The First Amendment and High School Students

Every few years some high school administrator decides freedom of the press applies only to those who hold the money.

Sort of a variation on “freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one.”

But the truth is, it is the students who produce the school newspaper. And while no one would argue they need guidance from a qualified adviser, they hold ultimate responsibility for the content.

Students also deserve protection from the same laws that protect their adult counterparts. Freedom of the press does not halt at the schoolhouse gate.

Too often, students don’t understand their rights and their advisers are too intimidated by the administration to help them. This isn’t an indictment of advisers. Often they are young teachers without tenure. Sometimes they didn’t volunteer to advise the school paper, but were just in the right (or wrong) place at the right time. In the past few years, three high school advisers were removed or forced out in New Jersey.

Nobody ever got rich on an adviser’s stipend, but it doesn’t look good for a teacher to lose a gig like that. And these were dedicated people.

Two of the student press freedom problems were the subject of the keynote panels at the Garden State Scholastic Press Association Fall Conference at the Rutgers Busch Campus in Piscataway on Monday, Oct. 27.

In Pemberton, the ancient problem of smoking in the girls’ room was the subject of a story censored by the administration. The school principal insisted the story was not appropriate. Seriously. What is more appropriate? Kids have been violating smoking bans since there have been smoking bans. Other kids, have objected to second hand smoke for just as long. If the student paper can’t tackle that, what’s the point of having a paper?

After some changes were made, and, not coincidentally, after Phil Gianficaro took the school to task in his column in the Glochester County Times, the story was published.

The other issue involved Northern Highlands High School in Allendale. An editor used an anonymous source in a story about an administrator accused of harassment. The GSSPA took the attitude she had the same rights as a professional to use an anonymous source. Not surprisingly, the school held a different opinion.

In the third case, not directly addressed by the Fall Conference, the Hunterdon Central High School adviser was replaced by the school public relations professional. Sure. There’s no difference at all between someone who is paid to make the school look good and a teacher interested in instructing budding journalists.

The two student editors spoke about their fights for freedom to a packed room of students and advisors as well as some of the professionals who participated in Student Press Day.  Both Kylie  Sposato of Pemberton and Adelina Colaku of Northern Highlands spoke eloquently about their conflicts. Gianficaro was also on the panel, as was Frank LoMonte of the Student Press Law Center.

LoMonte worked with GSSPA in the past assisting the group with attempts to codify student press rights in the state statutes. Previous bills, one of which based on a Student Press Law Center model, failed to become law and were not supported by either the NJ Education Association or the NJ Press Association.

What kind of lesson are we teaching our young people?

Freedom of the press doesn’t apply to them? So, what about the other freedoms mentioned in the 45 words of the First Amendment? The only thing these teens can discern is that they don’t apply either.

Kids will screw up. They will make mistakes. That’s why an adviser who understands journalism and understands teenagers is so essential. An adviser who really wants the job and who isn’t given a reason to be scared of the administration.

While working for legislation, the GSSPA is forming an S-GSSPA for students under the direction of long-time GSSPA official John Tagliarimi of Bergenfield. Bringing the students into the mix should help them understand the rights they do have,

Professionals from around the state assist GSSPA at their fall conference which is partially sponsored by The Record. For years the now-defunct New Jersey Press Women provided assistance to the GSSPA and high school journalism advisers, including a program called “Adopt-an-Adviser” which assigned professionals to high school advisers.  In an effort to take up the slack, the New Jersey Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists now has a representative on the GSSPA board.

Pros having students’ backs. As it should be.

John Tagliarimi introduces two former student editors at the keynote panel during the Garden State Scholastic Press Association Fall Conference at Rutgers University, Busch Campus.

The room was packed for the keynote panel. It was the first time the GSSPA had students involved in the keynote.

Fear and Loathing on the Auld Sod

  

              In keeping with its commitment to bringing free speech and press freedom issues to the public, the New Jersey Pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists presented a talk by Irish journalist Ed Moloney on Monday, Oct. 20, at the Guarini Institute at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City.

                Moloney covered The Troubles in Northern Ireland for many years for various Irish publications and was later part of an oral history project at Boston College.

                The Troubles and how they were covered by the Irish and British press aren’t a history lesson, Moloney said. They are an object lesson. The Irish press mostly parroted the party line. The British press was a little more objective, he said. Still, the full story didn’t come out.

                Moloney discussed the parallels between the Irish press becoming complicit with the government and the American press being cowed by the government. He cited the case of New York Times reporter James Risen, who first uncovered the use of warrantless wiretaps by the US government. At the request of the government, The Times refused to print the story until Risen wrote a book that was soon to be published.

