INSIDE EPORT High school R Spring 2010 VOL. XXXI, NO. 2 The Report chronicles how administrative STAFF censorship gutted a high school paper. Page 4 The Student Press Law Center Report (ISSN Julia Chapman, McCormick 0160-3825), published three times each year Foundation Publications Fellow, Cookie cutter policies pose a threat to by the Student Press Law Center, summarizes graduated from the Pennsylvania the freedom of high school media. current cases and controversies involving the State University in May 2009 with Page 8 rights of the student press. The SPLC Report is degrees in political science and researched, written and produced by journalism media studies. She worked at interns and SPLC staff. Penn State’s independent student newspaper, The Student Press Law Center Report, Vol. XXXI, The Daily Collegian, in various roles including No. 2, Spring 2010, is published by the Student page designer, copy editor and opinions editor. Press Law Center Inc., 1101 Wilson Boulevard, Julia also interned for Pennsylvania’s Office of Suite 1100, Arlington, VA 22209-2275, (703) Attorney General, and was a founding member of 807-1904. Copyright © 2009 Student Press Law Penn State’s chapter of Society for News Design. Center. All rights reserved. Yearly subscriptions to the SPLC Report are $15. Contributions are Stefanie Dazio, spring 2010 Ind. superintendent fights school board tax-deductible. part-time journalism intern, is a to protect his son’s right to free speech. Page 10 freshman studying print journal- ism at American University in Access Washington, D.C. She is currently The SPLC takes you through the some- a news assistant for the univer- times-bumpy path from open records sity’s student newspaper, The Eagle, and has request to comprehensive article. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Frank LoMonte interned at the New Jersey weekly newspaper Page 13 CONSULTING ATTORNEY: Mike Hiestand ATTORNEY ADVOCATE: Adam Goldstein the East Coast Star. Stefanie is also a staff College DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR: Beverly Keneagy writer for three New Jersey community papers When editorial cartoons cause printed by Amend Publishing. controversy on campus, the joke can be CORPORATE BOARD OF DIRECTORS on the student newspaper. Javier J. Aldape l E.W. Scripps Company, Laura Dobler, spring 2010 jour- Page 16 Chicago, Ill. nalism intern, graduated from the The decision to print names Caesar Andrews l University of Nevada at Reno S.I. Newhouse School of Public on the police blotter can A.J. Bauer l Freelance Journalist, New York, NY. Communications at Syracuse be a tough one for University with Bachelor of Arts Patrick Carome l WilmerHale, Washington, D.C. college journalists. degrees in photojournalism and Page 19 Jerry Ceppos l University of Nevada at Reno psychology. She was a photography intern at Virginia Edwards l Education Week, Bethesda, The Syracuse Post Standard and worked with Five student editors from Md. the Syracuse University magazine The Student Ireland, Canada, South Angela Filo l Yellow Chair Foundation, Voice as a reporter, photographer and multime- Africa, Singapore and Iraq East Palo Alto, Calif. dia producer. share their experiences Maureen Freeman l Newseum, with learning and practicing Washington, D.C. Katie Maloney, spring 2010 journalism. Page 20 Robert Garcia l National Public Radio, journalism intern, graduated from Washington, D.C. the Pennsylvania State University Internet Michael Godwin l WikiMedia Foundation, in December 2009 with a degree Anonymous speech can give students San Francisco, Calif. in media studies and a minor in the chance to be critical of their schools. Richard Goehler, Esq. l Frost Brown Todd LLC, French. She was a metro editor Page 28 Cincinnati, Ohio and later a designer at Penn State’s independent New and updated Frank LoMonte, Esq. l Student Press Law Cen- student newspaper The Daily Collegian. Katie websites have expand- ter, Arlington, Va. (ex officio) previously served as a broadcast reporting intern ed opportunities for Mark Stodder l Dolan Media, Minneapolis, at KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia, Pa. student media to share Minn. their news content. Nicole Ocran, spring 2010 Page 29 Reginald Stuart l The McClatchy Company, Silver Spring, Md. journalism intern, graduated from SPLC TipSheet Mark Witherspoon l Iowa State University, George Mason University in De- Ames, Iowa cember 2009 with a Bachelor of Laws requiring the disclosure of text- Arts degree in English and a minor book information offer opportunity for Organizations for identification purposes only in electronic journalism. She was investigative campus reporting. Page 33 Become a member & editor-in-chief of the university’s newspaper Broadside, and worked as a Web intern for The Legal analysis Donate online Washington Post Express. Shield laws are being expanded across the U.S. How does this affect student Contributors: Lindsay Boeckl, Adrian Frith, Rick Zalud journalists? www.splc.org and Bill Zars of the Chicago Daily Herald. Page 36 @ 2 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 SPLC NEWS RT @SPLC_org Privacy Protection Act a go-to tool for student editors When they make you the editor of your Media outlets across the spectrum – Get updates from the SPLC on college newspaper, one of the things they in- small and large, conservative and liberal – re- Twitter: Follow us @SPLC_org variably forget to tell you is what to do when acted with equal revulsion to the overwhelm- two truckloads of uniformed police officers ing force marshaled to intimidate students show up asking to search your newsroom. into giving up their rights. “Much as the The Post at University of Wisconsin - Fortunately, Katie Thisdell didn’t have hooligans at JMU deserve to face justice,” the Milwaukee obtained a favorable settle- to be told. The editor of James Madison Washington Post editorialized, “there are ways ment in an open records lawsuit against University’s The Breeze for all of two weeks, to pursue it that do not involve trampling the the university. Post editors filed the suit Katie had her priorities exactly straight: (1) First Amendment and intimidating college after the university submitted heavily dry your hair (if, like Katie, the phone call journalists.” The Star-Exponent in Culpep- redacted documents in response to an comes when you’re in the shower), and (2) per, Va., said the prosecutor’s actions “made a open records request, citing FERPA as call a lawyer. mockery of the First Amendment’s guarantee the reason for removing information. Katie’s poise under duress – a demand of freedom of the press.” to turn over 900 unpublished photos of a The collegiate media was equally- vigi A jury Washington found that Emerald street-party-turned-riot, under threat that ev- lant. “We understand the whole investiga- Ridge High School’s student newspaper, ery camera and computer in the newsroom tion thing,” said South Carolina’s Daily The JagWire, did not violate students’ would be impounded – was one thing that Gamecock, “but they need to understand the privacy rights when it printed informa- kept the April 16 confrontation from turning whole law thing before taking advantage of a tion about their sexual histories in a into a disaster. student staff.”The Daily Princetonian called it series of articles addressing casual sex The other was a timely rescue from “a sobering reminder of the vulnerability of among students. The jury determined volunteer attorneys Seth Berlin and John student publications and the importance of that the articles were newsworthy. O’Keefe of Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, fighting unscrupulous police action against LLP, two of the 150 volunteer lawyers who them.” The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in make up the Student Press Law Center’s At- TheHerald at Western Kentucky Univer- Virginia restored a ban on alcohol ad- torney Referral Network. Their legal team sity pinpointed exactly why police intrusion vertisements in Virginia college news- jumped on the case within minutes of the into a newsroom cannot be justified for any- papers, ruling that the advertising regu- raid, and – after giving the Commonwealth’s thing less than a life-and-death emergency: lation did not infringe on the students’ Attorney a crash course on the federal law “If newspapers were subject to the constant First Amendment rights. against newsroom searches – got the wrong- search of police, journalists would essentially fully seized photos returned. become an arm of the law instead of neutral California’s state Senate passed a bill There are times when, disappointingly, observers of fact.” including charter schools in the state’s the professional news media fails to rally That’s why Congress enacted the Pri- comprehensive student free expression behind embattled student journalists and to vacy Protection Act of 1980, specifically in law, ensuring charter school students appreciate what is at stake when their future response to the search of a college newsroom speech rights equal to those in tradi- colleagues are bullied and muzzled by the au- at Stanford University – and why every stu- tional public schools. thorities. dent editor should get to know the PPA, and Not this time. This time, the outcry from remember Katie Thisdale’s example: “Lather. A column expressing opinons on date the friends of the First Amendment was im- Rinse. Rights.” rape led to outcry on American Univer- mediate, unanimous – and loud. -By Frank LoMonte sity’s campus after it was printed in the school’s newspaper, The Eagle. The con- troversy reached the national media and SPLC remembers student journalism advocate led to the paper’s top editors printing apologies and holding a forum to dis- Thomas E. Rolnicki, a longtime friend cuss the issue. of the Student Press Law Center and a mentor to many of today’s scholastic jour- The conflicting rulings in Layshock v. Hermitage and J.S v. Blue Mountain nalism leaders, passed away on Decem- were vacated by the 3rd U.S. Circuit ber 20, 2009, at the age of 60. Court of Appeals. The full court will now In a gesture of exceptional kindness hear arguments for both online speech and generosity, Tom’s family designated cases. the Student Press Law Center as the char- ity to receive donations in his memory. And be sure to catch the latest We warmly thank Tom’s sister, Cath- news from the SPLC online: erine Molstad, and Tom’s entire family – including his extended “journalism fami- www.splc.org ly” – for thinking of the needs of the SPLC facebook.com/StudentPress during their moment of deepest loss. courtesy of national scholastic press association

