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FAPFA reminder
by John Bowen, MJE
It’s never too late to recognize or reaffirm the importance of First Amendment practices and policies – and be recognized for it – by applying for this year’s FAPFA award.
Until Dec. 15, that is.
This First Amendment Press Freedom Award recognizes high schools that actively support, teach and protect First Amendment rights and responsibilities of students and teachers. The recognition focuses on student-run media where students make all final decisions of content without prior review.
Roughly, here’s a sample of what the judging committee looks for in determining FAPFA recipients:
- No prior review or restraint by school faculty for all student media.
- Student staffers make all final decisions of content for all student media.
- Establish policies at all student media and school system levels or both as public forums for student expression.
- Remove Internet filters for student journalism use
- Students, advisers and administrators agree on First Amendment practices, philosophy and application across platforms.
As in previous years, schools seek FAPFA recognition by first answering questionnaires submitted by an adviser and at least one editor. Those who advance to the next level will be asked to provide separate responses from the principal and all media advisers and student editors, indicating their support of the First Amendment. In addition, semifinalists submit samples of their school and media online or printed policies that show student media applying their freedoms.
Schools recognized as meeting FAPFA criteria will be honored at the opening ceremony of the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention in San Francisco.
First round applications are due annually before Dec. 15. Downloadable applications for 2018 are available at this link.
Even if your school received the recognition previously, you must re-apply yearly.
This is the 18th year for the award.
Read MoreResponsibility in scholastic media starts with
ethics, accuracy, complete story QT23
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?
Students may want to preserve tradition, give students the content they want, focusing on predictable content sure to avoid administrative displeasure.
Is this responsible journalism?
The goal of responsible, ethical journalism is not met by simply deciding stories cannot be published or media practices that produce no educational value. Journalistic responsibility is a layered, textured process.
Resolution of content issues will not come from a series of “don’ts” framed for the students.
Resolution will come through thorough, accurate and credible journalism shaped by a strong mission statement, empowering policies and a staff manual rooted in ethical guidelines that enable student growth, critical thinking and decision-making.
Resolution is not created by publishing fake news forged by censorship and fear of censorship.
Strong journalism is rooted in ethics, empowered by trust and enabled by policies and guidelines that demand responsibility.
Journalistic responsibility.
Quick Tips: Journalistic responsibility
Question: What we speak of responsible journalism, what do we mean?
Key points/action: Responsible journalism is ethical journalism. Administrators demand responsibility but the trouble is groups define it differently.
Responsible and ethical journalism is accurate, complete and cohesive. It’s credible and has integrity.
These elements combined create a path to ethical journalism. The path is much more difficult, if not impossible, censorship, prior review or self-censorship because students are intimidated from carrying out responsible journalism, exist
Journalism that is censored, incomplete and lacks context is not responsible. It’s fake news.
Stance: Journalistic responsibility begins with empowering student media to practice the little things:
- Access to accurate, complete and truthful information
- Ability to present information in context
- Access to credible and trustworthy sources through interviewing, observation and research
- Leadership through their content, decisions and actions
- Opportunities to decide all content for student media, to apply the principles, skills and practices they are taught and learn from their successes
As student journalists take these steps, they will maintain the idea of free expression as democracy’s cornerstone,
Reasoning/suggestions:
Common threads of responsible journalism connect school officials, student journalists and news-media professionals. Guidelines expressed here reflect the belief student journalists and school officials share a commitment to the schools’ educational mission and practices, and that commitment focuses on building stronger and engaged citizens.
Responsible student journalists accept ethical guidelines and practices to best serve their communities. Responsible administrators embrace and enhance journalistic practices that carry out the mission of scholastic media and of the school in fortifying information their communities need to make informed decisions and action in a working democracy.
To that end, we build goals for journalistic responsibility by:
- Establishing policies and practices that enable thorough, accurate, complete and cohesive reporting of student-decided content.
- Applying critical thinking and decision-making skills and practices to assist students as they become productive citizens in a democracy.
- Empowering advisers’ development and use of substantive journalism curricula and application experiences.
- Maintaining open lines of communication between students, faculty and staff, administrators and communities designed to build trust create a maximum environment for truthful and complete sharing of information.
- Reporting accurately, thoroughly, credibly and cohesively so process and product model integrity.
- Operating student media that publish information in verbal and visual context that enhances comprehension for the greater good of all communities.
Related: These points and other decisions about mission statement, forum status and editorial policy should be part of a Foundations Package that protects journalistically responsible student expression.
