anyone to punish students for making – or failing to make – decisions that are not right versus wrong instances.
When it is time to take action, students who are ethically fit, who have already done the thinking, are prepared to resolve issues they face.
From story selection to explaining why a decision was made not to name a source, ethical thinking is at the core of a successful scholastic journalism program.
Resources:
• NSPA Student Code of Ethics
http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/pdf/wheel_modelcodeofethics.pdf
• JEA Adviser Code of Ethics
http://jeasprc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/JEAadvisercodeof-ethics-2015.pdf
• Press Rights Commission Online ethical guidelines for social media
http://jeasprc.org/online-ethics-guidelines-for-student-media/
• Press Rights Commission yearbook ethical guidelines
http://jeasprc.org/yearbook-ethics-guidelines/
• Visual reporting ethical guidelines
http://jeasprc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Visual-ethics2012.pdf
• Questions student staffs should discuss before entering the social media movement
http://www.jeasprc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Questionsstudentstaffsshoulddiscussbefore-enteringsocialmedia-environment.pdf
• Online ethics resources
http://www.jeasprc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Questionsstudentstaffsshoulddiscussbefore-enteringsocialmedia-environment.pdf
• Journalism ethics situations
http://jeasprc.org/constitution-day-learning-materials-part-2-journalism-ethics-hypotheticals/
• Social media toolbox available
http://jeasprc.org/social-media-toolbox-available-to-help-those-considering-and-using-social-media-in-journalism/
• So say we all
http://jeasprc.org/so-say-we-all-2/
• What values?
http://new.jmc.kent.edu/ethicsworkshop/2009/
• What are the ethics of online journalism?
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 MoreFunny how the cheerleaders get all the attention
by Mark Goodman
Funny how cheerleaders get all the attention.
It would have been difficult to miss the coverage this past week of the cheer squad at Kountze High School in Southeast Texas and their fight over free expression. From a high school of a little more than 400 students in a town of about 2,100 people, their story made national news.
The story in a nutshell, for those who did miss it: cheerleaders at Kountze emblazoned banners they displayed at football games with religious messages.
Read More