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 3 high school

Their

The Report’s Nicole Ocran details last the devastating role censorship played in the mass editorial exodus from a once-great high school paper resortfter 12 solid months of prior aren’t playing fair, people who aren’t play- or to the Jan. 30 issue and the prior review review and administrative cen- ing by the rules, if you’re in a situation that policy was not created as a result of it. sorship chipping away at The you can’t win, it’s something that you have Ribot recalled a completely different StatesmanA, Stevenson High School’s once- to consider,” Ribot said. climate before the publication of their award winning student newspaper has be- package on “hooking up.” come a shell of its former self. Beginnings of controversy “I remember learning in the journal- Following the paper’s placement under The series of articles on the “hooking ism classes as a freshman about how fortu- prior review in January 2009, editors were up” culture was just the beginning of a nate our paper was to have such a support- told that the measure was only temporary. long fight over the content in The States- ive administration, about all the positive Meanwhile, issues of The Statesman were man. things, about how our principal stood censored and the editors were giving up On Jan. 30, 2009, The Statesman pub- up for us, things like that. Obviously the hope. Eleven out of the 14 staff members lished a string of articles that covered teen- culture, for the last 12 months, has been of The Statesman left their positions after age sex and dating from a variety of per- completely different,” Ribot said. prolonged conflict with their administra- spectives. Reporters interviewed students, tion over their ability to publish a student- teachers and professionals who discussed With review comes censorship run newspaper. the psychology behind casual sex and its Under new advisers and a policy re- For the students who walked away, the popularity among teenagers. quiring prior review of each newspaper, resignation was not meant to send a mes- Reacting to the articles, the Stevenson the staff ofThe Statesman had to endure an sage or to get attention. It was the only op- administration placed the formerly au- onslaught of administrative censorship in tion left. tonomous Statesman under prior review the months following the Jan. 30 issue. “We just did it because it was the right, in February 2009, requiring then-Com- Administrators refused to print the the principled thing to do for ourselves, for munication Arts Program Director David Nov. 20 issue, objecting to articles address- the newspaper staff based on the circum- Noskin to review each issue before it goes ing shoplifting and teen pregnancy, and a stances given to us,” former managing edi- to print. front-page article that used anonymous tor Evan Ribot said. As a result of the newly restrictive sources to discuss the school’s substance By quitting, former editor-in-chief Pa- policies, former adviser Barbara Thill abuse (“no use”) policy after Selman sub- mela Selman said it felt like she lost the stepped down from her position in April mitted a copy of the issue to the adminis- battle, but was the only decision left. 2009. Under Thill—and not under prior trative review board for prior review. Staff “It was definitely one of the hard- review—The Statesmanwas awarded a cov- members silently protested the censorship est decisions I’ve made during my high eted National Scholastic Press Association of the Nov. 20 issue by “passing out” non- school career…It was such a huge part of Pacemaker in 2005 and 2007. existent newspapers to students at the en- [the staff], and for me personally, I put so “We were told [prior review] was the try doors of the school. much into fighting this battle this year… administration helping us out and doing That same day, Jim Conrey, director of And we did all of that, for what?” Selman its duty as an educational body to help and public information at Stevenson, released said. protect its students. Our ‘hooking up’ is- a public statement detailing the review Ribot said he feels that sometimes sue, in the school’s eye, demonstrated our board’s decision to pull the Nov. 20 is- walking away from the situation is the inability to recognize our boundaries, and sue. In the statement, administrators said only option and that other student jour- thus additional oversight was needed,” Ri- advisers did not think having anonymous nalists should not be afraid to quit if the bot said. sources in an article discussing alleged il- situation calls for it. In past interviews, administrators said legal activity was “fit for print.” It also “If you’re dealing with people who they had concerns with The Statesman pri- explained that while the advisers gave the

4 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 editors the option of holding the article until it could be changed, they decided to run a blank cover, which was not a suitable solution for administrators. Days later, staff members were then told to publish a newspaper comprised only of administration-approved content. After being told their grades were depen- dent on the issue’s distribution, the staff requested to remove their bylines from the published stories approved by admin- istrators and to include an editor’s note explaining the circumstances under which the issue was being published. They were denied both requests by administrators. “The clearest First Amendment viola- tion was compelling students to put their names on a product and distributing it. When you’re talking about compelling people to put their name on a product that isn’t theirs, it’s a slam dunk First Amend- ment violation,” said Frank LoMonte, ex- ecutive director of the Student Press Law Center. In the Dec. 18 issue, administrators again prevented an article discussing the use of prescription drugs from being pub- lished. In another act of protest by the staff, a blank page and an editor’s note of explanation were published in its place. The article reported on drugs and their side effects, and included the story of a fe- male student openly discussing her use of birth control pills. In a publicly released statement, Board President Bruce Lubin said that though the article addressed a Top: At the Steven- newsworthy topic, the administration son high school could not publish personal medical infor- school board meet- mation about a student. ing in December, The student editors obtained volun- former Statesman managing editor teer legal help through the SPLC from Evan Ribot prepares Chicago attorney Gabriel Fuentes, a for- to speak to the mer journalist, and his firm, Jenner & board. Center: Ribot Block LLP. But even with Fuentes’ assis- presents his state- tance, the students were unable to obtain ment, requesting that the Stevenson any meaningful concessions from admin- administration give istrators. the Statesman staff After the Dec. 18 issue and failed clear publica- meetings between administrators and the tion guidelines. Bottom: Former staff members of The Statesman in regard Editor-in-Chief Pam to censorship and content guidelines, the Selman attended the newspaper staff decided to take their issues meeting to speak to the school board. out on behalf of the Selman and Ribot spoke out against Statesman. Photos censorship and prior review at the school’s courtesy of Bill Zars/ Chicago Daily Board of Education meeting in December Herald. 2009. Ribot said he and the newspaper staff had been questioning the adminis- tration’s establishment of prior review for months—its purpose, necessity and how

