Student journalists can tackle current, key issues to bring
by John Bowen, MJE
For 19 days now, Ohioans anywhere near East Palestine, a town with close to 4,700 residents near the Pennsylvania state line, tried to grasp the Norfolk Southern train’s derailment impact on their futures and those of their town.
Today, Feb. 22, Northern Ohioans and others in the proximity of railroad tracks, might have reason to ask the same questions.
Feb. 19, news broke the train had traveled from Toledo through Cleveland before turning south with its load of toxic materials. Although we do not know the exact path yet, one route could take this train 2.2 miles from our house, slightly north of the city of Kent and through Ravenna, the county seat of Portage County.
Our estimate of a probable railroad journey south, based on the Norfolk Southern’s route map, goes from Cleveland up north, through Hudson, Ravenna and then east through Alliance. East Palestine is after Sebring, right about when the tracks cross the Pennsylvania border (the yellow line on a map).That itinerary was plotted by our high school grandson who knows railroads, trains and how they cross the state.
2.2 miles.
Now, all those who live and work and shop and enjoy the outdoors along railroad trucks, have reason to join 4,700 people in East Palestine, Ohio, concerned, and seeking answers.
Read MoreCharles E. Smith Jewish Day School Policy Statement of Policy
The Lion’s Tale – Press Rights Protocol
I. Introduction/Statement of Policy
Freedom of expression and press freedom are fundamental values in a democratic society. As an educational institution committed to preparing engaged and responsible citizens, the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School believes in teaching students these values, both by lesson and by example.
CESJDS is committed to promoting pluralism, ethical decency, and responsible citizenship, as well as developing other attributes and skills listed in the School’s Portrait of a Graduate. In keeping with these values, this protocol promotes the free expression of student opinions in an open manner and through respectful dialogue, something that is encouraged within the school and Judaism.
Student exercise of freedom of expression and press freedom is protected by both state and federal law, especially by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. School administrators and advisers encourage and will ensure freedom of expression and press freedom for their students.
This protocol represents CESJDS’s dedication to empowering students and providing them with opportunities to grow. It will enable the administration to address what we view as a historic wrong: the overturning of students’ First Amendment rights under Hazelwood V. Kuhlmeier, as well as the exclusion of private schools under the New Voices Legislation passed by the State of Maryland in 2016.
It is hereby the policy of the CESJDS administration and The Lion’s Tale, the official, school-sponsored and funded student newspaper of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, that the publication is a forum for student expression to encourage the uncensored, robust, free and open discussion of issues. The Lion’s Tale student journalists shall have the right to determine the content of their publication and website. Student editors make all content decisions, and such decisions are not within the CESJDS administration’s purview to determine.
The Lion’s Tale, in all its forms, including, but not limited to print editions, online posts and social media, should provide a full opportunity for students to inquire, question and exchange ideas. Content should reflect areas of student interest, including topics about which there may be dissent or controversy, either within the student body and/or between the student body (or parts thereof) and school administration.
II. Official Student Media
A. Responsibilities of Student Journalists
Students who work on The Lion’s Tale determine the content of their respective publications and are responsible for that content. These students should:
l. Determine the final content decisions of the student media;
2. Determine the final editorial decisions and content of each print issue, as well as online posts;
3. Strive to produce media based upon professional standards of accuracy, objectivity and fairness;
4. Review material to improve sentence structure, grammar, spelling and punctuation;
5. Check and verify all facts;
6. Provide an opportunity for multiple points of view of a story to comment in an interview. This, in many cases, particularly news articles, includes the viewpoint of the administration, students and faculty.
7. In the case of editorials or letters to the editor concerning controversial issues, determine the need for rebuttal comments and opinions and provide space, if appropriate.
B. Unprotected Expression
The following types of student expression will not be protected:
1. Material that is “obscene as to minors.” “Obscene as to minors” is defined as material that meets both of the following requirements:
(a) the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the publication, taken as a whole, appeals to a minor’s prurient interest in sex; and
(b) the publication depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct such as ultimate sexual acts (normal or perverted), masturbation and lewd exhibition of the genitals; and;
2. Libelous material. Libelous statements are provably false and unprivileged statements of fact that demonstrate injury to an individual’s or business’ reputation in the community. If the allegedly libeled party is a “public figure” or “public official” as defined below, then school officials must show that the false statement was published “with actual malice,” i.e., that the student journalists knew that the statement was false or that they published it with reckless disregard for the truth without trying to verify the truthfulness of the statement.
