Working with a board-approved policy
Policy
Staffs 
should include the district policy in their staff manuals if available. If not, they should work towards reaching agreement with the administration and school board for a policy all can agree makes the most educational sense. Three examples of these board policies are available, each with that same basic premise but with increasingly more detail and explanation of philosophy. Each, however, begins with the statement that all student media are designated public forums where students make all content decisions.
It’s important to stick to the basics for the board-approved policies. If ethical or journalistic practice decisions are included in an official school policy, the limitations they describe take on a whole new significance. Now they are not just for the staff to enforce but, by implication, are provisions that school administrators could use to discipline a publication staff or adviser or even to censor content that they believe violates what is written. Including a subjective ethical determination in a school policy gives the school the ability to overrule the ethical decisions of student editors.
Lacking a board-approved policy, student media staffs should create one of their own. (LINK) Although this doesn’t have the legal weight of a board-approved policy, it should state the publication is a designate public forum for student expression where students make all content decisions. This shows how the media staffs operate and could show they are forums “in practice.” While not as solid a legal foundation as “in policy,” courts have recognized this as free speech protection under Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier.
Ethical guidelines
Students should understand that while they can and should adopt best practices and ethical guidelines for their publication, the school district’s or school board’s media policy (if one exists) could impact student editors’ ethical decisions. This reality does not preclude students from exercising their best ethical judgment. Rather, it is an incentive for students to advocate their role and a district-level policy that protects them.
Staff manual process
A student media staff manual should include copies of the school district or school board media policy as well as media editorial policy. Furthermore, the staff manual may provide procedures for students addressing the school administration in the case of a disagreement or policy confusion. Students should also consider including in the manual some guidelines for proposing policy changes to the school board or petitioning the district for a policy to improve on what they have (e.g., How does a student request to be put on the agenda for a school board meeting?).
Suggestions
• Obtain a copy of the school district’s media or student expression policy.
• Compare district policy to your staff procedure and identify potential areas for misunderstanding or conflict (e.g., the district policy includes more restrictions on student speech/press than actually occurs).
• Make a plan to advocate change in the district’s policy that would align it more closely with how the staff really operates.
• Recognize that student media staffs, not the adviser, are best suited to advocate their role. Advisers must navigate a difficult line as employee and should not be put in a position to defend student work.
• Consider advocating a state law that would protect student free expression rights.
Resources
Lesson: Developing a Presentation for Your School Board, Journalism Education Association
Rethinking Your Forum Status, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
What Do I Do When I’m Censored?, Student Press Law Center
Model Guidelines for High School Student Media, Student Press Law Center
Model Legislation to Protect Student Free Expression Rights, Student Press Law Center
JEA Model Editorial Policy, Journalism Education Association
Audio: Board Media Policies, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee, Press Rights Minute
Audio: The Tinker Standard, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee, Press Rights Minute
Audio: The Hazelwood Decision, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee, Press Rights Minute
Audio: Combined Editorial Policy, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee, Press Rights Minute
Understanding the Difference Between a School Board policy and Publication Policy/practice, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Deciding Which Forum Best Serves Your Students – and your Community, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Questions to Answer in Policy Development, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Philosophical Questions About Policy Development, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Importance of Designated Public Forum Status, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Other Policy Considerations, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
To return to Policy and Ethics sitemap, go here.
Read MoreBuilding student media foundations
with policy and ethics
Help with crafting policies
and ethical guidelines for student media
This project is a two-fold effort to combine policy, ethics and staff manual procedure into an integrated process where policy sets the stage for ethical guidelines and ethical guidelines shape staff manual procedure.
Our interest in developing the project began when we found several instances when a school administrator in a potential censorship situation wanted to enforce — even punish — students for not following ethics statements because policy, ethics and staff manual points were all intermixed in a common document that the school administrator presumed he had the authority to enforce based on his interpretation.
Hence, our work ties the three elements together – principle, process and procedure – but as statements that separately outline the ideas behind what staffs do.
- This means “principle” is a student media policy.One approved at the board level is best and should be simple and straightforward, acknowledging the media are designated forums of student expression, where students make final content decisions. (See examples following)
Lacking that approval, a similar editorial policy at the publication level is useful, too, because, according to court decisions, operating as a designated public forum in practice is also a good way to protect student free speech rights.
- The “process” is the ethical guidelines. Unlike laws, ethical situations are right vs. right dilemmas and not right vs. wrong. Ethical guidelines are recommendations and thus cannot be broken as laws can. These guidelines help students decide how they operate on a daily basis, and their application is left in the hands of the students.