                One of the most fascinating aspects of The Troubles was Gerry Adams insistence he was not a member of the IRA, Moloney said.  He looked into the allegations Adams was a member of the revolutionary group.

                He was approached by Boston College about archiving an oral history project featuring the stories of the rank and file. The Jesuit college was a natural repository for these archives since it had a history of inviting both sides in The Troubles to campus many times. At first, BC wanted to be able to make the oral histories public within 10 years. No participant in The Troubles on either side would go along with that. The college finally agreed to an embargo on names until each individual interviewee had died.

                However, BC didn’t put up a fight when subpoenas were presented by both the British and American governments.

                Moloney considers it ironic that the US government backed the British in these subpoenas considering there were the same people who considered George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson terrorists. But then, he pointed out, the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter is strictly one of perspective.

                A lively Q&A followed Moloney’s talk. The audience consisted of a few journalists, students, members of the Irish-American community in Hudson County and BC alumni from the area.

                The Guarini Institute has invited SPJ back to  co-sponsor more programs and I hope we do so.

We Do Need Another Hero

     Cynical, jaundiced, cavalier. We go through life this generation fixated on the dystopia du jour.

     But, beyond the dank atmosphere teeming with vampires, fairy tales gone bad and The Walking Dead, a ray of sunshine sneaks through.

     We STILL need heroes and for 20 years, we got one.

      It's not just about baseball.

      Derek Jeter, through the years of his marvelous career, transcended baseball.

      He wasn't the best player to ever take the field. He may well have been the hardest-working, which made him the hero for our age: the guy who just does his job and does it amazingly well, day after day. 

     Not a slugger, a larger-than-life power hitter. We didn't need one of those. They tend to burn brightly, their strengths and their flaws on brilliant display just long enough to attract our attention, then flame out or fade. A few haven't, but the world was not ready to take that chance.

     We needed a steady guy, a team player, a man in control of his emotions, but a man who feels. 

      And, just when we needed him, we got Jeter.

     Handsome, of course. A smile that fills Yankee Stadium. 

     A consistent hitter, at-bat by at-bat. Singles. Doubles. A few homers when we really needed them. Great plays at shortstop. For 20 years, with all the quick moves, jumps and stretches of that demanding position. A leader, the 11th Captain of the Yankees and the one with the longest tenure. 

     Living his dream. The dream he discovered at 5-years-old. Shortstop for the New York Yankees.

     An old-fashioned dream for a time of free-agents and mega-salaries and contract disputes. Just a dream to PLAY ever day.

     An old-fashioned determination for a time when slacker isn't always a derogatory term.

     Then, the fairy-tale ending.  The game-winning walk-off hit, the steady nuclear family in the seats, the tip-of-the-hat salute from his tiny nephew. All on what would have been the Scooter's 97th birthday. 

     Almost too perfect?

     No, just perfect enough. 

     Because we do need another hero.

     And we got one. 
 

What's Wrong with Being Rich?

Well, nothing, actually. Nothing wrong with being rich.

What is hard to take for the more "average" folks, is the situation that surrounds some of the very rich.

When four of the top 10 richest people in America are the owners of a retail chain that is known for paying employees poorly after hiring people too dumb to catch shoplifters and bad check artists and sells crap made my slave labor in East Asia, there's something wrong with that.

When people become millionaires by pushing paper around rather than actually making something, there's something wrong with that.

When attorneys get one-third of an obscenely huge settlement granted by jurors for lawsuits filed by people who refuse to take responsibility for their own lives, there's something wrong with that.

When people are paid huge sums for playing a sport but not for educating our children, there's something wrong with that.

There's nothing wrong with Warren Buffett being rich. Or Bill Gates -- well, there's a lot wrong with Windows. . .

I do know people who have a problem with the rich in general. I don't get that. Sure, if they got rich building ticky-tacky houses. Or if they stole their money. But just for being rich.

People who won't watch the TV show, "Royal Pains" because it's set in the Hampton's, without even finding out what it's about.

Or hate books like The Great Gatsby or Gone with the Wind because they are about the "moneyed" classes without thinking about the other characters. Or the story.

People are people. I know a very wealthy man who sells his wares on QVC who is one of the most generous, decent people I have ever known. I know people who are struggling who are just as decent. Of course there are rich folks who are real creeps and poor people who beat up their kids and dogs. The amount of money doesn't correlate with what's in people's hearts. 

Connecting

Ohio gets a bad rap.

Oh, in some ways it deserves it. The river did catch on fire, but that was a long time ago. And people of my general can never think "Ohio" without thinking "four dead in Ohio." 