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 5 long it would be upheld. not been held accountable for. And look- packet of instructions that students and Selman said the ultimate goal of their ing at the students as mere subordinates administrators are able to follow when speech at the board meeting was not to lift rather than as partners in education, they tension builds. prior review. do grave disservice to the school commu- Swikle said the idea behind this pro- “They do have the right to do that. We nity.” tocol, which is not binding, is to create don’t support it, but we respect that they Although staff members were frustrat- a framework to use ethics to resolve dis- have the right to do it. We were moreso ed that their questions about prior review agreements. Stan Zoller, an IJEA board asking them to stop censoring to a ridicu- were not being answered, Ribot said they member, complied the response plan with lous point,” Selman said. tried to change their focus to opening the contributions from the SPLC. Selman said she and other staff mem- channels of communication and creating The response plan offers advice on re- bers just wanted to know when prior re- a better relationship with the administra- sources, contact information and language view should be applied and did not want tion. choice. to be given the runaround by the admin- “We worked really hard to set up meet- “A protocol like this has great benefit istration. ings, talk to our administrators…and for in that helps to enhance accountability… “I think there was a lot of being told the most part, every time we tried to do It makes that stuff more transparent, which one thing and the next day they were say- that, it came back to bite us. We thought will help you have a more meaningful dis- ing the polar opposite. They were strongly that we were trying to get on even ground, cussion,” Swikle said. urging us to communicate with our advis- be respectful, and create an honest rela- The rapid response plan was distrib- ers rather than talk to them, saying that tionship. A lot of times, they did not hold uted to JEA regional directors and is avail- they didn’t have anything to do with it. up their end of the deal, and that was very able to download on the organization’s But once you open up prior review, you frustrating,” Ribot said. Web site. have everything to do with it. And admin- The students were asking for clear stan- istrators need to be willing to cooperate dards as to what content would be suitable Walking away with their students, they need to be will- for them to publish. Quitting is no easy feat for the dedi- ing to listen to them…I think I have every “What the students were asking for cated. Walking away from The Statesman right to talk to my administrator,” Selman was incredibly modest,” LoMonte said. is something that Selman, Ribot and other said. “They were really just begging for advance student journalists never thought they At the December board meeting, a warning as to what would be censored. would have to do. The decision was made statement was issued on behalf of the They didn’t want to put a lot of time and after the students felt their prolonged ef- Board of Education by Board President effort into work that would be inevitably forts to communicate with administrators Bruce Lubin. The statement declared, shot down.” had failed. Their resignation as a result of “The Statesman is not a ‘public forum,’ but LoMonte said the struggle between the turmoil with administration has left a rather, an educational and curriculum en- administrators and students has changed somber mood over high school journal- deavor.” over the last 12 months into more than ism. In every issue of The Statesman prior just prior review and censorship. The decision was difficult for both -Sel to the December board meeting, the mast- “I think this stopped being about jour- man and Ribot, who joined the newspaper head stated that the newspaper is a public nalism a long time ago for the school and staff as sophomores after taking a journal- forum, said Randy Swikle, state director started being about power and control. ism prerequisite course as freshmen, but for the Illinois Journalism Education As- This is about breaking their spirit and was not one they went into lightly. sociation. breaking their will,” LoMonte said. “It was a really significant decision to “My question is, who is holding the make because obviously it was something school board there accountable for say- A catalyst for change that we had all cared so much about. And ing it’s not an open forum? When did the Tension and animosity between stu- resigning, I can’t even describe how diffi- board adopt this viewpoint?” Swikle said. dents and administrators in schools like cult it was. It took a long time and a lot “School officials have made many false Stevenson and sparked the IJEA’s idea for of discussion to reach that decision,” Ribot and misleading statements that they’ve a rapid response plan, which includes a said.

6 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 “It was pretty much the one big con- and that she might want to practice First are relying on students from prerequisite stant throughout my high school career— Amendment Law. Ribot plans to attend courses to help hand the latest issues of the it was something I really enjoyed,” Ribot college and continue journalism as a hobby paper to students. She added that the four said. that he continues to be passionate about. remaining staff members of The Statesman are the only students producing copy, and What the future holds New-old guidelines does not think merging the two courses The Statesman has been a model high Kelly Bauer—current editor-in-chief would be beneficial, saying that the- pre school newspaper in the region. of The Statesman—continues to echo what requisite courses are essential to the news- Huntley High School in Huntley, Ill. Selman and Ribot have been asking the paper production course. is about an hour away from Stevenson administration for all along: open commu- “We think that [prerequisite courses] and is in another district, but its student nication and clear guidelines of what they are really key components... We’d like to newspaper staff knew all about the clash can and cannot print in the newspaper. But have them be seasoned reporters because we between Stevenson administrators and stu- her outlook on administrative censorship know we can rely on them and that they’ll dent editors. get all their sources verified,” Bauer said. Victoria Luisi, editor-in-chief of She said she prefers working with the cur- Huntley High School’s The Voice, started rent staff members because they are reliable off her high school journalism career ex- and have been on staff for a long time. actly like Selman and Ribot and said in Conrey said new policy guidelines for the past, she looked up to The Statesman The Statesman were set on Jan. 7, 2009, as “a great scholastic newspaper.” She said about a month after 11 staff members she used The Statesman as an example for resigned, in a meeting between the four what The Voice could do. After taking note remaining staff members of the newspa- of the controversy between administrators per, advisers Matthew Lockowitz and Lisa and student journalists at Stevenson, Luisi Lukens, as well as administrators. is disappointed that The Statesman is noth- Conrey said the guidelines clarify what ing like it used to be. is expected of the students who remain in “The administration needs to step back the newspaper production class and how and see the insurmountable damage that they will be graded. The production sched- they have done to this once great program. ule has been changed to give faculty advis- Better communication with the student ers more time to edit copy. editors was needed, instead of immediate “There are certain things they are going review and action,” Luisi said. to be judged on in terms of what it would Ultimately the administration must ac- be like if they were on a newspaper, you knowledge that its students are an equal part know, meeting deadlines, handling stress, in the journalism program, Swikle said. working with others, coming up with story “Any attempt to rehabilitate the jour- The censored Nov. 20, 2009, issue ideas, a variety of things. These things were of the Statesman was to feature a controverisal expose nalism program at Stevenson depends of the failure of the school’s “no use” policy. The admin- not really spelled out very well before and upon the willingness of administrators to istration objected to the use of anonymous sources in now it’s much clearer for the students,” recognize students as important stakehold- the story. Conrey said. ers and acknowledge the autonomy they However, Bauer—who was first in- have in determining the content of the looks bleak. Although the tension has died formed of the policy changes by an article student newspaper,” he said. down for now, she said she is positive it will in the Chicago Daily Herald— said the ad- Selman said both students and admin- come back once they are censored again. ministration had not discussed its plans for istrators have to be open to collaboration in “I just hope that the administration policy changes with the students and that order for the newspaper to run properly. will be able to make better changes in the she does not see them as policy changes but “It’s a two-way street… no one can future that would be better for The States- a rehashing of what the staff already knew. have a closed mind,” Selman said. man rather than better for the school,” The first issue ofThe Statesman was de- Although she is unable to write for Bauer said. layed as a result of most of the staff drop- The Statesman anymore, Selman has found The Statesman is currently being pro- ping the class in the beginning of the se- another outlet for journalism. About 20 duced within the newspaper production mester, Conrey said. student journalists including Selman, Ri- course comprised of four students. Bauer For Bauer, the decision to remain on bot and former Statesman staff members handles advertising, page design, and con- staff despite the frustrating conditions launched their own news website in March tent. She said each staff member is respon- comes from a sense of obligation to the through Chicago Now. sible for writing and editing content. Stevenson students and to future States- “We’re getting paid to do what we Conrey said the newspaper produc- man staff members. love, which is just ridiculous to us. It’s very tion course has been combined with the “I still love doing this, but, it’s so differ- exciting,” Selman said. advance journalistic writing course so that ent and they’ve really killed a lot of my pas- Aside from working on the new Web there are enough staff members to produce sion for it because I’ve had to see so many site, Selman said she plans to attend college the newspaper. Bauer said there are still of my friends leave and quit over this and and study journalism and political science, only four students on staff and that they it’s an impossible situation,” Bauer said. n

