J-Ideas announces fund-raising campaign

Warren Watson, director, announced today the creation of an annual fund-raising campaign to support J-Ideas, Ball State’s scholastic journalism and First Amendment institute.

Parties are invited to give $25 or more to the J-Ideas Foundation to support future activities of the program. Donations are tax deductible. <more>

FIRST VOICES



Little things mean a lot at the Newseum
Indianapolis Star column
by Warren Watson

J-Ideas Director Warren Watson blogs regularly for the Indianapolis Star. Here are his latest offerings:

Landmark First Amendment Research
with School Principals launched at Ball State

Ball State’s First Amendment institute has launched a landmark research project with 5,000 high school principals nationwide.

J-Ideas, a 5-year-old effort to support student journalism and First Amendment awareness, is reaching out to 5,000 principals to gauge their knowledge level and support for the First Amendment of the Constitution. The research coincides with Sunshine Week, a national effort to support Freedom of Information, an important principle of the First Amendment. <more>

Campus free-speech thrives

-Ignoramcer in Palin, Dowd free-speech remarks

-Plainfield pays respect to First Amendment

-Banned Books Week

-Palin-tology

-New President must revive Constitution

-Traditional news misses Edwards escapade

-Protesters' rights fenced off

-Social networking pitfalls

-Bad year for traditional news gatherers

-Baseball and the First Amendment

-Principals and the First Amendment

-Remembering a crusader
-Photo ID law bad for voters
-Thoughts from the annual U.S. editors convention
-Need for print journalism remains
-Sunshine:now more than ever
-Mean-spirited fans
-Peter Jennings' legacy
-The First Amendment at the Alamo
-A New museum for news
-Author creates First Amendment 'primer'
-Unlikely First Amendment hero
-Harrison represented Hoosiers proudly
-Online course wraps for the fall
-Religious freedom for all
-Reading is FUN-damental
-Nothing negative
-Blogs grow in influence, but beware of anonymity
-Parent rides the bench after blog posting
-Student journalist's actions serves profession poorly
-Examining free speech online
-Remembering the courageous Elijah Parish Lovejoy

Archive

More First Thoughts: journalism teacher Tom Gayda speaks out

Student journalists scoop professional press

By Gerry Appel

In an era where student journalists are often criticized for poor decision-making, one student newspaper should receive praise after scooping its professional counterparts. <more>

-Principal wrong in pulling paper

Mile high with the First Amendment...

By Randy Swikle

We were north of the Mile High City near the Rocky Mountains. The principals were voluntarily descending—not from the tall peaks but from their position abutting the summit of school hierarchy. When they reached level ground, we could see each other more clearly. And clear sight leads to insight. <more > 

Dautrich and Yalof book published

By Warren Watson

Dautrich and Yalof

A new book collecting the seminal First Amendment work of University of Connecticut researchers Ken Dautrich and David Yalof has been published.

“The Future of the First Amendment: The Digital Media, Civic Education and Free Expression Rights in America’s High Schools” is available through Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. The 202-page book, with co-author Mark Hugo Lopez, a University of Maryland researcher, summarizes three rounds of research about America’s youth and their attitudes about the First Amendment.

The book is available for $34.95. For a special discount, go to www.rowmanlittlefield.com.

Dautrich and Yalof were authors of a massive national study of more than 112,000 high school students, 8,000 teachers and 300 school principals in 2004. It is still the largest and most comprehensive work of its kind. The study, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, led to new inroads by First Amendment educators who reacted to the major finding of the study: America’s high schools are leaving the First Amendment behind.

The Connecticut team, which has been doing First Amendment research for the Freedom Forum for more than 10 years, replicated its youth work with smaller followup studies in 2006 and 2007, respectively. All three studies are included in the new book along with new commentary and reporting. The two followup studies included an examination of the media-use habits of high school students.

“The ‘Future of the First Amendment’ should quickly become a primary goal for educators committed to reviving the civic mission of schools,” says Joseph Torsella, president and CEO of Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center. “The book moves beyond sounding alarms to offer practical advice on how appreciation of free expression rights can be fostered in our nation’s schools. Nurturing such appreciation is vital to the continued health of our Constitution.”

The work of Dautrich and Yalof is a central feature of two J-Ideas web sites: www.firstamendmentfuture.org and www.jideas.org.

(Warren Watson is director of J-Ideas and has spoken and written widely about the Dautrich and Yalof work since early 2005.)