Read More
As ETHS administrators tighten the grip,
they may want to heed pastoral advice
by Stan Zoller, MJE
I had the opportunity to attend an event that was simply called “We the People: Making Our Voices Heard.”
It featured an “advocacy resource fair” followed by presentations addressing the “State of Our Democracy.”
The first speaker hit the nail on the head about the event’s importance.
“We are doing what we should be doing. Citizens of the World need to take responsibility of being good citizenry; we need to consider the state of our democracy because an informed citizenry makes good decisions.”
Bravo.
And who made this statement?
A local politician? Nope.
An educator or school board member? Nope.
A community activist with a special agenda? Nope.
An impassioned journalist? Nope.
It was Norval Brown. Wait, let me clarify that – Pastor Norval Brown.
Brown is Pastor at Christ United Methodist Church in Deerfield, Illinois, which hosted the event because it hosts community events on a regular basis.
Attendees were area residents and representatives of various civic organizations such as Common Cause and local chapters of the League of Women Voters.
Unfortunately, there were no school districts or school boards represented.
And this is where I erred. I should have extended an invitation to the Evanston Township High School (ETHS) Board of Education.
It might have learned a thing or two about civic engagement and why it is important our voices be heard – including student voices.
As was reported here Oct. 12, administrators at ETHS saw fit to confiscate and prohibit distribution of the Sept. 22 issue of The Evanstonian, the school newspaper because it had articles on student use of marijuana. Students were also ordered to remove the paper from the Evanstonian website.
To recap, several members of the Evanstonian staff along with myself and a representative from a local community activist organization made statements at a school building. If there was a ray of hope, as noted in my Oct. 12 posting, it was that one School Board member, Jonathan Baum, called for the matter to be discussed in open session at the next School Board meeting, Monday, Oct. 23.
The district released the following statement Thursday, Oct. 12:
Statement Regarding September 22, 2017 Evanstonian Articles
On September 22, 2017, the Evanston Township High School (ETHS) student newspaper published a series of articles under the heading The Pot Thickens… The two-page spread features six articles, including 6 Questions for a Drug Dealer and School Stress Causes Marijuana Usage. Both articles promote illegal conduct that also violates school policy. For example, the Drug Dealer article states that a reason to sell marijuana is to make money, as much as one hundred-sixty dollars per ounce. The School Stress article states that using marijuana makes a student funnier and more confident. The article goes on to state that a “feeling of euphoria and bliss” is caused by a chemical in marijuana.
Dr. Marcus Campbell, Principal of ETHS, collaborated with the ETHS administrative team and legal counsel in reviewing the published articles. Dr. Campbell determined that the articles glorify both drug use and drug dealing, messages that are detrimental to ETHS students.
The U.S. Constitution and the Illinois Speech Right of Student Journalists Act both provide student journalists with certain rights to speech that ETHS celebrates. Those rights are limited. When student journalism incites unlawful acts, violation of school policy, or disrupts the school, the administration has the authority to impose limits. The articles on September 22, 2017 did cross these lines and were removed from circulation for that reason.
The statement has more holes in it than a Dunkin’ Donuts. To begin, the U.S. Constitution does not address student press rights because, odds are there was no student media when the Constitution was written. But why sweat details.
Secondly, there is an abysmal lack of clarity regarding Illinois’ Speech Rights of Scholastic Journalists Act. As noted in my Oct. 12 posting, there are four restrictions on scholastic journalists. They address libel, unwarranted invasion of privacy, violation of federal or state law and incitement of students to commit an unlawful act. Period.
A third component that is most irritating is the procedures detailed in the statement are not what students said transpired. Principal Marcus Campbell approved the issue before it was distributed. It was not until the next day when English and Reading Department Chair Samone Jones ordered the confiscation.
If there was a meeting with legal counsel students, parents, faculty, staff and the public were not made aware of it. For good reason. It did not occur until after Jones ordered the confiscation. Odds are it also did not occur until after Oct. 9 School Board meeting because school officials were not expecting the subject be brought to light at a School Board meeting.
The statement shamefully infers students lied to the School Board and Campbell did not approve the paper.
The statement was issued Oct. 12. The next day student staff members met with Campbell and Superintendent Eric Witherspoon. It appears the ETHS administration is flexing its intimidation muscle as students and the adviser appear reluctant to respond to emails. Why? Perhaps because they have been warned against sharing information and fear retribution.
