Who made the cut? Start your school year with a Voices Audit
by Kristin Taylor, MJE
One of the highest callings of journalism is to “give voice to the voiceless.” Constitution Day is a great time for journalism staffs — digital, print or hybrid — to evaluate their coverage from the year before and see how fully they’ve met that goal.
Before starting the process, I suggest having students make predictions, even if they weren’t on last year’s staff.
How many people do they think last year’s staff covered? How balanced was their coverage of various areas? Can they think of any voices they might not have covered as well as they could have? Did any voices dominate? Were the students they used as sources throughout the year representative of the school population?
These gut feelings are often wrong, and comparing what they think they covered to who they actually covered can provide an important reality check.
Celebrate roles student news media can bring to a democratic society; honor, envision and practice free speech
JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee hopes to help you and your students celebrate their free speech rights this year. Constitution Day, observed on Sept. 17 each year in commemoration of the signing of the United States Constitution, is an excellent time to do it.
This year we provide lesson materials ranging from exploring impactful, recent Supreme Court cases to applying the democratic political philosophy of John Dewey and how to use modern planning tools to improve coverage.
We have a quick Constitution-review crossword as well as an additional blog post to help you and your students audit if your coverage was as comprehensive as you’d like.
Read MoreExpanding the First Amendment: State Laws and Student Voice
Return to Front cover Constitution Day 2020
Description: This lesson is intended to help students gain a better understanding of how state laws may expand student press rights beyond the First Amendment, as limited by Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. Students will use SPLC.org to research their state’s status to see if it already has a New Voices law or an active New Voices campaign. All students will explore SPLC’s New Voices FAQ to learn more about New Voices and evaluate how press freedom might change or impact their educational experiences. If they live in a state with a New Voices law, they will read it and evaluate the extent to which their experience of press freedom aligns with that law. If they do not live in a state with a New Voices law, they will pick a NV law to explore. All students will reflect on what they have learned from this process by evaluating the legality of their current press freedom and discussing next steps for personal action.
Read MoreProtecting student voices trivia
Return to Front cover Constitution Day 2020
Description
Regardless of how much you have touched on student First Amendment rights in class, get your students competing to test their knowledge of specific laws, court cases that shape their speech and publication rights at school and the resources available to them. Additional suggestions are provided for discussion and applying the concepts to your specific school.
- Students will demonstrate knowledge of the First Amendment rights available to them at school.
- Students will assess their knowledge of the history of student press rights and its application
- Students will apply knowledge of relevant laws and history to their own publication policy.
Protest and the First Amendment
Return to Front cover Constitution Day 2020
Description:
This lesson is intended to help students gain a better understanding of the legalities that protect the right to protest as outlined in the First Amendment, and to appreciate the importance of journalism in accurately covering protest. Finally, students will be able to review examples of protest coverage, best practices for covering protests, and will be able to apply their knowledge to a variety of protest coverage scenarios.
Objectives:
- Students will be able to define protected forms of protest as defined in the First Amendment.
- Students will articulate the importance of journalism in accurately covering protest.
- Students will discuss best practices for covering protest in various scenarios.