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 > 

Protect Advisers so they can do their Jobs
by Angela Thomas

Student publications advisers need protection. Period.  We believe that Oregon’s HB 3279 bill should include language that affirms this. There are countless examples that support our assertion.  Several miles up the road here in Indiana (Allen County), a highly publicized suspension of a journalism teacher for refusing to censor an editorial submitted by one of her students illustrates the need for adviser protection.

Amy Sorrell was suspended and then transferred to a new school after she allowed a student’s column supporting tolerance of gays to run without administrative approval, even though the district had no written policy requiring prior review. School officials gave her an unpaid, five-day suspension, re-assigned her to another school to teach English, and have disallowed her from teaching journalism in her new school for three years.

The situation Sorrell and her students faced are becoming increasingly common.  Here are more examples: A student editor in Texas filed a formal complaint against his administrator for prohibiting distribution of his high school paper that contained articles on sexually transmitted diseases. A Florida high school principal demanded student newspaper staff members physically cut out an article from every issue of the school’s paper before distribution. 

Why?  Because the article reported an achievement gap in the state’s standardized test scores between white and minority students – particularly at that school.  Interestingly, the student journalists obtained the information by searching public records.  As with the Sorrell case, each adviser in the above situations experienced corrective action, or were reprimanded or disciplined. 

Civics lessons can be best learned and conveyed through student media, which is not subject to administrative censorship, but under the guidance of a well trained, qualified journalism adviser.  The adviser’s role is not to censor or encourage “public relations” articles from the student publications they oversee.  Their role is to serve as a sounding board, provide guidance, and teach their students the accountability and responsibilities they, as journalists, have to their peers. Student publications provide forums for student expression.  It’s the true application of civics. 

An adviser should not be afraid of being terminated or facing disciplinary action because he or she encouraged student free expression as guaranteed to all U.S. citizens through the First Amendment.

Angela Thomas, Deputy Director
J-IDEAS, Department of Journalism
Ball State University