Should it stay or should it go? An ethics question
by Teresa Scribner, CJE After spending 17 years in the newspaper industry as a visual journalist, I feel like I have a solid grasp on leaving my personal beliefs at the door when I walk into a newsroom. For years, I bit my tongue on politics, religion and reality TV. Being able to compartmentalize has…
Read MoreThe little things can add up when it comes to transparency in reporting
by Stan Zoller, MJE It’s not clear how the saying got started, but one thing is for sure, it’s a truism. Little things do add up.And they may be able to help take the pain out of big things. Like prior review. It’s no secret those student media unfortunate to have content reviewed by an administrator…
Read MoreHighlighting 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…
Read MoreVoting 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…
Read MoreTeaching 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…
Read MoreHate 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…
Read MoreRemembering 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…
Read MorePart 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,…
Read MoreConstitution 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…
Read MoreGagging students but not requiring masks
by Jan Ewell, MJE Hannah Watters, 15, suspended for five days, Wed. Aug. 5, for tweeting pictures of mostly maskless students in a crowded hallway at North Paulding High in Dallas, Ga, about an hour outside of Atlanta, is free to return to school Monday, Aug. 10. Friday, Aug. 7, she tweeted, “My school called…
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