(a) A public official is a person who holds an elected or appointed public office and exercises a significant amount of governmental authority.
(b) A public figure is a person who either has sought the public’s attention or is well known within the community because of personal achievements or actions.
(c) School employees, including CESJDS administrators, will be considered public officials or public figures in relationship to articles concerning their school-related activities.
(d) When an allegedly libelous statement concerns an individual who is not a public official or a public figure, school officials must show that the false statement was published willfully or negligently, i.e., the student journalist who wrote or published the statement had failed to exercise reasonably prudent care.
(e) Students are free to express opinions in articles under the “Opinion” or “Arts and Entertainment” sections of The Lion’s Tale in all mediums specified earlier in Section I of this document. Specifically, a student may criticize school policy.
3. Material that will cause “a material and substantial disruption of school activities.”
(a) Disruption is defined as student rioting, unlawful seizures of property, destruction of property, or substantial student participation in a school boycott, sit-in, walk-out or other related form of activity. Material that stimulates heated discussion or debate does not constitute the type of disruption prohibited.
(b) For student media to be considered disruptive, specific facts must exist upon which one could reasonably forecast that a likelihood of immediate, substantial material disruption to normal school activity would occur if the material were further distributed or has occurred as a result of the material’s distribution or dissemination. Mere undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance is not enough to constitute disruption; school administrators must be able to affirmatively show substantial facts that reasonably support a forecast of likely disruption.
(c) The Tinker v. Des Moines Supreme Court ruling established that schools cannot restrict speech unless it “would materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school.” In determining whether student media is disruptive, consideration must be given to the context of the distribution as well as the content of the material. In this regard, consideration should be given to past experience in the school with similar material, past experience in the school in dealing with and supervising the students in the school, current events influencing student attitudes and behavior and whether there have been any instances of actual or threatened disruption prior to or contemporaneously with the dissemination of the student publication in question.
(d) School officials must protect advocates of unpopular viewpoints. In addition, school officials cannot censor the views of advocates unless the material falls into another category of unprotected material in Section B of this document.
(e) “School activity” means any activity sponsored by the school and includes, by way of example and not by way of limitation, classroom work, official assemblies and other similar gatherings, school athletic contests, school plays, parent programs, school field trips, Community Time and scheduled in-school lunch periods.
C. Legal Advice
1. If, in the opinion of a student editor, student editorial staff or faculty adviser, material proposed for publication may be “obscene,” “libelous” or would cause an “immediate, material and substantial disruption of school activities,” the legal opinion of a practicing attorney for The Lion’s Tale should be sought. The students will consult with the Student Press Law Center for free legal services in any and all legal matters.
2. The final decision of whether such material is to be published will be left to the student editor or student editorial staff.
D. Protected Speech
1. School officials, including the administration, cannot:
a. Ban student expression solely because it is controversial, takes extreme, “fringe” or minority opinions or i, unpopular or unpleasant;
b. Ban the publication or distribution of material relating to sexual issues including, but not limited to, virginity, birth control and sexually-transmitted diseases;
c. Prohibit criticism of the policies and practices of teachers, school officials, the school itself or of any public officials. Student editors must always give the aforementioned individuals the opportunity to comment on any article pertaining to their policies or practices prior to publication. If such an individual refuses to comment, publication of such article is permitted;
d. Cut off or reduce funds to official student media because of disagreement over its policies or published content, stories or articles;
e. Ban the publication or distribution by students of material written by non-students (outside guest writers);
E. Online Student Media and Use of Electronic Information Resources
1. Online/Digital Student Media
- Online/digital media may be used by students like any other communications media to reach both those within the school community and those beyond it. All official, school-sponsored online student publications are entitled to the same protections and are subject to no greater limitations than other student media, as described in this policy.
2. Electronic Information Resources
- Student journalists may use electronic information resources to gather news and information, to communicate with other students and individuals and to ask questions of and consult with sources. School officials will apply the same criteria used in determining the suitability of other educational and information resources to attempts to remove or restrict student media access to online and electronic material. Just as the purchase, availability and use of media materials in a classroom or anywhere on campus do not indicate endorsement of their contents by school officials, neither does making electronic information available to students imply endorsement of that content.
Faculty advisers to student media will help students develop the intellectual skills and tools needed to evaluate and appropriately use electronically available information to meet their newsgathering purposes; however, advisers are not responsible for approving the online resources used or created by their students.
