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Letters and commentary can enhance pubic forum role QT40
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.
Letters to the Editor are opportunities for your community to have a voice on the pages students host. They allow community members to interact with your staff and your readers by responding to stories students have written, topics covered, or issues in the school or their world concerning them.
Guideline:
Student media should accept letters to the editor or online comments from outside the staff to solidify their status as a designated public forum where students make all final decisions of content. This allows their audience to use their voices as well. Staff should reserve the right to ask the writer to edit for grammar, length and clarity instead of editing letters for them.
Stance:
Student media should welcome letters to the editor or commentaries as ways to engage your readers and diversify the published content.
Reasoning/suggestions:
Letters to the Editor are opportunities for your community to have a voice on the pages you host. They are usually 250 words or fewer and allow community members to interact with your staff and your readers by responding to stories you’ve written, topics you have covered, or issues in the school or their world that concern them.
Your guidelines should clearly spell out your process for accepting letters to the editor, and the editors still must maintain editorial control. Editorial control does not mean student editors do not publish something with which you disagree. In fact, students should use this opportunity to welcome differing viewpoints and voices. Making sure you have viewpoint-agnostic guidelines will help to ensure your staff makes well-informed ethical decisions regarding content.
Staff should reserve the right to ask the writer to edit for grammar, length and clarity instead of editing letters for them. Letting the authors make changes keeps the public forum status intact.
Other considerations:
- A student editor must know the name of the author, and verify the response, even if the letter is published “name withheld by request.” False names or nicknames should not be published.
- Each letter should be no longer than 250 words.
- The source of emailed letters should be verified prior to publication.
- Student staffs should strive to publish all letters received as part of the forum process.
- Student staffs should develop a policy concerning staff member comments or letters to the editor. Such staffers have other avenues to express their opinions in their media, and this is not a common practice for commercial media.
Resources:
Star Tribune’s editorial pages
Letters to the Editor Policies
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Accepting guest commentaries
enhances forum role QT 39
Accepting guest commentaries, offered randomly, reinforces student media’s role as a public forum for student expression.
This would not include the creation of stranding guest columns for administrations, faculty or other school or city officials.
Students should develop guidelines for accepting guest commentaries following the same legal and ethical guides they follow.
Guideline:
Guest commentaries are accepted at the discretion of the editors provided the writer abides by the same legal and ethical guidelines as the staff, does not overuse the privilege and does not exceed 500 words. Guest commentaries should not be from publications staff. Students have the final say on which commentary they will accept.
Social media post/question: What do we say when someone wants to submit a guest commentary?
Stance: Guest commentaries show up in professional newspapers all the time, and they are a fantastic way to engage the community. You should welcome hosting guest commentaries on your pages with the caveat that the editors still get to maintain editorial control.
Reasoning/suggestions:
Guest commentaries are opportunities for your community to have a voice on the pages you host. They are usually done in an extended opinion form of between 250-500 words.
Your guidelines must clearly spell out your procedures for accepting guest commentaries, and the editors still must maintain editorial control. Editorial control does not mean only including opinions with which you agree. In fact, you should use this opportunity to welcome differing viewpoints and voices. Making sure you have viewpoint agnostic guidelines will help to ensure you maintain some control of your content.
Resources:
Star Tribune Commentary Guidelines
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Obstacles and criticism can inspire
by Lindsay Coppens, adviser of The Harbinger, Algonquin Regional High School, Northborough, MA
Being a scholastic journalist or publication adviser isn’t always easy. Sure, there are days when everything falls into place and journalists are thanked and congratulated for their hard work. However, if each print issue or online post was easy to produce and received with nothing but smiles, your days would be smoother but you likely would not be doing all you can to fulfill your publication’s important social role.
Good, hard-hitting journalism can make people uncomfortable. It illuminates hardship, gives voice to the voiceless, questions the status quo, and encourages people to find solutions to problems. It can be challenging to secure important interviews for stories that pursue challenging topics. Those who agree to an interview may not want to answer all your questions. Editorials that question and challenge policy, procedures, and those in power may be accused of having a political agenda.
