Marshmallow fluff: What learning looks like in Hazelwood’s world
by Candace Bowen
Hazelwood stories: Jan. 14, 1988. As I walked through the main office of St. Charles (Ill.) High School, my principal waved me into his office. “Did you hear that Supreme Court decision?” he said. I didn’t need to ask which one – the whole scholastic journalism community had been worried about Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, and though we hadn’t had time to sort out all it could mean, we knew if wasn’t good. But the best defense is a good offense, so my reply to him, “Sure, I heard, but there’s not enough room in the X-Ray office for your desk, too.”
Our principal didn’t immediately start talking about prior review, but the chilling effect was there. When my staff worked on a spread about teen sexuality, they worried about the interview with a local teen mother. One editor was convinced the Supreme Court said no one could write stories on that topic. Another checked with every health teacher to be sure the “safe sex” advice – actually from Planned Parenthood – was something at least SOME of them had in their curriculum. The spread ran, and the principal wasn’t pleased, but he didn’t move his desk up to Room 217.
He wasn’t pleased about factual reporting about a possible teacher strike or criticism of the district for having far fewer guidance counselors than the American School Counselor Association recommended. But he didn’t demand to see the publication before it went to press.
Sadly, that open forum status did not continue after I left in 1994. With a new adviser, albeit one with a good background and understanding of press law, and then a succession of principals, administrators had a much heavier hand. As I moved to a new state a year later, I found out this was more common than I had feared. Principals in Ohio seemed more than willing to cut articles and predetermine taboo topics, all in the name of Hazelwood. Advisers were threatened for “not having enough control” of their student journalists, and experienced, trained advisers lost their publications to novices when the administration said they wanted to “take the program in a different direction.”
A telling example: When speaking at a nearby press day and drinking coffee with advisers who had just arrived, one asked what my presentation would be. “The educationally sound reason to not have prior review,” I answered. Several across the table said, “Oh, yes, we have that – thank goodness.” “Yes, me, too,” the other said, “and it takes so much pressure off me.” Yikes! Clearly my audience and I would not be on the same page. So…I quickly revamped the presentation and seated them all – about 12 or 15 – in a circle. I told each to tell her status as far as prior review and censorship went. To a person, those whose students had free speech rights told about stories that made a difference, principals who were hesitant but then impressed, awards they won for great content. The others complained they had a hard time recruiting and their students said they “could only write about marshmallow fluff.” By the time they had told their stories, I didn’t need to say much more: The power of Hazelwood, often far beyond even what the Supreme Court said, has taken its toll on student media.
Candace Bowen is a former president of the Journalism Education Association and current director of the Center for Scholastic Journalism at Kent State University.
Read MoreTweet24: You can Make a Difference. Show everyone how.
Don’t give up. Change happens slowly. Cures don’t work overnight. You can make a difference. #25HZLWD
http://jeasprc.org/tweet24-you-can-make-a-difference-show-everyone-how
In 1988, because of the first outbreak of the Hazelwood malaise, JEA published its first collection of student journalists making a difference through their reporting.
In 2012, we committed ourselves to updating the project, hoping to show student journalism had not succumbed to Hazelwood.
We hope to have Making a Difference become an ongoing project with your help and submissions.
Here is the first: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jcur7k75ut2dz80/Makingdifference.pdf
Here is the 2012 version: http://issuu.com/journalismedu/docs/makingdifference1990
• For background on 20 years of Hazelwood:
http://www.splc.org/news/report_detail.asp?edition=44&id=1399
Here are instructions on how to submit an entry for Making a Difference
Yes, student journalists make a difference. We have seen that in the past year as students submitted outstanding journalistic work that has made a difference in their school or community.
]Is there a story student journalists at your school have written that has made an impact in your school or community? We would like to hear your story and share it to encourage other student journalists.
The Journalism Education Association’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission is looking for such stories to showcase in the 2013 editions.
We want to show scholastic journalists can — and consistently do — develop stories which demonstrate professionalism, make a difference in the lives of peers, school and community and exemplify research, responsibility and courage. The Commission knows this work will be an inspiration to students, advisers, parents, administrators, lawmakers and professional journalists.
We’re looking for student journalism in any of its forms — electronic media, newspapers, yearbooks, multi-media — from this year or previous years. The submission should reflect student-selected content of high journalistic quality that had an impact on the school or community.
Include with submission:
• Statement from the adviser about how this story made a difference
• Electronic version of the story – can be PDF, JPG, PNG, MP3, M4V
• Submit package for consideration to jane.blystone@gmail.com by Jan. 30.
• Include contact information for person submitting package.
Jane can be reached at the email address above if you have questions or ideas. If you would rather Skype for contact, Jane’s Skype name is jblystone.
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Student journalists can ward off prior review, Hazelwood with TAO pledge
Student journalists can ward off prior review, Hazelwood by taking TAO pledge #25Hzlwd http://jeasprc.org/tao-pledge/
by Kathy Schrier
Hazelwood stories: Student journalists who take the TAO of Journalism Pledge, promise to be “Transparent, Accountable and Open” in their practice of journalism. Upon taking the pledge, they may post the TAO of Journalism Seal with their masthead. It’s a public promise to do the best journalism possible, and a way to tell readers/viewers and school administrators that their trust is valued.
