Illinois paper calls for public discussion of issues at Stevenson High
The Pioneer press, local paper for Lincolnshire, Illinois, today editorially called for public discussion of the issues surrounding censorship of The Statesman at Stevenson High School.
Last spring, the paper had editorialized against the students.
“Now is the time for Stevenson administrators, faculty and students to share their opinions and hear from people with diverse views about issues upon which the Stevenson controversies have touched: Should reporters use anonymous sources — especially if those sources accuse other people of breaking the law? How do administrators keep oversight of a school newspaper from turning into an extension of a school’s public relations department? How do professional journalists respond to potential conflicts of interest, and what should student journalists and educators do when they face conflicts?” the paper stated in today’s editorial.
You can read the entire editorial here.
Your responses essential to clarification of student press freedoms
One way or another, no matter where censorship of scholastic media is reported, we need you to respond to comments.
All one has to do is to read the comment sections of of the Daily Herald and the Chicago Tribune, among others, to see the lack of understanding about the First Amendment and how it applies – or should apply – to scholastic media.
All it takes is 10 minutes. You know the principles and the educational validity of student free expression and decision-making.
Your colleagues facing censorship, their students and the parents of the community need to know there are others who abhor censorship.
After all, freedom of student expression is what are are passionate about, something we believe in. Something we want to see continue.
Let those who don’t seem to believe in these principles hear from you today – and all the tomorrows it takes.
Read MoreStudents forced to publish censored paper
Turkeys in the news tomorrow may not be just on people’s plates.
Lately, some have been dressed as administrators at Stevenson High in Lincolnshire, Illinois.
First, school officials’ objections held up the paper’s initial release. Then they forced journalism students to remove several stories and several pages from the latest issue.
Next, administrators demanded the issue run despite student objections. According to information in the Daily Herald and Chicago Tribune, administrators wouldn’t allow students to remove their bylines from the stories and threatened to fail the student journalists if they did not do as told.
Prior review, administrators said last year when a previous dispute occurred, would only last a short time.
They were right about one thing. Review is now prior restraint of the least educationally defensible kind.
Executive director of the Student Press Law center, Frank LoMonte, called administrative actions a confession that they had lied.
“Stevenson’s conduct today is a confession that its administrators lied when they claimed in a press release last week that they had problems with only one story in the Statesman,” he said. “We trust that the school board will immediately investigate the source of this intentionally false public statement and will remove any employee who played a role in distributing it.
LoMonte also praised student editors.
“Student editors have dealt with Stevenson in an honest, professional and restrained manner, attempting to work out a peaceful resolution. Their reward for it was a sucker-punch in the gut. To threaten the highest-achieving students in the school with flunking journalism, potentially endangering their college careers, simply confirms that Stevenson puts its image ahead of the well-being of its students. When a school tries this hard to silence student journalism, the public should start asking hard questions about what is going on at Stevenson High School that its administrators are so desperate to conceal.”
This Thanksgiving the communities that send their students to Stevenson definitely may want to be thinking of ways to deal with these leftover turkeys.
For related reporting and coverage, go here, here, here and here.
Read MoreStevenson HS journalists forced to print changed paper
Illinois: Stevenson HS student journalists forced to print administratively-changed paper Wednesday.
Read MoreFighting scholastic media censorship must start locally
They just keep on coming.
Stevenson High. Timberland High. Stow-Munroe Falls High. Boonville High and others too numerous to list.
And those are just some we know about.
But there are countless others — the smaller, lesser known stories you hear about at workshops like the recent JEA/NSAP convention in DC.
• Like the Virginia student journalist who needed suggestions on how to work with a principal about prior review because the principal offered no justification for censoring topics administrators considered negative to the school.
• Like the Michigan school who wanted guidelines on how to report controversial issues so they could remain review-free.
• Like the student who would not say what state she was from, just that she was from the Bible Belt. She sought help on how to report on her principal being “under persecution” because of discussion of Christian issues
• Like the South Carolina student journalist trying to understand why her conservative community was upset about the reporting on a pregnant teen.
Each of these instances deserves our attention as much as the larger, more publicized instances.
To help journalism teachers and advisers, we need to know when to offer our help and why. It is much harder to assist these students, advisers and parents if we don’t know the issues and the ways we can help.
If your student media face censorship or prior review, please let us know so we can act to support in ways you feel best for your situation.
Here are some ways:
• Report the issue to the Student Press Law Center .
• Complete a censorship report by going to The Center for Scholastic Journalism to report censorship or prior review, and fill out the forms.
• If the adviser is a member of JEA, activate the organization’s Adviser Assistance Program by contacting your state JEA representative, your regional director or JEA headquarters. You can get that information from the JEA Web site.
• Leave a comment on this blog. A member of JEA’s press rights commission or members of the other commissions (certification, curriculum, multi-cultural or middle school) will get back to you.
Help us know who needs assistance and attention from the most well-known to the smallest issue.
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