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 7 Pushing Policies NEOLA’s one-size-fits-all restrictions can weaken high school media

By Stefanie dazio features an hour-long Pow- erPoint webinar, narrated by What began as a routine Clapp and several attorneys. inbox check quickly turned The webinar details how into a near-nightmare for Ben to limit student free expres- Harwood, the adviser of Sea- sion, so as to “prevent unnec- holm High School’s student essary litigation and unwant- newspaper, The Highlander. ed publicity,” says one of the In fall 2009, Harwood re- presenters. ceived an e-mail that said his district’s publications policy The Policy would soon be changed, due NEOLA, which operates to a procedural update by a in Florida, Indiana, Illinois, company named NEOLA. Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin The company’s name didn’t and West Virginia, recently ring a bell for Harwood. The changed its Publications acronym didn’t spell out any- Policy 5722, giving school thing familiar. All Harwood districts increased latitude to had to go on was his reporter’s regulate student expression. gut instinct, screaming that Clapp said NEOLA does not something was wrong. operate nationally because it “It just didn’t seem to be would be too cost-prohibi- quite right,” he said. “Some- tive. thing just seemed to be off.” Should a district use this Harwood’s instinct turned update, their policy will have out to be correct – this pro- two different parts: a base posed policy update could option accompanied by ad- severely limit his newspaper’s ditional add-on clauses. Dis- ability to publish freely. tricts choose one of four base “Where is this coming Seaholm High School students and administrators meet in January 2010 to discuss the pro- options – none of which are from? What provoked this?” posed publications policy changes. Clockwise from left: Highlander Co-Editor-in-Chief Josh Co- open public forums (a choice The Highlander’s co-Editor-in- hen, News Editor Emily Gordy, Groves Administrator Mike Lonze, Deputy Superintendent Paul DeAngelis, Opinion Editor Mari Manoogian, Highlander Adviser Ben Harwood and Highlander Clapp compared to “the town Chief Lanie Barron said she staff member. Photo Courtesy of Highlander Photo Editor Lindsay Boeckl. square”) – varying in degrees wondered when the update of restriction. was first proposed. consulting company that sells almost Option 1 – which Clapp Student press advocates recently began 400 pre-written policies to school boards likens to the previous edition of Policy to question how this company’s standard- in seven states, with topics ranging from 5722 – employs the most administrative ized publications policy can affect and even structuring safety patrols to organizing oversight, while Option 4 grants students limit student First Amendment rights. student fundraisers. the most responsibilities and control over “These policies that they come up with “We’re a consulting firm that provides their publications. are pretty cookie-cutter,” said Brian Wil- people with options,” NEOLA President The Supreme Court’s 1988 Hazel- son, treasurer of the Michigan Interscho- Dick Clapp explained. wood School District v. Kuhlmeier deci- lastic Press Association. “It’s a one-size- Clapp served as the superintendent sion recognized that student media can fits-all, where they’re trying to just sort of of Woodbridge Local School District in operate either as a “limited public forum” throw something out there that will work Ohio for twelve years, before purchasing or a “non-public forum.” Students in a for any school district.” NEOLA and retiring in 2000, according “forum” publication enjoy greater edito- to an article in the Akron Beacon Journal. rial autonomy than in a Hazelwood pub- The NEOLA To explain Publications Policy 5722’s lication, which administrators can more The Northeast Ohio Learning As- update – the update Harwood faced – to readily censor. sociation (NEOLA) is an educational school administrators, NEOLA’s website The executive director of the Stu-

8 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 dent Press Law Center, Frank LoMonte, said that Option 1 cannot legitimately be called a “model” because it strives to The Options give students the fewest rights allowable by law, and may even go further than the The update to NEOLA’s Publications Policy 5722 offers schools four law allows. base options on which to build their policy. The options offer increas- “A Hazelwood policy is one inch away ing levels of student media freedom as they increase numerically. from being unconstitutional,” LoMonte said, calling Option 1 “an extremist and unbalanced policy.” Option 1 The Option 1 Argument Despite NEOLA’s insistence that the Taking the crown as NEOLA’s most restrictive publications poli- company does not care which option a dis- cy, this option determines all school-sponsored student media to be trict chooses, Wilson believes NEOLA and nonpublic forums that are “subject to routine prior review/restraint.” its attorneys advocate for the most restric- Option 1 includes a broad view of the “pedagogical concerns” that tive policy – Option 1 – both on paper and can be used as justification for censorship of student media, citing in person. He said the order of the options “teaching by example of the shared values of a civilized social order,” – from most restrictive to least restrictive – including values like courtesy, civility and respect for authority. is misleading to readers. “It kind of sets up a hierarchy of ‘hey, the number one policy is the one that you should do,’ ” Wilson said. To John Bowen, the webinar strongly Option 2 supports the highly restrictive Option 1. Bowen is the assistant director for the Cen- This choice allows schools to “identify specific student publica- ter for Scholastic Journalism at Kent State tions/productions” as limited-purpose public forums that are subject University – a national organization work- to prior review and restraint for four reasons: poor grammar or writ- ing to expand journalism education and ing, a legitimate question of age appropriateness, matters beyond the editorially independent student media. scope of the forum are discussed and “where the content involves “It’s negative toward teachers, it’s nega- unprotected speech.” The limited purpose public forums are “not in- tive toward students,” he said of the webi- tended to address general matters of public concern.” nar. “It’s an ‘us versus them’ attitude.” Bowen has been in contact with NE- OLA in an attempt to revise the policy to be more favorable to students, including the removal of an add-on provision that Option 3 can limit political speech. The Center Described as the “second most permissive option,” Option 3 also will not endorse any of the four options identifies specific publications as limited-purpose public forums. in their current forms, because while the options for limited-purpose public forms These student publications will not be subject to prior review or re- are more student-friendly than the non- straint by the school, except in cases of unprotected speech. Student public forums, they still include prior journalists involved in the limited-purpose public forums have the review or restraint in the case of unpro- right to make content decisions. The school assumes no liability for tected speech, which is not defined in the the content of the limited-purpose public forum publications. policy. Clapp, however, defends NEOLA’s claim that it does not advocate any partic- ular option, but that the decision should reflect individual school and community Option 4 values. He said he instructs NEOLA asso- Under this option, all student media not related to classes are ciates who work with individual districts not to give any of their own opinions to deemed limited-purpose public forums that are not subject to prior the clients. review or restraint. Option 4 is the most “liberal” option, putting a sig- nificant amount of editorial control in the hands of the students. The Legally Speaking media controlled under Option 4 contain a notice to the reader that The attorneys dominate the webinar, the content is student-directed and not prior reviewed. Like Option 3 explaining the benefits of administra- the school assumes no liability for content. tive control over student publications. At NEOLA, page 12 Source: NEOLA’s Tool Kit Publication, January 2009

