The Latest Archives

In articles of substantive reporting, use anonymous sources?

The use of anonymous sources continues to raise issues within journalistic circles. Given our recent post on the importance of substantive reporting at the scholastic media level, we find this article, Are you really willing to go to jail over your anonymous source? by Poynter’s Kelly McBride interesting and full of important discussion points for scholastic…

Join the resolution

by John Bowen The Journalism Education Association and the Student Press Law Center urge state and regional journalism organizations to make a national statement that nothing educational or legitimate comes from censorship stemming from the 1988 U. S. Supreme Court’s Hazelwood decision. JEA’s board of directors voted unanimously to endorse a resolution by the Association…

Apply to join 45words –
join students who can make a difference

What 45 words are we talking about? Glad you asked. Journalism Education Association’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission created Student Partners as a way to help students connect with their peers to support, protect and spread awareness about the First Amendment. Students represent schools from around the nation. See comments from Megan Morris, one the first…

Hazelwood’s impact more than a memory

Just like any big event — you remember where you were or what you were doing. Those who were advising scholastic media when the Supreme Court announced Hazelwood v.Kuhlmeier 25 years ago probably can recall their reactions — and maybe those of their administrators as well. My own recollection: The principal, a fairly supportive guy,…

Prior review, censorship have no educational value: resolutions

The Journalism Education Association today reaffirmed its opposition to prior review, prior restraint and their use under the guidelines established in the Hazelwood decision. JEA’s board of directors unanimously took this stand as it voted to endorse a resolution by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication that said, in part, “the Hazelwood…

Expressing student freedoms – and responsibility – through substantive reporting

In a survey taken at the San Antonio JEA and NSPA convention last November, students and advisers reported censorship was alive and well in America’s schools. Forty-two percent of students and 41 percent of advisers responding said school officials had told them not to publish or air something. Fifty-four percent of students indicated a school official…

Student decision-making: Learning to act ethically

by Jeff Kocur The student government at my school made a questionable attempt to spice up our March Madness spirit week, and the assistant principal let it happen. He is new this year, and it was a refreshing presence of ethics from the assistant principal’s office, which has previously ruled with a pretty heavy hand….

Encouraging diversity in new staff selection

by Megan Fromm For most publications staffs around the country, the post-spring-break season is officially new staff recruitment time—the chance to build the ideal team for next school year. Applications start rolling in, would-be editors wait anxiously for their new assignments and advisers endure the emotional rollercoaster of deciding who belongs where and why. Typically,…

Building a credible brand: Stick to the facts

by Candace and John Bowen April 1. April Fools. JEA listservians have carried out a lively discussions on the merits and demerits of publishing April Fools editions. SPLC executive director Frank LoMonte even said to keep his center’s phone number and e-mail address handy if students published such an issue. Tough decision. Some commercial media publish such…

Censorship by any other name

by Candace Bowen The good vibes that come from creating a publication that’s yours know no language barriers. And when someone in power tells students what they can and cannot publish, it’s demoralizing and sucks the life-blood out of what could otherwise be a great product. Even talented writers and designers can’t overcome that, no…

The hits never stop coming

Scholastic journalism’s focus this year is and should be on the 25th anniversary of Hazelwood v Kuhlmeier and the issues it helped spawn, from outright censorship to elimination of programs and teachers.Next year brings two notable anniversaries, both of on the results of censorship and other issues that limited – and continue to limit –…

Ethical decisions are important,
sometimes carry a cost

by Jeff Kocur I am encouraged by the stories of some former students who have encountered ethical dilemmas at their college newspapers. One of my former students resigned as managing editor at a college newspaper on the East Coast after he said he watched his editor-in-chief repeatedly breach standard journalistic ethics in gathering and reporting…