My sources indicated that during the meeting Witherspoon said the journalism teacher was responsible for teaching what he called “journalistic shortcomings.” Additionally, sources tell me Witherspoon made it clear the school could decide not to offer journalism and that the school could “yank the paper next year.”
Witherspoon reportedly supported Jones’ action, saying she has the responsibility to represent the whole school, and there must be “journalistic integrity” and the Evanstonian was not their “personal blog.”
Campbell reportedly told students they “could have worked through this.” What he forgot is they cooperated by showing him the edition before it was scheduled to distributed. By saying it “could have been worked out” is like installing a smoke detector after the fire department has been called.
Efforts are under way to gain additional information using Illinois FOI laws.
In the meantime, it’s not clear who Witherspoon, Campbell, Jones and the rest of the Board are going to listen to because they seem to have their own ideas.
There is, however, one person they should listen to.
Pastor Brown.
Read MoreEmpowering student decision-making QT22
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.
One way advisers can help this process is by having a staff manual inclusive of the student media mission statement, policies, guidelines and procedures. The mission statement outlines the overall aim of the student media. Policies are either the board-level or media-level and state the functionality of the student press. Guidelines are the ethical components the student media will work with. The procedures and resources for students to learn how to do something.
Guideline:
As per the board-level or media-level policy, students should be empowered to make all content decisions for student media.
Social media post/question:
What do you do in the instance of who should make the content decisions?
Stance:
Students learn best when they are empowered to make their own decisions with support from the adviser on the sideline. A clear understanding of the adviser’s role helps students take ownership of their work and the program overall.
Reasoning/suggestions:
Students should be empowered to make all content decisions for student media. Instead of making the decisions, advisers should advise and ask questions to help the students examine the issue from multiple perspectives and concerns.
One way advisers can help this process is by having a staff manual inclusive of the student media mission statement, policies, guidelines and procedures. The mission statement outlines the overall aim of the student media. Policies are either the board-level or media-level and act as a constitution for the student press. Guidelines are the ethical components the student media will work with. The procedures and resources for students to learn how to do something.
If students know (or can look at what to do) what By already establishing these prior to a problem happening, it’s easier to see what to do when something does happen. (And, it will.) These policies, guidelines and procedures should function as a reference and be complete (preferably) prior to the problem happening. This helps the students (and adviser) work through issues if they do happen.
Resources:
Female High School Students Bear the Burden of Censorship, SPLC
Curing Hazelwood package, SPRC
The Role of Student Media: Foundations Package, SPRC
SPLC resources, SPLC
Read More
Student news media fulfill growing need:
covering local news no one else does
by Cyndi Hyatt
Student newspapers – the new papers of record?
Nearly 350 teachers wearing white T-shirts, chanting slogans and holding signs calling for a fair contract lined the front of the high school before the September school board meeting. Philadelphia’s television news vans were there: Action News, Fox 29, CBS 10.
And so was the local paper, the school newspaper, the only print media present.
As local and regional newspaper circulation continues to decline, there is less and less local coverage for more and more communities. Residents of areas without the local paper sometimes have to look long and hard to read about what’s happening in their own backyards leaving them in the dark about most community matters including politics, policies and police activity. 
Because of this lack of local press, student journalism is now more important than ever. While the regional TV stations may air a 15-second voiceover on the nightly news about a local happening, the school newspaper can tell the full story and often is the only media outlet doing so. The school newspaper has become the paper of record for many areas.
Good student newspapers are authoritative and cover the local community unlike other media. Because of protected speech, they can be editorially independent. The result is fair and balanced reporting with high standards for news gathering and writing, paying close attention to accuracy in detail and fact-checking.
The paper and its online presence are publicly available not only to the immediate school but through distribution to local merchants and public buildings, like libraries and municipal offices.
That night of the school board meeting, four student journalists covered the event, arriving at 6 p.m. and staying until the meeting adjourned at 9 p.m. They shot video and stills. They interviewed parents, teachers and students. They listened, recorded and took notes. They were present to document the entire event.
The week prior and the week after the meeting they contacted school board members and union representatives, reached out to attorneys representing each side, researched past contract negotiations, learned about process, past and present.
The result was an informative and timely news story that objectively told both sides – a story that informs the community, both the school and municipal stakeholders, what is happening in their local school district.
Student journalists’ news media matter. They mean more than ever to their school and surrounding neighborhoods because oftentimes they are the only voice of authentic and honest local news coverage.
They have become the paper of record.
Read More