III. Adviser Job Security
The student media adviser is not a censor. No person who advises a student publication will be fired, transferred or removed from the advisership by reason of his or her refusal to exercise editorial control over student media or to otherwise suppress the protected free expression of student journalists.
If and when the student media adviser does leave CESJDS for reasons unrelated to the issues above, the school will make every effort to hire a new adviser who is a Certified Journalism Educator through the Journalism Education Association, or one who has comparable training and experience.
IV. Prior Review/Restraint
No student media content (including, but not limited to articles, opinion pieces, and designs), shall require review by school administrators prior to its publication or distribution. The school assumes no liability for the content of any student publication and urges all student journalists to recognize that with editorial control comes responsibility, including the responsibility to follow professional journalism standards each school year. The Lion’s Tale takes such standards incredibly seriously and is committed to continually upholding journalistic values through its published content, stories, and articles.
V. Communication Guidelines Between Both Parties
To maintain effective communication and a strong relationship between the administration and the leadership of The Lion’s Tale, we welcome open communication between the two on any topics of concern, while still respecting the internal autonomy and decision-making processes of The Lion’s Tale staff. While the administration is explicitly prohibited from reviewing, restraining, and/or censoring the content of The Lion’s Tale’s online or print editions, The Lion’s Tale welcomes any insight the administration may wish to share regarding the sensitive nature or background of topics being covered by The Lion’s Tale. HOW WOULD ADMIN KNOW TO IINQUIRE IF NOT AWARE OF THE POTENTIAL CONTENT?
To facilitate this important communication, the administration is welcome to approach the staff and/or adviser of The Lion’s Tale with any questions or comments regarding an article prior to its publication. However, questions or concerns raised by the administration are non-binding and possess no substantive authority over The Lion’s Tale’s content decisions, as previously noted. Questions and concerns will be discussed by the editorial leadership of The Lion’s Tale and their staff adviser.
In a situation where the staff adviser and the editorial leadership of The Lion’s Tale cannot reach an agreement on publishing a particular article or whether such an article is suitable for the community to read, the Student Press Law Center will be consulted. If a decision still cannot be agreed upon, an outside professional journalist can be invited to mediate the situation at the request of either party. Even after careful deliberation and input by an outside professional journalist, the editorial leadership of The Lion’s Tale has the sole authority and discretion over content decisions.
VI. Protocol Continuity
To ensure the continuity and preservation of the aforementioned document, termination of this protocol can occur only if both parties (the administration and the Editors-in-Chief of The Lion’s Tale) agree to such a termination.
VII. Circulation
These guidelines will be included in the CESJDS student handbook through a link to this document and under the “Policy” section of lionstale.org.
Read MoreQuestioning Authority
Fallout from the 2020 election expands into a second impeachment trial. Mobs attack the Capital raising charges of unAmerican activity and sedition. Questions of whether not wearing masks and large groups partying extend our national pain of a nearly year-old pandemic.
It is certain scholastic media will address plenty of issues. Just recently Facebook and other digital media addressed questions about obsolescence of objectivity: Could it be obsolete? What does that mean for the emergence of advocacy reporting? Could media roles change? Should they?
Questions concern revision of ethical standards: to reflect guidelines that apply to the newest tools journalists use.
Questions would tackle takedown of published information and the potential impact of deleting historical memory.
Read MoreWorking 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 MoreQuick Tips
Use these short resources to build lessons, ethics guidelines
Forum status of student media
If you’re developing a new policy, the Scholastic Press Rights Committee recommends using language something like this:
[Name of publication] is a designated public forum for student expression. Student editors make all content decisions without prior review from school officials.
Prior review v. prior restraint
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.
Student media policy may be the most important decision you makeStudents should understand while they can and should adopt best legal practices and ethical guidelines for their publication, the school district’s or school board’s media policy (if one exists) could impact the legal and ethical decisions of student editors.
What should go into an editorial policy? What should not?
Editorial policies are the foundations for your journalism program. Often short, these statements address forum status, who makes final decisions of content.
What do you do in the event of student faculty death?
It’s important to have a guideline in place before a student or staff member dies. Journalists should report a student or staff death in an objective, consistent manner that has been decided when the staff manual is being revised. Choosing what to publish at the time of any tragedy is not wise and can cause staffs to make choices that create problems in the future.
Balance and objectivity are key to reporting
Balance and objectivity don’t mean isolation and a lack of care about people and their stories.
