Six schools earn First Amendment
Press Freedom Award
A committee with representatives from the Journalism Education Association, National Scholastic Press Association and Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society is pleased to announce the six winners of the 2014 First Amendment Press Freedom Award.
The award recognizes high schools that actively support, teach and protect First Amendment rights and responsibilities of students and teachers, with an emphasis on student-run media where students make all final decisions of content.
As in previous years, schools competed for the title by first answering questionnaires submitted by an adviser and at least one editor; those who advanced to the next level were asked to provide responses from the principal and all publications advisers and student editors, indicating their support of the five freedoms. In addition, semifinalists submitted samples of their printed policies.
2014 First Amendment Press Freedom Award winners are as follows:
Convent of the Sacred Heart High School, San Francisco, Calif.
Francis Howell North High School, St. Charles, Mo.
Kirkwood High School. Kirkwood, Mo.
Mountlake Terrace High School, Mountlake Terrace, Wash.
North Central High School, Indianapolis, Ind.
Townsend Harris High School, Flushing, N.Y.
These schools will be honored April 10 at the opening ceremony of the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention in San Diego.
Two of the schools are first-time recipients: North Central High School and Convent of the Sacred Heart, which is not only a first-time awardee, but the second private school to ever be recognized.
“We are proud of each of these schools for supporting their student media as they practice critical life skills like decision making, critical thinking and civic engagement while informing their audiences,” JEA Scholastic Press Rights Commission chairman said.
This is the 14th year for the recognition. The award, which began with an emphasis on student publications, was originally titled Let Freedom Ring, and later expanded to include the other freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.
First round applications are due annually by Dec. 1. Downloadable applications for 2015 will be available on the JEA website in the fall.
Read MoreWhen law and ethics and good journalism combine
PART 1 OF a 3-PART SERIES
An experienced Ohio newspaper adviser teams up with a former student — who now has a law degree — to teach the staff about using public records. An alleged rape on campus requires student editors to stand their ground accessing information about it. Once they have details about the incident, they have to decide just what they should – or maybe should not – use. It’s a tale that has all the makings of excellent reporting.
The backstory
Journalism teacher Natalie Sekicky admits she’s lucky. Anyone with a full teaching load and student media to advise can usually only dream about being able to put staffers in teams and work with them as they investigate complicated, in-depth stories.
But then Sekicky’s former editor-in-chief Emily Grannis, a college journalism major, started giving “quick lessons” about record requests to the J1 classes while she was home on breaks. When she entered a nearby law school, she said she was able to work “more formally” with the Shaker Heights students.
Read MoreWorth checking out
Some current story ideas and resources worth checking out:
• The Society of Professional Journalists dedicates its Fall issue of its journal, Quill, to Freedom of Information. This year’s FOI issue can be accessed for free at: Fall 2013 FOI issue of Quill
• A New York Times article on schools watching student use of the Internet outside school:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/29/technology/some-schools-extend-surveillance-of-students-beyond-campus.html
• How night you be able to localize (or would you want to) this policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2013/10/23/peds.2013-2821.abstract?sid=eb20f88e-7741-45be-949f-058aa197c2fe
• Teaching Journalism Ethics: a resource for scholastic media advisers: This set of lessons and activities about teaching ethical decision-making is by Maggie Cogar as part of her master’s degree.
• Check out the new, online version of The Principal’s Guide to Scholastic Journalism from Quill and Scroll.
• Ethics, a compilation of resources from SchoolJournalism.org.
• A new blog from Poynter, The Ethics Blog, is outlined in this Poynter article.
• A story to localize: what is bullying? Is it the newest way to get around Tinker?
Read More
Teaching Tool available fromJohn S.and James L. Foundation blog
by Mark Goodman
Journalism education, at both the high school and college level, is facing some real challenges. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Eric Newton weighs in on many of them, including the importance of defending press freedom for students, in his new ebook, Searchlights and Sunglasses (www.searchlightsandsunglasses.org). This free book, available on the web or in several e-reader formats, includes a learning layer with suggested questions and activities designed specifically for the high school journalism classroom.
Check out my thoughts about some of the strengths of this ebook as a teaching tool on the Knight Foundation’s blog:
Read MoreIn their own words: What students say about their journalism experiences
Testimonials from students involved in scholastic media:
• Jenna Spoont: I am a journalist because I can reach out to those around me and inform them about problems in society. In December 2012, I wrote a story called “World Wide Watch” about the dangers of sexting. I researched statistics, interviewed students and national experts and spoke with the executive director of the Student Press Law Center to create an accurate, educational article. I wrote the article because if I could change just one teenager’s decision of sending inappropriate images, then I would feel rewarded for serving my community. It is because of journalism that I have grown to be ambitious and driven. I served as one of 10 Student Partners for 45Words, an organization that supports and promotes the First Amendment, the document that is at the core of what journalism stands for. I am a journalist, and I am passionate. Jenna Spoont, journalism major at George Washington University, Washington, D.C., class of 2013 Conestoga HS, Wayne, Pa., Quill and Scroll Gallup Scholarship recipient and JEA Student Journalist of the Year.
• Shai Nielson: “In journalism, I was taught what my rights and freedoms are as a writer — things like my freedom of speech and freedom of the press. I was taught how to ask questions and how to get answers. As a journalist, I learned what my privileges and responsibilities are as a person: to use my freedoms to tell the stories that need to be told, truthfully and without bias. I learned how to use the answers I got. And so while journalism class taught me how to be a journalist, being a journalist taught me how to be a better talker, a better listener and a better person.” Shai Nielson – Whitney High School (CA) Journalism editor, Class of 2013 and now UC Davis.
• Sequan Gatlin: Strengthening my communication abilities has not only shown me how to speak and be heard, but also how to listen and be taught. This has helped me to make better communities with my peers, instructors and advisers. Being connected means having resources, information and mentors. Connections through my high school journalism adviser gave me the information and resources that I needed to get here today, an incoming freshman at Iowa State University. Sequan Gatlin, journalism and biology major, class of 2013, Davenport Central High School, Davenport, Iowa, Quill and Scroll Richard P. Johns Scholarship recipient.
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