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 9 Photo courtesy of Rick zalud

Family values Veteran school administrator stands up for son’s speech rights

By Nicole Ocran taught all levels from pre-school to high school, but predomi- nantly pre-Kindergarten to eighth grade. When the Lake Central, Ind., school board met to discuss His son, Michael Majchrowicz, is editor-in-chief of The Scout a high school principal’s removal of newspapers from the stands at Lake Central High School. In December 2009, Michael wrote in response to an editorial mildly critical of the former football an editorial endorsing the resignation of Lake Central’s football coach, the board heard a forceful argument in favor of student coach, which prompted administrators to remove the remain- free-press rights from an unexpected source: Another school ad- ing issues of The Scout from the stands in February. The editorial ministrator. stated that a change was needed to the football program after its The veteran school administrator, Dr. Joseph Majchrowicz, past three losing seasons, and praised the administration’s efforts was also in an unaccustomed position – speaking in front of a to remove the coach and improve the program. school board not as a superintendent or principal, but as the par- After its publication, Assistant Superintendent Lawrence Ve- ent of a censored student journalist. racco said some students complained to the assistant principals After his son was faced with administrative censorship at Lake about the editorial. As a result, Assistant Principal Doug Mc- Central High School in St. John, Ind., Majchrowicz—superin- Callister removed the papers. At the school board meeting that tendent of Sunnybrook School District in Lansing, Ill.—spoke took place a few days later, Michael asked for the papers to be out at the school board meeting against the actions of the ad- returned. ministrators and advocated the First Amendment rights of high Citing the situation with administrators as a life lesson for his school journalists. son, Majchrowicz had not planned on being involved, and only Majchrowicz has had a lengthy 34-year career in education. gave him advice on who to talk to. After 16 years as a superintendent, 10 years as a principal and Even with a Facebook page garnering support from students, eight years as a teacher, he plans to retire in two years. He has alumni and other student editors from local schools to come and

10 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 speak out against Lake Central administrators, Michael still felt “I felt it was smoke and mirrors, I really felt it was a bad ad- his father’s input at the board meeting was necessary. ministrative decision that was allowed to continue and no one was “I have a pretty close and open relationship with my parents willing [to say they] can’t pull those papers off the newsstands,” to begin with. Given my dad’s background in education, I knew Majchrowicz said. from the start that he knew exactly what he was talking about Although the initial goal was to convince administrators to re- and to have that kind of support meant everything,” Michael turn the confiscated issues to newsstands, Majchrowicz wants the said. school to consider lifting prior review from the publication. He Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law suggests establishing a committee of administrators, staff mem- Center, said student journalists garnering parents’ support is criti- bers, parents and the editor-in-chief to consider alternatives and cal in any battle against school censorship. to look at other local high schools’ newspaper models that operate “We’ve seen over and over again that parental involvement is without prior review. the difference-maker, not only because it fortifies the confidence “They said they were going to review the practice [of prior of the students, but because a parent’s word is so much more per- review], and my fear is they’re going to come back with an even suasive to an elected school board member. That goes doubly, of more restrictive policy,” Majchrowicz said. course, if the parent has the credentials of a school administrator After the board meeting, the newspapers were returned to the who can say to his peers, ‘I know you want to minimize contro- stacks — but prior review still remains at Lake Central. Majchro- versy at your school, but there are more important values and pri- wicz said trust must be established between students and admin- orities than getting through the day without an annoying phone istrators in order to produce a quality newspaper without prior call,’ “ LoMonte said. review. Michael told his father he did not understand why he was “The sooner we can give them the appropriate type experi- being penalized for following the rules and it was unfair that ad- ences the better. That needs to be built on trust,” he said.

How can you engage kids in a democratic process when you continue to

censor their opinions? Dr. Joseph Majchrowicz “ superintendent , Sunnybrook School District ministrators could change the rules at any time. Although Illinois has a student free expression law to pro- “[He said], ‘I played by the rules… my staff played by the tect the rights of college journalists, Majchrowicz said protections rules... How come the adults in this world get to change the should start as early as possible in high school journalism” classes. rules mid-stream when it doesn’t fit their needs?’” Majchrowicz The Illinois College Campus Press Act provides student jour- said. nalists attending public colleges and universities in Illinois with Majchrowicz said he was “disappointed” with the decision to protections, in addition to the First Amendment, against admin- remove the newspapers from the stands and had several concerns istrative censorship. about how the administration handled the situation with the stu- The law passed in response to Hosty v. Carter in 2005, in dent newspaper. In his speech at the school board meeting, he which the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals indicated that the pointed out Lake Central’s mission statement and said it men- same limited First Amendment rights applicable in high schools tions engaging students in a democratic process. might also extend to college media. “How can you engage kids in a democratic process when you Majchrowicz thinks that student journalists in high school continue to censor their opinions? And this was an opinion col- should also be able to practice journalism without fear of admin- umn… it wasn’t of a derogatory nature, it wasn’t of a scandalous istrative censorship. nature, it wasn’t libelous, it wasn’t slanderous, it wasn’t inflamma- “It needs to begin at the high school level. If it doesn’t, then tory,” Majchrowicz said. how do high school students learn to deal with responsible re- The Scout operates under prior review, which Majchrowicz porting of the news in a trusting environment?” Majchrowicz takes issue with. He emphasized the establishment of trust be- said. “And if they don’t learn it at age 16, 17, when will they? It’s tween administrators and students as essential, and starts with like education in teaching kids how to read. We don’t wait until a dialogue between both parties. Communication is something they’re in third grade.” Majchrowicz thinks was missing from the situation. The Scout Majchrowicz emphasized the importance of open, two-way went through prior review and was vetted by the principal, but, communication that must be established between students and this did not stop other administrators from pulling the newspa- administrators to allow for students to practice responsible jour- pers off the stands. nalism. “The principal signed off on it, and yet another administra- From a successful student-administrative partnership comes tor was allowed to go and pull the newspaper, censoring them,” “an even more engaged, well informed school community with a Majchrowicz said. flourishing system of open communication,” Majchrowicz said. School board members did not seem willing to return the “That system will include, but not be limited to, the student confiscated papers and Majchrowicz said that they appeared to be newspaper from which the truthful, unbiased reporting of the merely “placating” those in support of The Scout. news will flow.”n