They do mean trying to report all points of view as best you can and providing background and context for the story.
Free press –– why students should make all decisions of content
For students to prepare themselves for their roles in a democracy, they must be able to practice guarantees of the First Amendment, thus knowing they can make a difference.
Avoid senior quotes; give them to senior class for publishing
The question of using senior quotes in student media came up recently on JEA’s listserv. The Scholastic Press Rights committee would urge schools not to run them, but turn them over too the senior class as part of its responsibility.
Should student media publish senior superlatives?Publishing senior superlatives, if seniors decide they are worthwhile at all, is one of those “traditions” best moved from student media to those who most clearly benefit – the senior class.
Should student media publish senior superlatives?
Publishing senior superlatives, if seniors decide they are worthwhile at all, is one of those “traditions” best moved from student media to those who most clearly benefit – the senior class.
So your student media want to do senior wills?
Because senior wills have minimal journalistic value and great potential for damage, they should not be used in school publications.
The issues with April Fools coverage
April Fool’s issues are fake news and can damage student media’s credibility.
Yes, some find them acceptable, but their negatives far outweigh their positives. The ultimate question is are they worth the risks?
Allowing sources to preview content is ethically questionable
The newest reporter on staff chooses to cover the story about the Science Department’s new policy on studying animal life. To do so, she must interview the head about a new policy on studying animal life. It’s fairly controversial because People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is strongly opposed to dissection and the new curriculum for advanced biology includes that.
What to do if sources, including the expert, want to see the story ahead of time?
Takedown requests: When the right to preserve history conflicts with the desire to forget it
As more student newspapers move to digital platforms, editors and advisers are facing a new and insidious form of post-publication censorship: takedown requests.
The requests usually go something like this: “I was a student at [fill in name] high school [fill in number] years ago, and I was interviewed/wrote a story/was in a photo/made a comment that I regret now. I don’t want this showing up in Google searches. Please remove this story from your site.”
Publishing memes also means knowing copyright rules
Entertainment. Political statements. A way to comment on issues, events, people
And, if not done correctly, says Mark Goodman, Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism, a way to violate the owner’s copyright. A violation several owners pursued.
Who should be on student media editorial boards, make decisions?
Because student media are productions of student work, only students should be on editorial boards of student media. That would include the general manager and producers of broadcast media.
The importance of staff editorials
Student editors are busy. In addition to leading their staffs, making publication decisions and helping reporters, they are likely also still reporting and creating their own news content — not to mention carrying a full academic high school load.
Covering controversy
Although some administrators would like for students to only publish “positive” stories, a journalist’s job is to watch and report on the school. This may involve students including stories that might make the school “look bad.”
Disturbing images: public’s right to know v. invasion of privacy
A 9-year-old girl, burning from napalm, runs naked down a Vietnam road. A vulture watches a Sudanese child, emaciated from famine, crawl across the ground. Two yellow-clad health workers carry a limp 8-year-old boy who might be infected with Ebola to a treatment facility.
Determine who owns student work before publication beginsAbsent a written agreement indicating otherwise, student journalists own the copyright to the works they create. Each media outlet should ensure it has clear policies in place for staff members and the publication that spell out ownership and the right of the publication to use student work
Determine who owns student work before publication begins
Absent a written agreement indicating otherwise, student journalists own the copyright to the works they create. Each media outlet should ensure it has clear policies in place for staff members and the publication that spell out ownership and the right of the publication to use student work
The role of the adviser is multifold, but ethically, practically not a doer
The role of the adviser in student-run media incorporates teacher, coach, counselor, listener and devil’s advocate but not doer. We like the JEA Adviser Code of Ethics as guides for advisers.
That role means letting students make all decisions including content, context and grammar.
How can my school get involved in the New Voices campaign?
Almost a quarter of all states have now passed legislation protecting voice in student media, and instilling the virtues of the First Amendment as state statute for student media. North Dakota’s success in 2015 seemed to spark the latest fire that has seen legislative recognition of student speech in Illinois, Maryland, Vermont and Rhode Island.
Empowering student decision-making
The role of the adviser in student-run media incorporates teacher, coach, counselor, listener and devil’s advocate but not doer. We like the JEA Adviser Code of Ethics as guides for advisers
Responsibility in scholastic media starts with ethics, accuracy, complete story
Responsibility in scholastic media starts with ethics, accuracy, complete story
Administrators may want student media that depicts the school in a positive light, that promotes good news and overlooks the negative.
