Free expression sample press release
Sample press release
Another option for letting your various communities know about the benefits of free expression legislation is to create a press release to media, civic groups, school board and others.
Rather than trying to create a cookie-cutter press release version, we thought we would create a model sample where points from our legislative package and its resources could be melded into local comments and philosophy. The outline below is only a shell to which you and students can add specific approaches and activities and principles.
Such a press release is designed to inform your communities about the legislation and its importance.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date
Contact:
Your Name
School
Phone
Email
Headline to fit your situation
Seize the day.
Make a Difference.
State legislation that promises student freedom of expression can help student journalists achieve that goal because of the educational, civic and journalistic responsibility it offers.
__________ (state name) just passed such a law and (add local information here. If in Illinois or Maryland, place a graph of two about the state legislation and effort and what it means. If attempting to pass legislation, focus on points how it will help education and civic engagement)
Information generated in student media where students practice what they have been taught, as protected by this legislation, will showcase the quality of the mission, policies and ethical guidelines of journalistically responsible students.
This legislation allows our journalism programs to train students who:
- Make all final decisions of content
- Practice civic and social responsibility
- Present complete, thorough and accurate stories in context
(Quote from adviser, state journalism or legislative officials, etc.)
As journalists and journalism educators, we will do everything we can to present stories that are accurate, complete and thorough. We will inform our news consumers in a way that is not only transparent, but also independent and without bias using multiple sources.
(Talk here about how you and your students will carry out your program using editorial policy, ethical guidelines and journalistic responsibility.)
We will engage our audiences not only in the practice of journalism, but in civic activities that make a difference. (Perhaps provide examples.)
(Another local quote…)
Journalists Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, authors of The Elements of Journalism and Blur, would put it this way: Journalism is storytelling with a purpose. That purpose is to provide people with information they need to understand the world. The first challenge is finding information that people need to live their lives. The second is to make it meaningful, relevant, and engaging.
In a time when information abounds, although not all credible, when political speeches are fact-checked regularly and multiple sources of information are necessary to make sense of news, legislation for free student expression will aid all involved.
Here are some ways how:
For more specific details and information of the importance of such legislation please go to XXXXXXX and XXXXXX
For more information…..
(signatures)
Written By: John Bowen