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 11 NEOLA, from page 9 to mandate that publications leave space pear like there’s a conflict of interest- be for rebuttals; and the ability to limit the tween the school employee and the local one point it is clearly stated that students’ distribution of the media. school elections,” he said. rights can be restricted, if done properly. But Pell argues that students must be “Many of you have, as I say, been The New Frontier able to report on these issues. Tinker’d to death,” one lawyer said, refer- New incidents of NEOLA activity in “Who better to do it than the consum- ring to the 1969 Supreme Court decision Michigan have increased, according to ers of the school?” she said. “They’re the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Commu- MIPA Executive Director Cheryl Pell, clients of the school, they’re the only ones nity School District that affirmed that stu- who recently saw five instances of districts who can cover the school really well, if dents do not lose their First Amendment entertaining a switch to the company’s up- they’re taught well.” rights at the schoolhouse gate. dated policies. Nagy said the newspaper’s current “I’m not even sure what a schoolhouse Pell says many Michigan school dis- practice – although on paper it is an old gate is,” he added. tricts seem to be willing to throw out a NEOLA policy – acts as an open forum. The lawyers stressed the importance of good practice for a bad policy. She works with the students directly on tying the media to curriculum, as well as “My NEOLA file just keeps getting content, without administrative oversight. to community values, in order to maintain thicker,” she said. “I’ve never had that If enacted, this policy would change district regulation of student media. many. If there are five, there are many the entire journalism program, Nagy said. “So in other words, if you’re teach- more that don’t even know the policy ex- Some students have already begun to con- ing that pre-marital sex sider leaving the paper, or teen sex is not a good for fear of censorship. thing, you can make sure Advertising will also that your publications be restricted should this don’t laud the attributes policy pass, as administra- of pre-martial sex by teen- tors will have the power agers,” one said. to prior review or restrain Clapp could not clari- ads, Nagy said. fy that statement, but said “It’s difficult, - be such restrictions must be cause that’s the only place content-neutral. where we get our money Clapp added that from,” she said. “We are there is a gap between not funded in any other case law and community way.” An after-school meeting discussing new policies takes place at Birmingham Groves High School. Photo understanding, as local by highlander photo editor Lindsay boeckl Nagy worries admin- residents are probably not istrators will not review well versed in the Tinker and Hazelwood ists and don’t even maybe know that their newspaper pages by deadline, because they decisions. He said that most citizens be- school boards might be trying to push it also must read content from the yearbook, lieve the school administration is liable for through.” the radio station and the morning an- the paper’s content, even though that may Some of these additional clauses will nouncements under the proposed policy’s not be the case. likely accompany Option 1 in the Plym- guidelines. “In the court of public opinion, where outh-Canton Community Schools’ publi- If the P-CEP Persepective does not make you’ve got to go out and pass school levies cations policy, which Mary Lou Nagy, ad- its deadlines, it could cause problems with to keep teachers hired and programs oper- viser of the student newspaper The P-CEP advertisers and the printer, Nagy said. ating, that may not be true,” Clapp said. Perspective, expects will be approved by the “It’s just uncharted territory,” she add- end of the school year. ed. More Limits Bob Hayes, the district’s director for In addition to the four options, dis- student services and the district’s attor- A Happy Ending tricts can pick and choose from a variety of ney Lisa Swem of the Thrun Law Firm in Some advisers are fortunate to have es- other add-on clauses to supplement their Lansing, Mich. – who does not work for caped this restrictive policy. policy’s base option, most of which further NEOLA – said the protection and control Harwood and his students were able to limit student free expression. available to the district in Option 1 made craft a policy to match their current prac- “The combined effect of the policy is it the most appealing. tice – a limited purpose public forum with- both likely unconstitutional and completely The Plymouth-Canton policy leaves out prior review or restraint – thanks to a deprives the editors of any shred of decision- room for the district to limit political good relationship with the administration making discretion,” LoMonte said. speech on the school level. It would not and the district’s deputy superintendent Such clauses include: the ability to allow the paper to make endorsements for educational services, Paul DeAngelis. prohibit political speech, where publica- in school-related elections or bond issues Harwood knows how lucky he is. tions cannot endorse any candidate or because the district pays for the adviser, “If we would have used one of ballot question; the ability to ban or prior Hayes said. the stricter NEOLA policies and not review advertising; the ability to require “It’s school-related issues that we don’t changed it, the program could very well bylines to accompany all work; the ability want them to take sides on to make it ap- have died.” n

12 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 access

Great stories are born from use of FOI laws By nicole ocran agencies’ practices and policies. The SPLC has an open-records letter generator on its “Documents are the backbone of great website, located at: https://www.splc.org/ reporting,” said Frank LoMonte, executive foiletter.asp, which can save time when director of the Student Press Law Center. constructing a request. Documents cannot forget. Docu - Information that is obtained from - ments do not try to mislead, and can offer open records requests can provide any context and value in an alternative way to thing from a potential lead to a series of - interviews and Google searches. investigative articles. However, taking ad The wealth of information now avail - vantage of Freedom of Information (FOI) able on the Internet does not replace the laws while working in student media can - value of a records request. Searching for be a difficult undertaking: high fees, priva records online can be useful, but can be - cy concerns, processing complications and come daunting or result in inaccurate complaints of vague requests are among findings. LoMonte said there is aper - a few problems commonly encountered. ception that the Web provides unlimited Student journalists can do their best to information so there is no need for gov - make the most of open records requests, ernment records anymore. He stressed the but these obstructions from government importance of tracing information back to agencies can be discouraging. the right source. To combat these problems, we offer It is important for student journal - you a walk-through of the FOI request ists to familiarize themselves with the es - process. These tips will help when you sential investigative tool of open-records encounter the most common stumbling law. FOI laws provide student journalists blocks requesters come across and allow with the opportunity to acquire interest - you to find what you are looking for in ing and useful information about public spite of the obstacles.

