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.
I've always maintained that there's no difference between a "scholastic" journalist and a "professional" journalist. Once you start gathering and authenticating high-value information to report to a broader audience because it has relevance and can help them make more informed decisions about their lives-- you're a journalist, period! And the information the journalist provides affects the community to which he/she reports, so scholastic journalists definitely have the same social responsibility to their audiences that commercial journalists have. And you're so right, it starts with teachers helping students become news-literate citizens.
ReplyDeleteIt has been sort of ingrained in many that the school media are simply mouthpieces for the administration. Before I got into scholastic media, that was certainly my perception. You're right, though, Katie: students can be powerful catalysts for change. Stories that raise awareness of comment on important issues can help students understand all sides and make informed decisions. Scholastic media have immense agenda-setting power when they're free to self-publish.
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