Insights

Covering elections and post-elections: what Gen Z students care about

by Cyndi Hyatt Record numbers of citizens voted in this now contested presidential election, and the outcome of Tuesday’s contest may not be known for days. And although most high school students cannot yet vote, they still have opinions and cares about the government and their future. Whoever wins Tuesday will set the tone for the…

Insights

Highlighting some SPRC key and most-used posts

Press Rights Minute is one of several of our services buried in the SPRC vault. Press Rights Minute has a wealth of 60-second audio support on substantive, key journalistic, issues for advisers, students and administrators. The Panic Button is a way to reach out for SPRC and JEA legal and/or ethical advice. We are not…

Insights

Semantics can strengthen reporting

by Stan Zoller, MJE When President Trump was hospitalized recently with COVID-19, it was, to say the least, interesting to watch the briefings from the medical professionals attending to him. It was evident their words were chosen carefully – so carefully I couldn’t help but think of the late S.I. Hayakawa. Hayakawa was a professor…

Insights

Having supportive administrators is not a fairytale

by Teresa Scribner, CJE, Cleveland STEM High School Seattle, Washington Once upon a time, there were three administrators. These warriors stood for racial equality, social justice and making sure all students in their school felt safe, seen and heard. They were champions of student voice, advocates of the school’s journalism program and defenders of student…

Insights

Voting and Media Coverage: the meaning of being a citizen in a troubled era

Election Day this year is of monumental importance whether it might be a person’s twentieth time to vote or another’s first. Given the pandemic that allows medical and health issues to impact political, social and economic phases of society, Nov. 3, 2020 will be a harbinger of things to come. As journalists, we have a…

Insights

Teaching law and ethics so it MEANS something

by Candace Bowen, MJE Teaching law and ethics isn’t easy. Most beginning teachers have discovered the hard way that some methods just don’t work. JEA members taking the MJE certification test often have spent far too much time wrestling with the question that asked for a three-week lesson plan on the topic and not having…

Insights

Hate speech and its protection

by Cyndi Hyatt This fall’s upcoming presidential election has created a national climate where people are politically polarized, and their speech is often incendiary. Perhaps now is the perfect time to revisit with student journalists how speech is protected and unprotected, particularly with a focus on hate speech. My own students alerted me that hate speech…

Insights

For journalism teachers, context is essential to find accurate information

by John Bowen, MJE The 2020 election looms less than two months away, and conflicting, sensational and hateful information force themselves into the news, the rallies and, sadly, people’s fears. Looking for information to help protect your reporters and audience alike from mis- and dis- information? We have some suggestions: First, lessons and activities…

Insights

Remembering Rodney Lowe: Press rights are concept deserving every day practice

by Stan Zoller, MJE It’s a scene that has played out many times. An administrator prior reviews a publication. Adviser and staff bring the situation to light by contacting the Student Press Law Center (SPLC), JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee (SPRC) and other organizations. Before long, the situation ebbs – resolved or not – and life…

Insights

Be proactive in educating your school administrators about student press rights

by Mitch Ziegler, MJE On a newspaper deadline night I was reading a story about a student’s trip to Jordan and the West Bank, which focused on her strong criticisms about how her family was treated by the Israelis who ran the border crossing. It was an opinion piece, which argued solely through description. Like…

Insights

Part 2: Riding out the storm should involve future planning

Scholastic media have important information to convey, this year probably more than ever. In far too many communities, school media are the only source of such information in a news desert created when local and sometimes even larger newspapers have folded in recent years. As we work our way through the storm that is 2020,…

Insights

Constitution Day 2020

In a unique year featuring not only a world-wide pandemic but also mass protests, a presidential election and plenty of attempts at spreading misinformation, it’s as important as ever for students to understand their rights. Constitution Day, observed Sept. 17 each year, celebrates the signing of the United States Constitution, and provides a perfect opportunity…