The State of Journalism in Illinois

This week one of Chicago Tribune's front page news stories was about the state of journalism in Illinois.  Vikki Ortiz Healy interviewed journalism teachers and stakeholders throughout the state to find out the status of newspapers in Illinois high schools.  She mentioned several programs that had been shut down because of money and cited an increase in pressure to increase test scores as another cause.  She did mention a Chicago high school's amazing ability to get millionaire magazine publisher Hugh Hefner to fund his childhood community's high school newspaper.  Overall she accurately portrayed that state of journalism in high school: declining.  Despite having started the entire journalism program at my school 5 years ago, I agree with her prognosis.  Even at my own school, I often wonder who is really reading The Phoenix Chronicle?  Do kids only read it because I make them?  If it disappeared tomorrow, would they even care?  These are troubling questions to answer when I have spent so much time and effort building what I consider a solid program that was meant to level the playing field between schools with money and ours.   A large reason I created the program was because I couldn't imagine a school without a yearbook or newspaper.  It just felt like another injustice.  Another normal high school experience that students without money miss out on. Because let's be honest it all comes down to money.  The best journalism programs in the state are at schools with money.  Why do programs get cut? Money.  Well that and good newspapers make the powers that be uncomfortable - no one wants a watchdog journalist on their tail, making sure they do what they say above ground. It's just sad that money dictates what our students learn or don't learn, what they experience or what they miss out on and what opportunities they have or don't.  That's why we have to keep fighting for our programs. And more importantly we have to encourage our kids to keep fighting.

Social Responsibility

Last night after Kentucky's winning streak came to an end, a Kentucky  player was caught referring to a Wisconsin player as the n-word.  The Kentucky player is African American and the Wisconsin player is white.  Today on ESPN Stephen A. Smith said in today's society African Americans are acostumed to using that term in a non disrespectful way, defending the Kentucky player. However, Smith did say that if the roles had been reversed and the white player said it about a blacker player it would be racist. I find it very disappointing that someone in the media is defending this athlete. The bottom line is that the n-word is a discriminatory word with a cruel history. No one should be "allowed" to say it.  I've never heard of a culture embrace a word that was once used to demean their race like African Americans use the n-word. Jews, Mexicans, Irish, Italians all at one point or another have been discriminated against with a derogatory term, yet none of these cultures have embraced the once hated word and made it their own. Many of my students use the n-word and I treat as a curse word. It has the same punishment as if a student said the n-word. What makes me even more infuriated than someone using the word, is when someone tries to defend the word saying it's okay because they are black.  If the roles had been reversed, there would be outrage right now. A similar event happened at a Chicago suburban high school recently. After the riots in Ferguson, Oak Park River Forest High School  held a Black Lives Matter assembly for only black students and staff. I was outraged and shocked that anyone would think this was a good idea. I didn't hear any mention of it in the local news, instead from a student. If the roles had been reversed much like this Kentucky-Wisconsin situation it would dominate the news. I believe the media  has the social responsibility to report any type of racism no matter who the victim. Blacks excluding whites or blacks using derogatory words towards whites should get the same reaction from the media and society. The media should not see color, just the truth.

Blogs?!?

While I was doing my homework for this class last night I was struggling. We were suppose to come up with a lesson plan to teach our students about blogs, however I don't read any blogs and I guess I still don't really get their purpose either. Well let me clarify- I don't see why a journalists would have one. I get the mom blogs where they share tips or complain about things and I've seen food and fashion blogs, but I'm struggling with the news blogs? From what I've gathered news blogs are a place for a journalist's opinion on current events. Please chime in at any time if I'm wrong or if you can explain this to me, but if a journalist is blogging about their opinion, then it isn't a source for news but instead a source for their opinion, right? As a reporter they wouldn't post news stories there because those would go in whatever publication they work for. I guess a freelance journalists could put work there as a sample or hoping their work gets picked up by a publication, but still the purpose of the blog is not news, it's self promotion. There is nothing wrong with self promotion, but it changes the intent of the blog. This blog I have here is for an assignment yes, but also to share resources with colleagues and students. I guess I could publish the articles I've written for class here, but does that make it a blog? The mere presence of a few news article? In the end I'm just not sure there is such a things as a "news blog". 