- The “procedure” is the staff manual, the specific actions and processes the staff uses regularly – how letters are handled, what happens when a source wants to be anonymous – all the things that ensure a staff operates in a professional and credible manner. These also are exclusively enforced by the student staff itself.
The idea is not to dictate policy, ethics guidelines or staff manual models but to provide a menu of items student staffs can choose.
For example, five editorial policy models are part of this project, four for board-level policies and one for a publication-level editorial policy.
All stress student media should be “designated public forums for student expression where students make all content decisions without prior review by school officials.”
[pullquote]Five editorial policy models are part of this project, four for board-level policies and one for a publication-level editorial policy.
All stress student media should be “designated public forums for student expression where students make all content decisions without prior review by school officials.”[/pullquote]
Students and advisers can then add from a separate menu of ethical guidelines and staff manual procedures. Each ethical principle offers staff manual suggestions that stem from its premise.
This separates what must be followed – the board-approved policy – from all the other guidelines, practices and procedures that may change some from year to year and staff to staff. By doing this, staffs can shape their media with roadmaps they have devised.
Resources
Ethics codes are invaluable in student journalism, but not as a guide for punishment, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
• For a sitemap of inclusive materials, go here.
• To go to How to Use the List of Ethics and Staff manuals, go here.
• Go here for a list of General Resources.
Policy model 3
Policy 3: Freedom of expression and press freedom are fundamental values in a democratic society.
The mission of any institution committed to preparing productive citizens must include teaching students these values, both by lesson and by example.
For these purposes, as well as to teach students responsibility by empowering them to make and defend their own decisions, school-sponsored student news media, print or online, at [NAME OF SCHOOL] are established as designated public forums for student expression in which students make all final decisions of content.
Such news media will not be reviewed by school officials outside the adviser in his/her coaching role or restrained by school officials prior to, during, or after publication or distribution.
Therefore, material published in school-sponsored news media may not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the [NAME OF SCHOOL] District, and neither school officials nor the school are legally responsible for their content.
Students are protected by and bound to the principles of the First Amendment and other protections and limitations afforded by the U.S. Constitution and the various court decisions reaffirming those principles.
Comment: This is the same as model two but also includes a statement that student media do not intend to reflect the opinions of school authorities. Like model two, this model addresses the educational value of student media and attaches these issues to legal language. The three essential points made in earlier models appear here as well.
Designated forum: This language (designated forum in policy or practice) should be included in policies at board or publication level because all public forums are designated either by action or inaction (unless the board clearly says otherwise). Being silent as students operate as a forum is really permitting a designated forum.
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Read MorePolicy model 2
Policy 2: [NAME OF SCHOOL] student media are designated public forums in which students make all decisions of content without prior review from school officials.
Freedom of expression and press freedom are fundamental values in a democratic society. The mission of any institution committed to preparing productive citizens must include teaching these values and providing a venue for students to practice these values, both by lesson and by example.
As preservers of democracy, our schools shall protect, encourage and enhance free speech and the exchange of ideas as a means of protecting our American way of life.
[NAME OF MEDIA] and its staff are protected by and bound to the principles of the First Amendment and other protections and limitations afforded by the Constitution and the various laws and court decisions implementing those principles.
Comment: Again, this board-level model policy removes process details from being points of board action or meddling. It also introduces educational and philosophical language to give administrators insight into and understanding of why student media do what they do. It can aid in community understanding and support of the forum process.
This policy is slightly longer because it adds philosophical wording to support the decision-making without review. This policy could be effective at the board level because it allows others points to be explained in the ethics guidelines and staff manuals.
Designated forum: This language (designated forum in policy or practice) should be included in policies at board or publication level because all public forums are designated either by action or inaction (unless the board clearly says otherwise). Being silent as students operate as a forum is really permitting a designated forum
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Read MorePolicy model 1
Policy 1: [NAME OF SCHOOL] student media are designated public forums in which students make all decisions of content without prior review by school officials.
Comment: This contains only the basic statement of journalistic responsibility. It is usable at the board level to outline the basic principles of external oversight, leaving the process to other internal packages, like ethics guidelines and staff manuals. This removes from consideration the possibility of board attempts to change process-oriented direction.
A short statement like this clearly establishes the principles and responsibilities that guide all other statements. With no prior review added to it, it has the three crucial points in a policy: (1) designated public forum status in which (2) students make all final decisions regarding content and (3) do so without prior review. Decisions on matters such as letters, bylines, staff disciplinary actions, coverage of death and more are best detailed in ethical guidelines and staff manuals.
Designated forum: This language (designated forum in policy or practice) should be included in policies at board or publication level because all public forums are designated either by action or inaction (unless the board clearly says otherwise). Being silent as students operate as a forum is really permitting a designated forum.
Return to sitemap.
Read More