The Latest

And the definition for ‘responsible’ is…

The JEAHELP list had a post last week that included a statement the Scholastic Press Rights Commission has been ready to address from more than a year. It came in a message from Gloria Olman, retired adviser and former Dow Jones Newspaper Fund High School Journalism Teacher of the Year. Olman was trying to help…

Plenty to learn at the JEA/NSPA convention

Although this is a totally unscientific finding, it seems like the JEA/NSPA national high school journalism convention next week in Washington, D.C., has more to offer than ever before when it comes information about legal and ethical issues. Take a peek at what the program shows: “Lifting the Lid on Open Records” and “Censor-proofing Your…

Scary days are becoming weeks and months

The principal of Timberland High School in Wentzville, Missouri, recently censored student articles on tattoos. Thursday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch posted an article about the censorship.  Quickly, reader comments mounted. The principal indicated he thought everyone could grow from this. We’re not sure what he has in mind as growth, but we’re certain school officials…

The camel’s back has broken

Okay, I think I’ve reached it. My Howard Beale-I’m-mad-as-hell-and-I’m-not-going-to-take-it-any-more moment. It’s here and I’m ready to go to the television camera and start yelling for action. The point where everything adds up and I’m not willing to put up with the status quo any more when it comes to student publications being unjustifiably censored by…

Can the Elements of Journalism help replace prior review?

As we’ve tried to emphasize in the last several posts, prior review is not a valid or workable educational practice. It betrays the trust of the audience (as well as that of student journalists and their advisers) and negates any concept of students taking responsibility for what they write. Let’s see if we can build…

Move over, Michael Myers. There’s a new slasher in town.

It really must be the season of the witch. The Student Press Law Center today tweeted yearbook censorship in a Summerville, Georgia, high school. According to a WRCB-TV report, the new principal censored the fall-released yearbook prepared by students and their now retired adviser last spring. His target: four pages of shirtless boys playing basketball….

Oct. 30 review extends the scary season

An Oct. 30 news flash from the Student Press Law Center scares me. And Halloween is past. A Nebraska principal prior reviewed an student paper’s interview with the system’s superintendent THEN replaced the student story with a version the superintendent edited and re-worded. Inappropriate answers for a good public image, you know. Along the way…

Self-censorship is scariest of all

All week I’ve heard plans for creepy costume parties, haunted house visits and horror film marathons. But as Halloween weekend approaches, there’s something much scarier on my mind. It’s scary how many media staffs and their advisers are under fire right now for doing exactly what they set out to do: report on issues of…

Prior Review undermines learning

John Bowen spoke about some of the problems with prior review and the censorship it can lead to in his Oct. 25th post and an earlier one. However, another problem is more subtle than blatant censorship. It is self-censorship by student editors. Why go to the all the work of planning, researching, interviewing, providing art…

Tattoos: Save your ink, student journalists

One of the few academic studies of body art, “Tattoos and Body Piercings in the United States: A National Data Set,” shows 24 percent of respondents had tattoos…and that was 2006. USA News & World Report said this fall parlors for such art are “one of America’s fastest growing categories of retail business, with nearly…

For those who support prior review…

… When will it end? At least three more recent situations should make one think about the educational validity of prior review: • One, in Missouri, concerns a story on tattoos. It also led to students changing the content of their paper. • The second, in Ohio, concerns an obituary and photo. According to the…

Seeking student media with open forum status

We’d love to hear from you if  your student media are open forums for student expression by policy and/or practice. For student media to be designated as a public/student forum, the school must either: • Have a school board- or administrator-enacted policy stating students make final content decisions of protected speech*, or • Have a…