Social Media Tips

Our class chat the other night about social media and its role in scholastic journalism got me thinking about what advice I would give my students about their personal social media accounts.  I thought of how I manage my social media accounts and thought of a few tips:

1.     User Names:  Keep them appropriate, easy to remember and a representation of yourself. For accounts that require a first and last name rather than a user name abbreviate your full name.  For example: If I do not want to be easily found on a social media site like Facebook, I could use my middle name instead of my last:  Katie Marie.  This may make it harder for my friends to find me, but it will also make it harder for people I do not want to be friends with to find me.

2.      Profile Pictures:  When choosing a picture to represent yourself avoid pictures with others, so that someone may easily identify you.  Avoid pictures with anything illegal or that portrays you in a questionable situation.  Choose a photograph that is flattering, does not crop others out, and  that you would show your future employers as well as your friends.

3.     Posts:  When tweeting, writing on someone's wall or giving a picture a caption remember that grammar rules still apply.  Although abbreviations are often acceptable, especially when given a word limit, do not user more abbreviations than necessary.  Also do not hide behind social media or allow it to be a place to sound off.  If you would not say it to someone's face, it should not be said on social media.  Also one most consider who will see the post because not only can people respond, but they can also save what you have written even if you decide to delete it later.

4.     The Internet Knows No End:  Think before you post!  Once something has been posted, tweeted or shared it cannot be taken back.  People save photos, take screen shots of posts and hack accounts all of the time.  If you do not want something to be available forever then it is best not to post it, tweet it or share it.

5.     Explore:  Although it is important to be cautious, social media is a great tool for news gathering, building a following, establishing a personality and interacting with others!  Just don't do anything I wouldn't do! ;)

Sources

This week we have been talking about sources.  We have discussed whether anonymous sources should be used in scholastic media or not, as well as the importance of using a variety of sources.  Yesterday on the JEA listserve there was an email with the subject line "What to do when a source changes his/her mind?" The email was about a high school who was covering a local community college story.  The president, who had his share of controversy, was retiring and receiving a nice severance package.  The community was outraged at the amount he was receiving, which was what the story was focusing on - the community response.  The student journalist had interviewed, on the record, a professor at the college.  A few days after the professor emailed the student and said that nothing in the interview could be used without any explanation.  The adviser was emailing the listserv for advice.  This email really caught me off guard.  When I was thinking about whether or not anonymous sources should be used in a scholastic newspaper, I never even considered a source changing their mind.  Being a relatively new adviser there are many situations that I have never even thought of that happen all the time.   My first thought was to make a policy so that if we have these problems come up we will have a plan in place already.  However, I realistically know that won't work.  Every situation is different and handled individually.  It makes me uneasy but I think that situations that deal with anonymous sources and even sources backing out are something that you can't plan for.  I just have to teach my students to be the best journalists they can be.  

Page One

After finals, I had my students in Intro to Journalism watch the documentary Page One while I graded.  I've seen the movie dozens of times, but a lot of what it talked about resonated with what we have been talking about in both the Social Role class as well as my Editorial Writing class.  The documentary, although a bit dated now, follows David Carr and the Media Desk at the New York Times.  It primarily focuses on the changing landscape in the newspaper industry, but touches on many other topics that relate to journalism.  One of those being a journalist's responsibility.  I think that this ties into what we have been discussing in Social Role this week about objectivity.  Several times throughout the documentary they mentioned the arrogance that many feel the New York Times carries.  I believes this ties into objectivity, because the reporters from the NYT have to write objectively and not let their role or their job get to their heads.  It also means that the readers of the NYT have to read the paper objectively and form their own opinion.  The Judith Miller fiasco proves that reading too much into a reporter's story can lead to disastrous things.  In addition to touching on objectivity, the documentary also shows students the weight that the NYT and the media carries.  Having grown up without reading the newspapers, my students often do not understand the importance that a paper like the NYT has.  Page One speaks volumes to what the social role of newspapers was and is becoming today.  Overall, the documentary reminded me of the importance of newspapers as well as the power they hold.

What does it mean to be a citizen?

