Insights

Intense times require intense journalists: Best practices for reporting on COVID-19

by Stan Zoller, MJE The COVID-19 pandemic that is gripping the country, let alone the world, has had this simple impact on journalists – intense times require intense journalism. And that starts with all journalists and journalism educators. We’ve seen issues that have impacted students including school shootings and concussions in student athletes to name just a…

Insights

An activity for a dose of skepticism

by Lindsay Coppens, The Harbinger, Algonquin Regional High School, Northborough, Mass. Scholastic journalists, like all journalists, need to be skeptical. Not only of news they read and of sources they interview, but of themselves. Journalists should question everything, including each other. If student journalists aren’t willing to take a hard look with a discerning eye…

Insights

Reporting controversy, issues student journalists can tell best

by John Bowen, MJE The above statement is a good reminder in 2020 of our social responsibility to report all aspects of teen issues – those with good, bad and impact – because our audiences have a right to know. These are stories student journalists can tell best. As journalists we do not actively protest,…

Insights

When students decide what is newsworthy

by Susan McNulty, CJE The Stampede and The Hoofbeat adviser J.W. Mitchell High School, Trinity, Florida Yesterday, my newspaper staff distributed the February issue of The Hoofbeat to the 2000+ students at our school. According to the staff, the issue was well received by the student body, based on the most reliable measure of teenage…

Insights

SNO has a nice post on rules for using photos you find online. Check it out.

I was reading SNO’s e-newsletter The SNO Report last week and came upon this nice guide for staffs. There’s a misconception by many that all photos online can be used if you site the source. Some pull photos from their local newspaper while others attribute photos they are using to “Courtesy of Google.” Unless you…

Insights

Yes Virginia, journalism still exists

by Stan Zoller, MJE More than a few years ago, I saw a sign on a colleague’s desk that read: “Tact: Being able to tell someone where to go in such a way that they actually look forward to the trip.” Heeding that advice, I’ve become a hell of a travel agent. Case in point. I…

Insights

Silently, heavily, even if optional, prior review and restraint contribute to a crumbling democracy

by Lindsay Coppens The Harbinger adviser, Algonquin Regional High School, Northborough, Mass. A few weeks ago there was widespread reaction when news broke that the National Archives in Washington D.C. had blurred anti-Trump protest signs in a photograph from the 2017 Women’s March. Yesterday, The Washington Post reported a similar mural-sized image had been…

Insights

Building on Student Press Freedom Day

A time for reflection on and commitment to journalistically responsible student media Jan. 29, Student Press Freedom Day, is a good time to reflect on the importance of a unfettered student media, especially given the country’s claimed mistrust of and attacks on the media. Commit to informing your various communities now, and throughout the next…

Insights

Use real situations to teach law and ethics

by Candace Bowen, MJE Teaching student journalists about legal and ethical issues can be a challenge. Some of my pre-service teachers at Kent State always want student groups to research different law cases and then present their findings to the class, possibility re-enact the trial. Others want teacher lectures, a process that takes at…

Insights

Conversations at the Schoolhouse Gate

Episode 9: Photojournalism during school The latest episode of the SPRC podcast Conversations at the Schoolhouse Gate focuses on setting the scene and then interviewing students and their adviser at Palo Alto High School. Students dealt with authorities trying to block them from taking photos when a police officer was injured on campus. You can…

Insights

Teaching students to fact-check themselves and others, Facebook and fact checking

by Susan McNulty, CJE The Stampede and The Hoofbeat adviserJ.W. Mitchell High School, Trinity, Florida Thursday, Jan. 9, Facebook announced in a blog post found here their platform will soon allow users to opt out of certain political and social issue advertisements. This decision came in response to demands for Facebook to fact check ads before approving…

Insights

Ethics codes are important, should not enable punishments of students or advisers

Lindsay CoppensThe Harbinger adviserAlgonquin Regional High School, Northborough, Mass. Adopting a code of ethics can be an excellent way to promote ethical discussion and decision making in a scholastic publication. There are many ethics codes such as the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics and National Scholastic Press Association Model Code of Ethics for…