However, if you adhere to strong journalistic procedure and ethics, these obstacles and criticisms can, in fact, help your journalism become even stronger. [pullquote]When gathering facts and trying to secure interviews, if you hit what seems to be a wall of “no’s,” look at these obstacles not as stop points but as opportunities for growth, problem-solving, and empowerment.[/pullquote]
When gathering facts and trying to secure interviews, if you hit what seems to be a wall of “no’s,” look at these obstacles not as stop points but as opportunities for growth, problem-solving, and empowerment.
As advisers we must help our students see that “no” is not always the end, but can be the beginning of moving in a different, perhaps even better, direction to get where they want to go. For example, if an administrator refuses to share public information, have students research your state’s public records laws and find out how to make an official request in writing. Have them also look into what to do if that written request is rejected.
If an interview is denied, brainstorm other sources, perhaps even your desired source’s superior. The principal won’t grant an interview on a given topic? Contact the superintendent or other relevant district administrator for an interview. If an essential source refuses to comment, say so in your article. Often that statement will speak louder than any quote.
When a published piece is criticized, take time to listen to the criticism and reflect on its merit. Was the reporting thorough? Was there unintended bias in the reporting or selection of sources? If there was bias or the reporting was lacking, consider reporting on the topic again, from another angle with different sources.
Perhaps this can be the beginning of a series of articles. Were there factual errors? If you did make a mistake, own it and learn from it. Thoroughly and transparently identify what went wrong and promptly make a correction. Become a stronger publication by developing protocol to avoid similar errors in the future.
If there is a negative response to your publication’s news coverage or opinion pieces but you know your journalism is thorough, don’t be intimidated by critics. Instead, consider the conversation you provoked a step toward possible change. Excellent high school journalism doesn’t just report on and celebrate the good that happens in your school and community — it promotes discussion and debate.
Called the epithet “Fake News” in a Twitter tirade that says scholastic newspapers shouldn’t express opinion? Maybe you need to work to educate your readers helping them understand the difference between news reporting and opinion pieces.[pullquote]Be sure all columns, editorials, reviews, and analyses are clearly labeled. Fact-check opinion pieces and all quotes in news articles. Encourage student critics to join your publication’s staff, submit a guest column, or write a Letter to the Editor [/pullquote]
Be sure all columns, editorials, reviews, and analyses are clearly labeled. Fact-check opinion pieces and all quotes in news articles. Encourage student critics to join your publication’s staff, submit a guest column, or write a Letter to the Editor (You’ll likely find many won’t make the effort or are not brave enough to put their opinions in print).
Celebrate that your publication is being read and promoting debate! Take heart in joining the echelons of prestigious publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post that are frequently called “Fake News” by those they critique and those they make uncomfortable.
If you shy away from challenging topics, you may be safer but you are not better.
Yes, use your publication to recognize achievements, but also investigate hard-hitting topics and community concerns through incisive reporting, columns, and editorials. Journalists help readers see the truth and understand multiple sides so citizens can make educated judgments for themselves.
Good journalism can make people uncomfortable and angry, but it will also start important conversations and perhaps even effect change.
Read MoreEmpowerment, making a difference,
is REAL news
Censored news is fake news
by Candace Bowen, MJE
Nearly half of U.S. voters think media fabricate news stories about President Donald Trump and his administration, according to a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll released this fall.
Commercial media have been trying to drive that number down, but they’re going to need help from journalists too young to even vote yet. High schools, middle schools and even elementary schools have a new crop of reporters who want to tell real stories – and they might just be the answer to changing such poll results.
Take Hilde Lysiak, at 10 years old the youngest member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Her Orange Street News covers everything about her hometown in Pennsylvania from new businesses opening (and old ones closing) to crime stories with quotes from the police and exact wording from criminal complaints.
[pullquote]Both former Student Press Law Center director Frank LoMonte and JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights website have pointed out that censored news is fake news. If sources give student reporters “facts” meant to deceive, if they withhold information about problems thus preventing an attempt at solving them, if they promote platitudes about a school environment that doesn’t exist, this is surely promoting fake news. And it’s not allowing reporters to cover real news that’s important to them and their communities.[/pullquote]
In SPJ’s September/October Quill magazine, she’s the Q & A member profile. Asked to offer one piece of advice, Lysiak said, “I would say that reporters should always do whatever it takes to stay focused on getting the truth. Don’t pay attention to the haters. They just zap your energy.”