This week in class our readings and discussions were centered around the connection between civics and journalism.  Last year I taught a year long course titled Civics.  The first half was personal finance and the second was focused on civics.  We had several conversations about the definition of civics as well as citizen.  Every time we would come up with a new definition, which I think was okay.  I don't think there is one definite answer to what it means to be a citizen.  I especially believe that after volunteering one Saturday.  With the volunteer group at our school, I helped potential citizens study for their citizenship test.  Even with a degree in history, I still struggled with some of the questions on the test.  It was mind-blowing to see what people had to go through to become a citizen, something most Americans are oblivious to because they were born here.  This made me rethink the definition of citizenship even more.  As I shared my experience with my students we again changed our definition of citizen, but still felt that words could not describe what it meant to be a citizen.  Now thinking about it in a journalism context, I again find myself searching for a definition of citizen.  To be a citizen do you have to be news literate?  Do you have to vote?  Do you have to read the news?  Know what's going on in your community? Your city? Your country?  If the answers to these questions are yes, then much of America needs to begin their application to become an American citizen, myself included!  Although I can't define citizenship, rattle off endless facts about our founding fathers, or answer yes to my previous questions, I do know one thing.  Without journalism there wouldn't be any citizenship, for anyone.  Journalism, especially investigative journalism is what makes us a democracy.  Having the freedom of the press and freedom of speech allows us to be citizens.  There are too many countries today that do not have these freedoms and cannot question their government, do they even have citizens?  Or just prisoners?  Next time the discussion of what it means to be a citizen comes up with my students I am going to make sure to ask them how journalism ties into being a citizen, because like many Americans we take our freedom or press and speech for granted.  We take being citizens, not prisoners for granted. (Cue waving flag video and an instrumental of America the Beautiful)

The WHOLE truth

Walter Lippmann said, "News and truth are not the same thing...The function of news is to signalize an event. The function or truth is to bring to light hidden facts, to set them into relation with each other, and make a picture of reality upon which men can act."

This week in the Social Role of the Mass Media we talked about where truth belongs in news.  The above quote from Lippmann was given to the class by Professor Bowen before the week started.  It made me think of how and if truth and journalism exist together.  I think every journalists, especially a journalism teacher, wants to think that truth and news go hand in hand, however, our realistic side probably tells us that it's not as crystal clear.  News should absolutely have truth in it, but how much truth is actually in news?  In our class discussion, we said that there should be a balance, but could not define what the balance should be.  I searched for another word for balance, but couldn't find one.  Someone suggested using the word thorough and that seemed to work well.  There should always be a thorough investigation of truth, as well as thorough explanations in articles.  If a reporter can say to they thoroughly researched the topic then the article should be balanced, which is the goal.  It's not that I don't think journalists do this now; it's more so that I think that sometimes not all of the truth is told.  In other words, journalists, news stations, twitter members, whomever is sharing news have a tendency to leave out part of the truth when relaying the news.  So yes there is truth in news, but is it the whole truth and nothing but the truth?  Not so sure.  I hope to teach my students to always tell the whole truth and to always seek the whole truth. 

Thing Link

Week 1: Is there a social role for the media?

First I must explain that this is the first of many posts for my Social Role of the Mass Media course that I am taking at Kent State University as I pursue my masters.


This week one of our guiding questions was the social role of scholastic media.  At first I thought about what the social role of media was in general and I found myself agreeing with the Social Responsibility theory.  As I thought about that in relation to scholastic media, I thought that scholastic journalism may not have as large of a social responsibility as the mass media.  After all scholastic media focuses on what's going on at school: sports, clubs, awards, etc... Then as I was reading one of our assignments something clicked and I thought I must be crazy!  Of course scholastic journalism has social responsibility!  I'm not sure exactly what made me think of this, but all of a sudden I remembered all of the scholastic journalism pieces that had caused change in their school or community!  That is the social role of scholastic journalism, to be the watchdog at the school!! Why this originally slipped my mind, I'm not sure, but the more I think about it the more examples I can think of.  Recently I told my students and I read an article about a school newspaper who discovered a recent transfer student was a mid twenties sex offender!  And of course there is what is happened/ is happening in Neshaminy, Pennsylvania.  The editors of the Playwickian are changing the way national newspapers write!  They have gotten several people, probably hundreds of people to denounce the use of the term redskin! Talk about a social role! 

I'm disappointed in myself for even doubting the social role of scholastic media, but there is the high school newspaper definitely has a social  responsibility to its school, peers, and readers. And the teaches, not just journalism teachers, have a social responsibility to teach our students to be news literate citizens.