Is this responsible journalism?
Advisers may want student media that reflects students’ technical proficiency such as mechanics, grammar and style. Little else matters.
Is this responsible journalism?
Decision-making for most student broadcasts protected same as print, online
As more schools expand their journalism programs to include broadcast and radio, it should be clear how Tinker and Hazelwood positively or negatively affect broadcast programs
The answer is: it depends.
If they go out over the broadcast airways, Federal Communications Commission regulations apply.
Muzzle Hazelwood with strong journalism status as an open public forum
Forum concept reinforced by Dean v. Utica Community schools decision
Dealing with unwanted, forced prior review?
JEA historically has opposed prior review of student media by school officials.
That opposition continues.
Prior review leads only to control, active censorship and iis the first step toward the spread of fake news and less than complete disinformation.
What, students have rights? Since 1943
Before the Barnette decision, when students came into conflict with public schools, the courts decided their cases—often against the students—without mentioning students’ right. They considered if the punishment was excessive (beating with a rawhide strap was okay in 1859). They also debated if it was the parents’ right or the schools’ right to discipline the students. The First Amendment was never mentioned.
Journalism integrity guides student media
As scholastic media advisers and students develop policies and guidelines to guide them with journalism standards, they should note these words: The only thing students have to lose as journalists is their credibility.
Ethical guidelines for monitoring yearbook coverage
Arguably, the two biggest complaints most yearbook staffs hear are that a wide cross section of the school is not covered adequately, and quotes are not represented accurately. These are tough criticisms to hear, but staffs must consider the potential criticism while they create the book.
Equipment purchase does not mean content control
It has long been understood that school purchase of equipment or provision of a room that is not the only factor in who controls the content.
There other factors, including a guiding court decision.
Ethical photo editing, visuals
Student media should avoid electronic manipulation that alters the truth of a photograph unless it is used as art. In that case it should be clearly labeled as a photo illustration.
Academic dishonesty lessens media effectiveness
Dishonesty compromises the integrity and credibility of the student publication. The editorial board and/or adviser should address any instance of academic misconduct immediately
Social media that works in high school classrooms
Social media has had such a profound effect on journalism that it’s sometimes hard to remember how traditional news functioned before it. Reading this 2009 MediaShift article is a powerful reminder that Twitter wasn’t always the source of breaking news. In fact, as author Julie Posetti wrote just eight years ago, “Some employers are either so afraid of the platform or so disdainful about its journalistic potential that they’ve tried to bar their reporters from even accessing Twitter in the workplace.”
Handling online commentsDeciding whether to accept online comments can be a tough decision they can carry a lot of baggage. How to review and verify them? How does refusing to run them affect your forum status?
Handling online comments
Deciding whether to accept online comments can be a tough decision they can carry a lot of baggage. How to review and verify them? How does refusing to run them affect your forum status?
And that’s only the first decision.
When sources don’t respond
The publication staff will provide every reasonable opportunity for sources to respond to a request for an interview. Students must first attempt to contact the source in person or through an administrative assistant. If the person is not available, they should attempt calling and leaving a message with a request for an in-person interview. If, after 24 hours, the source does not respond to the telephone call, staffers should send an email requesting an in-person interview with a clear deadline by which the staffer will include the line “the source did not respond to an interview request.”
The perks of being a wallflower: How a school district escaped a lawsuit by fostering an independent student press
Because Lexington High School students made all the editorial, business and staffing decisions for both the LHS Yearbook and the school paper, a suit against the district failed. The school’s superintendent, principal, the two publication advisers and the five school members of the school committee escaped unharmed from the suit that alleged they were violating the First and Fourteenth amendments when the school publications refused two ads.
Choosing topics for editorials
The best and most effective staff editorials are those that tackle an important topic and then give audiences a reason and a way to address it.
The importance of staff edits: critical thinking, leadership
Student editors are busy. In addition to leading their staffs, making publication decisions and helping reporters, they are likely also still reporting and creating their own news content — not to mention carrying a full academic high school load.
Given all of these responsibilities, it’s easy to see why writing an unsigned staff editorial might seem a lower priority than getting the next edition to print or finishing that great feature on the new student body president.
What is the process if someone wants to submit a guest commentary
Accepting guest commentaries, offered randomly, reinforces student media’s role as a public forum for student expression.