She also applauded her parents for letting her ride her bike “all over town” when she started reporting as a 7-year-old. “If they hadn’t given me that freedom, I wouldn’t be able to report the news like I do. Sometimes I think the best thing parents can do is get out of the way.”
Thousands of miles away in such places as Democratic Republic of the Congo, UNICEF has been empowering “child reporters,” 12 to 16. Their Stories of Innovation website says, “Evidence gathered over three years in the 11 provinces shows that once aware of their rights, children join forces and take up social issues in their schools and communities. . . . Furthermore, the continued observation of children as eloquent players of change makes adults more respectful in regards to children’s needs.”
These are just two examples of young people whose reporting can make a difference. It’s REAL news, not the least bit fake. They have been allowed and encouraged to find out what is going on in their parts of the world and convey that to their audiences. So even if a 10-year-old can’t make changes, she can inform those who have to power to do so. Think what our high school reporters can – and when allowed to HAVE done that has impact.
Both former Student Press Law Center director Frank LoMonte and JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights website have pointed out that censored news is fake news. If sources give student reporters “facts” meant to deceive, if they withhold information about problems thus preventing an attempt at solving them, if they promote platitudes about a school environment that doesn’t exist, this is surely promoting fake news. And it’s not allowing reporters to cover real news that’s important to them and their communities.
Now just one month shy of 30 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier case (Jan. 13, 1988), it’s time for some administrators and other haters to “get out of the way.” We have a generation wanting to get the truth and report it to others.
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The importance of staff edits:
critical thinking, leadership QT 38
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.
But these editorials represent a unique and powerful opportunity for the board to be leaders in their school communities, and editors tempted to skip writing them should reconsider their priorities.
As overseers of all publication content, school news editors know more about what’s going on in their communities than just about anyone else in the school. As they read each article and listen with a journalist’s ear to what’s happening around them day-to-day, they can see patterns and problems most people cannot, adults included.
Coming together as a group, they can choose meaningful topics to address and think critically about what they want to say about those topics as a board. Once they reach a majority opinion on the topic, they can write collaboratively on a Google doc or take turns writing the first draft and then edit that draft into a clear, concise final piece.
Because staff editorials are unsigned, they carry more weight than a single writer’s opinion and may have greater impact. Well researched, authoritative editorials are powerful tools for change in a school community, and editorial boards should make them a priority.
Guideline:
Student journalists should act as candles lighting issues within their communities as well as mirrors reflecting current events. One way to enact this leadership is for the student editorial board to write regular unsigned editorials to advocate, solve a problem or commend. Editorial opinions should be clearly labeled and separate from the news section and should not affect objective news coverage.
Social Media Post
Does your student editorial board write regular unsigned editorials? If not, they are missing an opportunity to lead.
Reasoning/suggestions: Student media show leadership in many ways, and one of the most traditional is through concise, focused and authoritative statements of well-argued and supported opinion which represent the institutional voice of the student media. These editorials are a unique opportunity for student leaders to give voice to student perspectives on important topics. Editorial board members who take this process seriously and write consistently can advocate for change, serve as calls to action or commend positive conditions. Because staff editorials are unsigned, they carry more weight than a single writer’s opinion and may have greater impact.
Resources:
Quick Hit: Picking a topic for staff editorials, JEA Scholastic Press Committee
Quick Hit: Staff editorial process, JEA Scholastic Press Committee
“Mirror, mirror on the wall,” JEA Scholastic Press Committee
“Where have the leaders gone?” JEA Scholastic Press Committee
Editorials under attack, Student Press Law Center
Explained: why newspapers endorse presidential candidates, Dylan Baddour, Houston Chronicle
“They need the freedom to make mistakes, too,” Lindsay Coppens, JEA Press Rights Committee
Reading newspapers: Editorial and opinion pieces, Learn NC
Video: How to write an editorial, New York Times
Writing an Editorial, Alan Weintraut
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