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 13 Neguebauer said it would be difficult for him to invest that much Motivation money into documents that would not be a guaranteed wealth of information. “Students are being discouraged from doing investigative sto- n December 2009, a study conducted by the Department ries or even getting the opportunity of possible leads because of a of the Public Advocate Mental Health Advocacy Division dollar figure,” Neugebauer said. “I think that’s too high of a dollar in New Jersey released a report that illuminated a disturb- amount to take a chance on [for] a struggling student newspaper ing Iissue on college campuses: students removed from their on- in any economy.” campus housing, as well as from their college, due to suicide at- This is not the first open records request Neugebauer has tempts. The report, titled “College Students in Crisis: Preventing made during his time at The Signpost. He recalled negotiating a Campus Suicides and Protecting Civil Rights,” highlighted “blan- $100 fee down to $60 for a past FOI request, but only received ket involuntary removal polices” among universities’ response ef- three printed documents at the $60 cost, which proved to be not forts and sparked the Student Press Law Center’s interest in seek- worth the money. ing similar records. A report like this begs the questions: Do other Despite the $150 charge University of Iowa asked for, Kelsey schools have these policies? And are they enforced? Beltramea, editor of the university’s student newspaper, The Daily The SPLC joined forces with student editors in Indiana, Iowan, said she plans to look for a potential story once she receives Alabama, Colorado, Utah, Ohio and Maryland, and requested the records from her university. Beltramea said she had money in schools’ policies when dealing with suicide threats and attempts her budget for the newspaper to use toward the request. on campus, and assessed the institutions’ responses the requests. The amount agencies can charge for open records retrieval The SPLC requested any policies concerning the removal of stu- varies by state, and for the most part the total amount can in- dents from campus housing, and/or from school enrollment, on clude: hourly rates for search and retrieval, compiling, formatting, the grounds of suicidal tendencies and/or suicide attempts; statis- redactions, and duplicating costs by page. tics on the number of suicide attempts on campus, and statistics George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. requested that the on the number of times removal policies had been enforced. Out SPLC make a deposit of $325 to the university before compiling of 42 schools, 10 were found to have removal policies. the requested records. Letters were sent out to colleges and universities across the In the request letter, it is helpful to specify the amount you are country in search of information about these policies and how willing to pay and to ask for notification should the cost exceed they were implemented when met with students at risk of suicide. the amount. It is important to know state law when it comes to The SPLC provided the student editors with the framework for open records fees, as many of them cap the fees at a certain rate. their open-records requests, which they modified for their own To cut costs, it may be helpful to ask the public records custo- needs. dian in person what it is you are requesting, to narrow down the selection of pages necessary to be copied. Looking should be free, and LoMonte suggests asking to inspect the document in person and flagging the specific pages to be copied. The fees “Only pay for what is absolutely necessary to obtain the re- cords… Look at the figure like a sticker price on a car. It’s nego- tiable. Once you receive the initial quote, pick up the phone and start haggling,” LoMonte said. $3,168 price tag prevented journalists at the University of Maryland’s student newspaper, The Diamondback, from receiving records from their university relating to suicideA threats and removal. FERPA/HIPAA Ben Slivnick, senior news editor for The Diamondback, ran into this fee roadblock after he submitted a FOI request to the university. After reviewing Slivnick’s request, the university re- quired the knee-buckling fee from The Diamondback, claiming unning up against the federal Family Educational the request would require the review of approximately 3,500 pag- Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a common issue es of electronic and hard copy documents, located in at least four when requesting records. FERPA prohibits schools separate offices. In order to respond to this portion of the request, fromR releasing students’ confidential “education records,” and the university said it would require approximately 67.6 hours of those that do are subject to having their federal funding cut. staff work. When Daniela Werner, managing editor for the University of Cimaron Neugebauer, news editor for Weber State Univer- South Alabama’s student newspaper The Vanguard, requested “all sity’s student newspaper, The Signpost, submitted a FOI request to records showing for the last five years, the number of documented the Utah university that required a $135 fee. Neugebauer said the suicide attempts on campus and the results of those attempts,” paper could not afford that as a student newspaper with limited among other records, the university’s response was, “FERPA pre- funds. vents the disclosure of these records.” The high cost made Neugebauer reconsider going through LoMonte said the burden is on the agency to point to some- with the request because he is not positive he will receive all of thing in the law that is a specific privacy issue. the documents he is looking for. Unwilling to receive only a few “A blanket reference to FERPA or HIPAA is unacceptable. pages worth of information, some of which may be redacted, They’ve got to show how it is a violation,” LoMonte said. “If you

14 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 have a good faith argument for the documents, you should push document, and is unclear.” George Mason University suggested back.” looking through the university’s Housing and Residence Life The SPLC encountered similar problems. Several schools handbook and the university’s website and encouraged the SPLC cited FERPA, or responded that they do not keep records on the to “narrow the scope of [the] request, while SUNY Plattsburgh number of documented suicide attempts by students on campus, requested a specific “period to time [the SPLC] would like docu- even though courts have said FERPA does not apply to anony- mentation for and what specific policies.” mous statistical information. Going through available resources online before requesting Rutgers University cited the Health Insurance Portability and documents to find information may be beneficial with any FOI Accountability Act (HIPAA) in response to the SPLC’s request of request. Tailoring the request to only summary data and without “each recorded suicide attempt.” HIPAA is meant to protect the student’s names can be useful, but the request may still result in a privacy of individually identifiable health information and limits FERPA objection. disclosures of protected health information by insurers or provid- ers to the minimum of what is needed for healthcare treatment. New Jersey Institute of Technology’s response letter said the Success SPLC’s request was “overbroad, and would unduly burden the public entity,” as well as cited FERPA and HIPAA, but attached the university’s “emergency withdrawal policy” available on their website. aking a successful records request is a great achieve- LoMonte said there are situations where it can be unclear as ment, but comes with more work: sifting through to whether there could be privacy or confidentiality violations in documents, adding context and making the best terms of FERPA or HIPAA. out Mof the information obtained. Gathering documents is only “If you get to where there is truly a gray area, ask to get names the initial phase of the reporting process. Conducting interviews and addresses blacked out. Confidentiality arguments can be upon findings will help you become more knowledgeable about made for medical and disciplinary records, but not for producing the subject matter. statistics,” LoMonte said. “Very often records can mislead you. You need personal inter- views to do proper reporting on the information. Even statistics can be misleading, and you need to make sure if it’s really news or just a record-keeping blip,” LoMonte said. Unclear request Rutgers provided the SPLC with the most information per- taining to the request, as well as detailed responses for each item request made in the FOI letter. pecificity in open records’ requests can be a no-win situ- Rutgers provided statistics from the Rutgers Housing & Resi- ation. Agencies can say that your request is overbroad dence Life department of the number of attempted suicides in if it lacks detail. However, you may be overly specific residence halls per year from 2006 to 2009. In addition, statistics in theS request, allowing for an overly literal interpretation that were provided from the Rutgers Counseling and Psychological allows the agency to withhold records not meeting your descrip- Services department on the number of student suicides per year tion with pinpoint accuracy. To combat this problem, have some from 2006 to 2009, and the number of student suicide attempts requests that are specifically targeted to what is needed, as well as per year, noting, “the number of students seen who have contem- broad requests. plated suicide is not reported.” “It’s better to start general and get a vague response from SUNY Plattsburgh also provided detailed responses for the agency, then you can pick up the phone and ask for sugges- each item requested. In response to the SPLC’s request of “all tions,” LoMonte said. records showing the makeup of any body, committee, council, LoMonte said it is important to do some reporting be- or board that is responsible for determining – either initially, or fore filing a request and have an idea of what to look for. upon appeal – the eligibility of a student to remain enrolled in “Know how the agency works, know who’s in charge of school and/or housed in campus after an event triggering the Poli- what and how they keep their files,” LoMonte said. cies,” SUNY Plattsburgh attached the names of faculty members Government agencies are not required to create records that who comprise the Mental Health Task Force, and who prepared don’t exist, so it is important to “reasonably describe” what is the university’s Suicide Prevention Program policy. SUNY Platts- needed from your request. The law requires that you request the burgh was the only university to respond to this specific request record in way that “reasonably allows” the record’s custodian to in the FOI letter. locate it without jumping in blindly. You may have to wait several weeks for a first response, or In at least a few cases, the SPLC request was denied for reasons make several phone calls and re-write letters only to have your that appeared legally well-founded. The University of Virginia, request denied. Determination is key, even if you are not able to Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University responded receive everything that you are looking for. The results are worth saying no such policies or records exist. Virginia Tech explained it in the end. n the reason there are no such policies is because Virginia Code §23-9.2:8, states no student may be “penalized or expelled solely For complete coverage of the SPLC’s 2010 Sun- for attempting to commit suicide, or seeking mental health treat- shine Week Open Records Audit, visit www.splc.org. ment for suicidal thoughts or behaviors.” For help beginning your own open-records investiga- Often times, requesting “all documents” lead to re- tion, use the SPLC’s FOI letter generator, available sponses that read: “This request does not seek a specific existing at www.splc.org/foiletter.asp. SPLC Report l Spring 2010 15 College