But, to be honest, Kent State is a beautiful campus, albeit with a lousy connotation. 

And all of Ohio isn't shabby and run down. A high school friend of mine lives in Ravenna which is pretty close to Pennsylvania. It's flat there, but not quite as flat as much of the mid-West. And when you move north and east of Ravenna, toward where the little piece of New York touches Ohio, (Who knew?) it's even almost hilly.

There are wineries in that part of Ohio. I traveled to two of them with my friend Cece. I was doing stories for Country Folks Wine and Grape and she came along for fun. It is always fun to do stories on wineries, only partly because you have to taste the wine. 

Most small vintners are enthusiastic about talking about their businesses. They are especially proud of the innovations they need to attempt to keep business flowing. 

Some have lots of events on their vineyards. They play host to Renaissance Festivals and music fests. Some allow weddings on their property, although others find they are too disruptive to the regular tours and tastings. 

Cece and I were pleasantly surprised at how good the wine was, across the board. Not a bad or overly sweet wine in the bunch. That's what we had expected.

 The wineries are lovely, too. Ambiance means a lot.

The rest of my trip was pleasure.

Cece and I went to the West Side Market in Cleveland. There may well be more portions of Cleveland you wouldn't want to walk through unarmed than in most cities, but there are also some cool things, including the market which has a large green market and an inside area with bakeries, meat markets and pretty much everything else. Of course, we went on a Saturday which was probably not a good idea. It was about as crowded as it could get. 

The market is in what was probably an old factory building.

That night we went to hear the Cleveland Symphony in it's summer home. Beautiful outdoor venue. Excellent music.

And lots of people who wanted to hear classical music. Which is comforting. Many of the people under the pavilion were older, but plenty of those sitting on the grass were young.

Much of what we did was connecting. Re-connecting. It's nice to get together with an old high school friend once in a while. 

And the Winner Is. . .

 

 

Journalism awards are controversial.

Some people feel it's unseemly to turn a professional action into a competition. Of course, journalists are notoriously competitive. Or at least they were in days when there were several newspapers covering the same city. Reporters would throw red herrings in each others path. Sometimes leaving false clues in the courthouse pressroom. Or faking a phone conversation another reporter is sure to overhear. 

 Yes, we are that bad. Every bit that bad. 

But should we be competitive about who wrote the best story in a given category? Or should that be reserved for students? 

Some folks say yes, but I disagree.

When readers say they like something we've written, it may mean they were mentioned in it. Or that they interpret it as being on their side of a story. Maybe they just like it. And maybe they are discerning enough to deserve an opinion. But it's not the same as recognition by one's peers. 

That's not saying journalism organizations don't like the money they make from contests. Although it's not easy money. Contests are complicated, probably more so now that they are totally online. Like many other things supposedly made easier by computers, this wasn't. 

The organization has to determine if the categories needs tweaking, then advertise the contest, they check over the entries and handle the money, which may come in by check or credit/debit card or through Pay/Pal. Then we have to round up judges: people in the business with a certain amount of expertise in a certain area of journalism. 

That may not sound too difficult, but journalists are busy people. We don't work 40-hour weeks. Even when we have part time jobs they take up more time than most full-time jobs. We also have families and some of us are involved in professional organizations. So finding a few of our colleagues willing to take even more time out of our busy schedules can be, um, challenging.

Sometimes we cajole. Sometimes we remind them of the time we got them out of a major cluster-foxtrot with an editor. Sometimes we outright bribe. Usually with pizza, but occasionally with other things. Then, once we have the judges, and the judging, we have to get the award certificates printed. Get plaques made for special awards and get them to the awards reception.

That's a chore in and of itself. First, we have to get the entire board of the organization to agree on a proper venue. Is it big enough? Can everybody see/hear the speakers? Can you get kosher meals? Can you get vegan meals (it's a darn good thing most journalists don't eat real healthy, more than one vegan in a group is grounds for felonious assault)? Is it easy to get to by public transportation? Then we have to decide about serving alcohol.

The booze question used to be easy. Of course you serve booze. These are reporters. 

 But today, even reporters think about liability. So there is an argument about booze. About hard liquor or wine only. About cash or open bar. Generally the answer is provide something alcoholic. 

On the day of the event, though, we all know it was worth it. 

Even the most seasoned reporter or editor or graphic artist knows the best recognition is an accolade from one's peers. It may not be a Pulitzer. It may just be a Spujie (the NJProfessional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalist). But it was chosen by our peers. 

Like finally being appreciated by the family.