Letters or commentary can enhance public forum role
Publishing letters to the editor is another way of fulfilling student media’s forum obligations to engage audiences through journalistic responsibility.
That said, students should establish clear criteria for identifying the authors, receiving and verifying the information. Such viewpoint neutral guidelines do not violate the author’s free expression rights.
The process of deciding staff editorials
Keys to effective editorials include focused positions, credible sources and meaningful topics. If the topic is focused on issues and problems, strong editorials include a call to action or possible solutions.
“I wrote that just to get a grade:” Students should write what they believe
To ensure credibility, students should only write opinion stories that represent their beliefs. If, during the research phase, the student changes his or her mind, then the story should be reassigned or the content of the story be altered to reflect the change in view.
Interviewing ‘people on the street’
Four categories of sources exist: experts, authorities, knowledgeable and reactors (sometimes called bozos). The first three should be credible. The last not so much.
Why ask “what do you think about the tax levy?” if the person has no knowledge at all?
Students should ask permission to record before interviews begin and ethical reminders about interviewing
One of those areas easily overlooked is asking for permission to record interviews. Ethically — and in some states legally — students should always ask permission to record an interview.
Make it matter: Scholastic journalism must do more than give facts
How can student journalists keep their publications relevant when information spreads faster than they can report it?
Professional journalists have struggled with this problem for years. Before the advent of the internet and social media, news producers — whether newspaper, radio or broadcast — were citizens’ primary source of information. News consumers found out about terrorist attacks and new government policies when they opened the morning paper or turned on the evening news
Make it matter: Verification essential as journalists seek truth
One key component of every journalist’s ethical code is truth. Given that Oxford Dictionaries named “post-truth” their 2016 word of the year and the president has called venerable traditional news sources “fake news,” getting the facts right is more crucial than ever.
Verifying information is an essential part of the reporting process.
Respecting privacy and public space important for photographers
Student journalists should never invade the privacy of others while accessing information or photos for a story.
However. it is their journalistic duty to know what constitutes invasion of privacy or what spaces they are legally allowed to access and what spaces they are not legally allowed to access.
Seeking visual truth is just as important as written truth
A reporter working on a story pauses from her transcription. “Hm,” she thinks. “This is a good quote, but my source could have said it so much better. I’ll just change it around and add a bit …”
By this point, responsible student journalists and their advisers are horrified. Of course you can’t change a source’s quote! Our job is to seek truth and report it, not to create fiction.
Consider emotional impact as well as news values when choosing images
When the editors of the Panther Prowler, the student-run school newspaper for Newbury Park High School, decided to write a feature article about teenagers having sex in 2015, they knew it was going to be controversial. The controversy wasn’t just about the content of the article, however — it was also about the image they paired with it, which appeared on the cover of their special edition magazine.
Since the article’s focus was the impact of limited sex education in and out of the classroom, the editors decided to use an iconic sex ed image: a condom on a banana.
Keeping ads and content separate
Student journalists should maintain a wall between promotional/paid content and journalistic content.
That historical wall should remain intact to help reassure audiences the content they receive is as thorough and complete as possible.
As Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel say in The Elements of Journalism, journalists’ first loyalty is to the truth while maintaining an independence from those they report.
Handling controversial ads/content
Student media should not discriminate against advertising based on students’ personal beliefs.
For example, students should attempt to include advertisers from multiple perspectives. According to the federal court decision in Yeo v. Lexington, student editors have the right to reject advertisements and school administrators are not legally responsible for advertising decisions students make.
Handling sponsored content, native ads
Although it is quite possible scholastic media will never face making a decision to run material known as sponsored content or native ads, students and advisers should prepare guidelines just in case.
Sponsored content and native advertising, two media terms for paid materials, are becoming a fact of life for media and consumers. That said, student media, when faced with publishing them, should act carefully and with the best interests of the audience/consumer first.
Ad placement
Newspapers used to keep in-depth, front page and opinion pages completely separated from advertising.
The thinking was the advertising and promotion of products should not appear to influence a newspaper’s editorial choices. They wanted to keep their most important pages dedicated to the content they deemed most important.
Political ads: Who can place an advertisement
Students make all content decisions, including those related to advertising, and maintain the right to reject any ads.
Student media do not necessarily endorse the products or services offered in advertisements. Students should strive to retain as much control of funds or services obtained from the sale of advertising, subscriptions or other student fundraisers as possible. All businesses should have a street address
Accepting ads from competing organizations
Students who sell ads sometimes hesitate to solicit advertising from competing companies. They sometimes have a loyalty to one of their clients or they believe their clients will be frustrated if their competitor is also advertising in the same publication.
