#SJW11 and beyond: Legal and ethical foundations for tomorrow’s citizens
The Common Core State Standards were developed by the National Governors Association Center of Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers to “provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn” and were “designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.”
When released in June 2010, the NGA Center and CCSSO indicated these standards are “aligned with college and work expectations, so that all students are prepared for success upon graduating from high school.” The writers concluded, “With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.” As of mid-February 2011, all but nine states have adopted some form of these.
The standards only address English-language arts and math, according to the Common Core State Standards website, “because these two subjects are skills, upon which students build skill sets in other subject areas. They are also the subjects most frequently assessed for accountability purposes.” The group “may develop common core in additional subject areas.”
Yet, without the legal and ethical foundations on which the United States is based and the free expression these support, no amount of focus on rigor or international benchmarking will be enough to save our democracy. Standards that offer expectations for tomorrow’s citizens, whether headed to college or career, are vital. Being able to read is not enough without the ability to assess accuracy, completeness and bias of content. Being able to write or speak without knowing legal constraints and ethical guidelines is equally worthless.
Thus, members of the Journalism Education Association’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission offer these additional standards as a way to address what we believe is missing from those currently available. We offer the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Citizenship and the Media. These mirror the format of the Common Core Standards in all but two ways: (1) They are readily applicable to journalism and/or media classes, though they could apply to social studies and English courses as well, and (2) they do not offer grade-specific standards because many such courses have a range of student grade levels included. With no national group currently proposing such a set of standards, we suggest each state adopt its own.
Key Ideas and Details
1. Demonstrate the core values and principles of U.S. democracy as set forth in documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and court decisions.
• Understand First Amendment rights and responsibilities when choosing media content.
• Analyze relevant court decisions as precedents.
• Practice these key ideas by collaborating on decisions through a student-led democratic process.
2. Demonstrate understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and the principles of civic involvement, including individual rights and their accompanying responsibilities.
• Produce opinion or editorial pieces that spark conversation and question authorities regarding current issues.
• Report accurately and objectively on the news and issues of the day.
• Search for solutions to problems.
• Provide alternative voices through credible reporting and constructive criticism.
3. Understand the importance and function of the marketplace of ideas in a democracy, including the necessity for diverse views.
• Create an open forum for student expression, including opportunities for outside voices to be heard.
• Strive to ensure all social, economic, ethnic, academic and grade-level groups are represented.
• Use a balance of sources and coverage in presentation of topics.
• Resist prior review and restraint by authorities and present sound reasons why that practice should not be instituted or continued.
• Exercise critical thinking and exchange ideas when making final content decisions.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
4. Demonstrate knowledge of the function, effect and parameters of law as they apply to the specific content areas.
• Exercise rights as afforded by the First Amendment and court cases.
• Recognize the difference between protected and unprotected speech and apply it to media choices.
• Recognize and abide by accurate interpretations of FERPA, FOIA, HIPPA and other relevant legislation.
5. Assess ethical issues and how society might be impacted by choices affecting students and community members.
• Explore, analyze and debate the impact of ethical choices by government officials, including public school administrators, school board members and other figures of authority.
• Provide leadership through sustained coverage of topics related to such ethical choices.
• Localize off-campus issues to show how they impact readers.
• Engage communities through accurate and thorough reporting of such issues.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
6. Apply ethical principles in decision-making, including responsibility, thoroughness, honesty, accuracy, independence, accountability and credibility.
• Recognize the importance of independent thought in reporting.
• Utilize constructive criticism in editorial commentary.
• Access multiple resources to ensure accurate, thorough and balanced reporting.
• Accept accountability for all content.
• Correct and retract misleading or incorrect information.
7. Develop and refine ethical skills for choosing, gathering and organizing information.
• Investigate credibility of sources and confirm questionable assertions.
• Use anonymous sources only when it is essential to the content of the story, and honors confidentiality promised.
• Verify and synthesize when gathering and disseminating information.
Application of Knowledge and Ideas to Future Concepts
8. Prepare for the legal and ethical implications of technological changes in communication.
• Apply copyright laws to digital media.
• Properly attribute sources when using the work of others.
• Practice transparency in information-gathering by identifying methods of acquisition.
• Refrain from creating a false impression of reality through digital manipulation of photo, video or audio files.
• Avoid conflict of interest in information presented.
• Work to assure accuracy and thoroughness of information.
• Recognize privacy implications when gathering and publishing information.
Are we missing anything? We’d love to hear your suggestions – and comments.
Read MorePress Rights Commission sessions at KC
Those looking for sessions about legal issues at the Kansas City JEA/NSPA convention can consider these sessions offered by members of the press rights commission:
• Designing a Strong Editorial Policy, Friday 9 am, 2206 KCCC: Editorial policies can be your strongest ally or your worst enemy. Learn what a strong policy should contain and what to avoid.
• Get Certified: Legal and Ethical Issues, Friday 10 am, 3501 B KCCC: It’s part of the strand for those taking or thinking about taking the CJE or MJE, BUT it’s also good overview of issues advisers should know.
• Open Forum, Friday, 11 am, 2207 KCCC: An open forum for students, advisers and administrators to raise concerns and issues regarding legal and ethical issues they face. Members of the press rights commission will lead the discussion.
• Teaching Accountability: Student Journalists and Ethical Choices, Friday 2:30 pm, 2205 KCCC: This session is geared to new advisers who want to build programs where students learn sound reporting and editing practices, and are held accountable for what they publish or broadcast. This session will present essential elements of media ethics that student journalists must understand before they begin their work.
• Open Forum, Saturday, 11 am, 2503 B KCCC: An open forum for students, advisers and administrators to raise concerns and issues regarding legal and ethical issues they face. Members of the press rights commission will lead the discussion.
• Think F1rst, Saturday, noon, 2201 KCCC: The Press Rights Commission’s Student Partners group will present a session directed toward raising awareness of First Amendment issues and for students who are undergoing some sort of First Amendment crisis and are looking for solutions to a vexing problem. A question-and-answer session will follow.
• Press Rights and the Private School, Saturday, 2:30 2208, KCCC: Presented by a member of the commission’s Student Partner, 45Words, this session will tell how a student successfully dismantled the process of prior review at this private school this year.
Test-takers’ tweets
Studying for tests is rarely enjoyable, but the JEA Certification Commission is trying to make CJE (and even perhaps MJE) review as painless as possible. In fact, content will be coming your way 140 characters at a time.
That’s right. Twitter is the commission’s new study tool. Beginning this week, specific info or links to helpful materials will appear as tweets on JEAcertified. Each of these will be tied to the organization’s Standards for Journalism Educators so you know they will cover the whole range of topics all good media teachers should know.
If you’re taking the Certified Journalism Educator test (or even the Master Journalism Educator test) in Portland, this will give you some insight into what to expect. The study guide does that, too, but the Twitter version might be a nice change of pace.
Besides, others who want curricular suggestions or additional background about everything from law and ethics to design to writing and reporting and more can benefit from the commission members’ posts. Look for the #CJE hashtag or follow us on Twitter at jeacertified … and expand your skills needed to be a top-notch educator!!
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