The TAO of Journalism Pledge was introduced four years ago by the Washington News Council as way for professional journalists to rebuild credibility in a rapidly changing media environment. The idea caught on, worldwide. Now journalists across the U.S. and as far away as Mozambique have taken the TAO of Journalism Pledge, and post the TAO of Journalism Seal with their work.
The Journalism Education Association endorsed the idea three years ago, and included a TAO of Journalism Sign Up Day on the Wednesday of Scholastic Journalism Week. This year, student journalists are again encouraged to Take the TAO of Journalism Pledge on TAO sign-up day, Wednesday, Feb. 20.
Here’s how you do it:
- Go to taoofjournalism.org and click on “Take the Pledge.”
- Click on “Students: Click here to make it official.”
- Fill out and submit the short online form.
- Take a photo of your staff taking the TAO of Journalism Pledge.
Send a copy of the photo to kathy@wanewscouncil.org to be posted on the TAO website.
What you will get:
- Downloadable versions of the TAO of Journalism Seal that can be posted online or with your printed masthead
- Once the Seal is in use, your program will be listed in the “Directory” on the TAO of Journalism website
- Temporary tattoos of the TAO of Journalism Seal for every member of your staff
- A poster with the text of the TAO of Journalism Pledge to display in your staff room
- Improved credibility and trust in your student media by school administrators and your audience in general
TAO OF JOURNALISM: EARN TRUST. TAKE THE PLEDGE. CARRY THE SEAL.
FEB. 20, 2013 – DURING JEA SCHOLASTIC JOURNALISM WEEK
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Educate others about journalism’s role, skills for our future
Tweet-22 Educate others about journalism’s role, skills for our future. #25HZLWD
http://www.jeasprc.org/tweet22-educate-others
Journalism and democracy were born together.
Democracy cannot long exist without an active and professional journalism program. But today’s journalistic role has changed.
We can no longer just deliver information. We must make sense of the world and also help citizens make sense of the flood of information that surrounds them. Transparency is one way.
Citizens have rights, but also responsibilities, when it comes to news.
In an expanding era of media literacy, journalism students have a real opportunity – and an obligation – not only to do the reporting but also some of the teaching.
Resources:
• Journalism’s moral responsibility: Three questions
http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/2242/journalisms-moral-responsibility-three-questions/
• ‘Just the facts’ isn’t good enough for journalists any more, says Tow Center’s journalism manifesto
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/196457/just-the-facts-isnt-good-enough-for-journalists-anymore-says-tow-centers-journalism-manifesto/
• Principles of Journalism
http://www.journalism.org/resources/principles
• Citizen journalism publishing standards
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/07/citizen-journalism-publis_n_184075.html
• Attack dog, watch dog or guide dog…The role of the media in building community
http://www.pewcenter.org/doingcj/speeches/s_batonrouge.html
• Online journalism ethics: Guidelines from the conference
http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/80445/online-journalism-ethics-guidelines-from-the-conference/
Lessons on ‘things we did not want them to know’ result in successful action against censors
by Gloria Olman
Hazelwood stories: Twenty-five years before the Hazelwood Supreme Court decision, I was defending students’ right to publish on topics from a teacher strike to locker searches and letters to the editor.
“I will defend your right to publish all the way to the Supreme Court, but it will be on a serious matter, not a gossip column, and you will have covered all sides of the issues,” I repeated each school year.
After four years, I moved out of state. Returning, I tried to substitute teach in that district but was not hired. “You were teaching students things we didn’t want them to know… …yes, the First Amendment.” That was still prior to the 1969 Tinker and Zucker decisions.
By 1977, I was advising in a different district and always gave the principal a heads up on issues. While he did not always agree with the paper’s content, he expressed his opinion to the students and never interfered with publication. The Hazelwood decision did not change that relationship. However, it did reinforce the importance of educating students on laws, ethics, rights and responsibilities. They needed to understand, not only to be responsible journalists, but also to defend their rights to sometimes hostile faculty members and others.
When a new principal dismissed my protest that he had no legal grounds to remove a story and I refused to do it, he “directed” me to pull it. Students took over, using lessons from our September discussions. As they prepared to file their case, my life became increasingly difficult. Some faculty members and coaches refused to allow the paper sold in their classrooms or to be interviewed. They also would not talk to me. District administrators regularly met with me, trying to limit the paper’s content and to remove me as adviser. It was a miserable time.
Hazelwood cast a pall on scholastic journalism. Advisers may fear loss of tenure and/or job, and allow administration to overrule them on issues. Others may lack journalism background to build and defend programs. Complicating this, administrators often have been given false or misleading information related to student media. This impacts the struggle to establish open forum status as district policy.
Another significant Hazelwood effect is the increase in self-censorship, the “we can’t print that” often heard at workshops and continuing on to college journalism classes.
Yes, Hazelwood did affect my teaching. The principal’s directive led to the 2004 Dean v Utica Community Schools U.S. Federal District Court decision. That case has been called the most important legal victory for student media since Hazelwood, and a turning point in the struggle against increasing censorship. It was a serendipitous end to my career.
Gloria Olman, MJE, is the 1992 Dow Jones News Fund Journalism Teacher of the Year, and taught at Utica High in Michigan.
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