This is a good problem to have. Too many advertisers want to support your publication, and you should encourage a forum for advertising that is as robust as your editorial content
We have the responsibility to ensure administrators see journalism’s values
Educating administrators about the value of journalism at the high school level is a crucial step towards empowering student journalists and building a future with more engaged democratic citizens.
Journalistic truth “means much more than mere accuracy,” according the seminal text “The Elements of Journalism” by Kovach and Rosenstiel. “It is a sorting-out process that takes place between the initial story and the interaction among the public, newsmakers and journalists.”
Solutions Journalism doesn’t offer its solution to issues. It does report on what others haveworked and what has not.
Student media, when faced with publishing sponsored content, should act carefully and with the best interests of the audience/consumer first.
The importance of linking to reporting
Links in online reporting provides context, credibility and transparency for coverage.
Promote online coverage with facts, without hype
Staffs should have clear guidelines for the tone of information published in social media. Although tweets are often used to promote people or events, that’s not the job of news media — student-run or otherwise. Remember to be a journalist all the time and provide facts, not opinion and hype.
Public or independent schools: Whose expression is protected is complex
If public school student journalists face censorship, they can turn to the First Amendment. Because public schools are funded by the government, school officials are government agents. Private (also known as “independent”) schools are not funded by the government, so those school officials are not government agents — the First Amendment does not apply.
Becoming a public forum for student expression
All student media publications should strive to be a “public forum for student expression” in order to be granted more protection under current free press laws.
Advisers and students should oppose attempts at both internal and external censorship.
Unnamed sources should be used sparingly
Journalism is based on truth and accuracy. Using unnamed sources risks both of those standards. For that reason, students should seek sources willing to speak on the record.
In order to maintain credibility, student reporters and editors should strive to be transparent in all aspects of their reporting. This includes revealing within the text of a story how interviews were obtained (if anything other than an in-person interview is used), giving proper attribution to direct quotes, as well as using indirect quotes to give attribution to ideas and details that come from sources.
Standards for accepting non-staff content
Example: Student media will not accept advertising content that includes profanity, obscenity or nudity (with the exception of baby pictures for the personal ads). The editors reserve the right to edit all copy for style or to refuse an ad on the basis of its content.
s. Study others’ First Amendment climate to better your own
Free expression isn’t always a friendly venture. Oftentimes, the values of free expression can be tested by speech that may make another uncomfortable.
By examining their school’s current free expression climate, students can evaluate what type of community education is needed and act accordingly.
Informed citizens are a crucial part of a democracy. As both producers and consumers of news, student journalists must understand the principles of news literacy.
Student journalism is not public relations
Imagine the American press was only allowed to report on good news. No mention of problems in society, no opportunity to speak out against injustice or corruption — just a relentless stream of positivity with the government overseeing every piece of content. Chilling, right?
Credibility strengthened with use of sources in opinion pieces
Writers should show they have done research and interviews in opinion pieces just as they do in objective reporting.
Doing this provides credibility and authority to their views. It also shows audiences the students are informed on the issue.
Data your school district keeps for its own information or to report out to the state or federal government is an important resource for journalists.
Diversity is a journalistic must
Student media staffs should reflect the racial, economic, social issue and gender diversity of the schools they represent.
We have the responsibility to ensure administrators see journalism’s value
School administrators can feel tremendous pressure to protect their schools’ reputations, so it’s understandable that they may be wary of supporting a scholastic press where students have final say over all content.
Educating administrators about the value of journalism at the high school level is a crucial step towards empowering student journalists and building a future with more engaged democratic citizens.
Mistakes happen. What matters is how
student journalists handle those mistakes
Students should know when to make corrections and when (if ever) to remove online stories entirely. Minor proofreading errors that don’t impact the meaning of the content don’t require corrections. Once students are aware of a mistake that should be corrected and have fact-checked to be sure it is indeed erroneous, they need to act quickly to help restore their credibility.
JEA strongly rejects both prior review and restraint as tools in the education process and agrees with other national journalism education groups that no valid educational justification exists for prior review of scholastic media.
Prior review and prior restraint of student media content by school officials are weapons in the arsenal of censorship. Not only do they limit student learning and application, but they also restrict student critical thinking and analysis.
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