The Latest
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Online ethics guidelines for student media
As student media staffs explore digital media to gather information, tell stories, promote their work and handle comments, they will encounter ethical questions both familiar and unique.
Seattle School District seeks to remove forum policy for prior review
Even though its current open forum policy helped it avoid a lawsuit earlier this year, the Seattle School District seems determined to change course and install prior review, making the adviser responsible for all content and the administrators able to review at will. A decision earlier this year in the Sisley v Seattle School District…
A model social media policy
As an educator in Missouri, I was going to have to live under the thumb of SB54, now known as SB1, which Gov. Jay Nixon just signed into law. The new law eliminates the provisions that were offensive to so many teachers and First Amendment advocates in SB54, but still requires districts to enact some…
Rethinking your forum status – why the correct wording is essential
With the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear appeals on the 2nd Circuit’s Ithaca decision, student media advisers and their journalists should be aware of a potential conflict over how they use the word “forum.” In short, if an editorial policy is going to say student media are forums, students and advisers must be able to…
Student media designated public forums? Apply online for FAPFA recognition
We know there are a significant number of open forum student media out there, and we’d like to see you apply for JEA’s First Amendment Press Freedom Award (FAPFA). Being an open forum for student expression, besides having exceptional educational validity and offering excellent learning opportunities for students, can also help protect a school system…
Ammunition against prior review and restraint Handling controversy, Part 3 of a series
Part of the difficulty in reporting controversial issues is how to define the term and the concept. Any article, if misreported in some way, can be controversial. Journalists would start with looking at the process of gathering information, of observing and conducting research. Each of these steps would take place following journalistically responsible legal and…
Ammunition to help define disruption Part 2 of a series
Although we hoped Tinker v DesMoines might be the definitive word for what is material or substantial disruption in schools, recent events involving digital media and off-campus expression keep the issue alive – and contentious. School safety issues, including arguments that schools need to protect themselves from cyberbullying and other off-campus speech issues making their way to…
The Seattle decision: providing ammunition for student responsibility. Part 1
By H. L. Hall In what might be a landmark decision, a Superior Court judge in Washington ruled July 22, 2011, in Sisley v Seattle School District #1, that public high schools are not liable for the content of student-produced newspapers. Student Press Law Center spokesmen have said this ruling is the first to ever…
Questions for thought #6 part of a series
The last question of our current series. Do you have others you would raise? • What does a free press contribute to our democratic society? What are its advantages and disadvantages? Who benefits from a free press? Now repeat the questions for scholastic media? Are there any differences? What and why?
Questions for thought #5 of a series
Here’s another Question for Thought in our series : • A new administrator joins your school and demands prior review. What will your (students’) responses be? What points can the students raise to stop her from enforcing this new standard?
Questions for thought #4 of a series
Here’s another question in our series. Appropriate for Constitution Day? • What if any issues or topics should be “untouchable” by student journalists? Why? Is it the topic or the process that might lead to censorship problems?
Student sues Wisconsin school district over “I [heart] Boobies!” bracelet ban
See today’s NSBA School Law newsletter about another regarding another “I [heart] Boobies” case at: http://tinyurl.com/3tbevmd Great opportunity for discussion about this new case in class tomorrow, National Constitution Day. Celebrate your First Amendment Rights!