Cartoons spark controversy on college campuses

By Katie Maloney Steve Kelley, president-elect of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, said the editorial freedoms given to car- There’s something funny about controversy. toonists separate them from other journalists. When a juicy story surfaces, editorial cartoonists nationwide “We get to break all the rules of journalism. We get to exag- jump to see who can create the most tongue-in-cheek illustration. gerate; we never have to offer a solution. We sit around and point Recently, three college papers came under fire for printing car- out the flaws and throw pies at people. We just don’t have the toons critics considered offensive or insensitive. Though the law rules that reporters have. There’s no stricture on a political car- offers protection for the content of cartoons, it does not protect toonist to be fair,” said Kelley said. them from the consequences of controversy. But the staffs of the Alligator, the Collegiate and the Observer At the University of Florida, what some considered an ill- learned that breaking some of these rules causes more trouble timed sex cartoon about Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti led to than others. turmoil for the editors at The Independent Florida Alligator, and a cartoon published by Delta College’s Delta Collegiate comment- “We’re not going to be bullied.” ing on new crime statistics for the school’s city of Saginaw, Mich. In January 2010, The Independent Florida Alligator added was seen as effective by some, but racist by others. something racy to its weekly entertainment magazine, The Av- The cartoon that garnered the most negative attention and enue: “sextoons.” These naughty student-drawn graphics feature had the most serious ramifications for a newspaper staff came current events-based ‘sex positions of the week,’ like the “Drop- from The Observer, the student newspaper at the University of Add,” and later, “The Snuggie,” said Alligator Editor-in-Chief Notre Dame. The cartoon had a punch line about violence against Chelsea Keenan. gay students and resulted in the resignation of one of the news- The third sextoon of the semester featured a couple having paper’s editors. sex on a table while texting a number to the Red Cross to donate “Editorial cartoons are supposed to be controversial,” said to Haiti relief, a well-known fundraising campaign that raised Chris Lamb, a professor of communications at the College of millions of dollars for the nation devastated by an earthquake in Charleston in South Carolina. January. Lamb is the author of Drawn to Extremes: The Use and Abuse of This cartoon garnered negative attention, the likes of which Editorial Cartoons in the United States. His book examines several the paper had not received for any of the previously published historical editorial cartoons and the legal issues they have faced. sextoons, Keenan said.

16 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 The paper’s goal was to use what had become a weekly fixture In the second panel the man is in Bay City and a resident in the paper to further the cause of “Gators for Haiti,” another brags of the city’s number of bars and offers him a beer. In the on-campus group that was raising money to help fund relief ef- third panel he is in Saginaw, where a masked man tells him they forts, Keenan said. have “the most violent crime in the U.S.” and says “Here’s a bag Though the Alligator is independent of The University of of drugs to thank you for stopping by,” only to pull out a knife Florida, when the cartoon backlash reached the university presi- in the final panel and say: “Ok, now give me all your money… dent, with one e-mail to him calling the cartoon “pornographic,” and drugs.” and negative letters to the editor began rolling in, the staff decided Bachleda said a large number of Delta College students are it was time to address the issue, Keenan said. from Saginaw County and are directly affected by these violent This was compounded by a call the paper received from The crimes. Red Cross, concerned with the organization’s potentially negative “They’re studying in their homes and there are gunshots out- portrayal in the cartoon. side,” she said. “We didn’t want [The Red Cross] to be upset and think Some outspoken community members claimed the cartoon the Alligator wasn’t supportive of what they were doing,” Keenan was racist, since the criminal drawn in the final two panels is said. wearing a black mask. The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” began the Bachleda said staff members predicted people might take is- next day’s editorial, which issued the paper’s mea culpa for any sue with how the criminal was portrayed, a problem they tried to offense caused by the cartoon, but defended its inten- prevent by not giving the character an ethnicity and try- tions. ing to make him seem very cartoon-like. The car- “We owned up to it,” Keenan said. toon was drawn by one of the paper’s regular “We said: ‘We’re students. We are cartoonists, with input on the text from learning. We’re trying to figure a reporter. things out.’ … Our joke didn’t “We don’t think that there is a come across and it fell a little racial component to this issue of flat.” violence in Saginaw. We don’t think The paper still wanted to there is a color to it, and if there is, continue to run the sextoons then we believe the color is green next to the sex column in The because we believe that there’s an Avenue, Keenan said. economic issue we all have to work “We’re not going to be bullied on solving,” Bachleda said. ... to stop running these sextoons,” The response to the cartoon has she said. been mixed. While some community However, realizing the paper may also members thought the cartoon was rac- be seen by younger members of the Gainesville ist and portrayed the community in community in which the university is located, the Al- a negative light, others thought ligator decided to tone the cartoons down by trying to strike a it provoked discussion, which is balance between commenting on the controversial and pointing arguably exactly what cartoons like this are meant to do. out the offensive. “That week, our newspaper stands were empty. A great num- “If it’s a controversial issue, we want to do a cartoon that ber of teachers used the paper, and the cartoon specifically, as makes someone think about something,” Keenan said. “…But at a tool in their classes for discussion about this topic,” Bachleda the same time we don’t want people to be so outraged and so of- said. fended that they don’t pick up our paper ever again, which I think On Feb. 1, two weeks after the cartoon was first published, happened with the Haiti cartoon.” there was a forum with 10 speakers, including community lead- Though a critical eye is necessary, Keenan acknowledges that ers, among them a judge and the chief of police. not every reader can be pleased with every issue. More than 300 people came to the event, and another is “Everyone’s going to be offended by something,” she said. scheduled in April. People gave statements and asked questions, some about the “That week, our stands were empty” cartoon and others about the problem of violence in Saginaw, In January, crime statistics about the Michigan town of Sag- Bachleda said. inaw inspired a cartoon in the Delta Collegiate, the student news- The paper has continued to publish cartoons since the crime- paper at Delta College. The statistic named Saginaw as the city focused strip. However, Bachleda said, the staff has gone back to with the most violence per capita in the United States, Collegiate its usual entertainment or school-based issues, and rarely does it Adviser Kathie Marchlewski Bachleda said. publish such a “political undertone.” “My journalism students wanted to write about this issue. Bachleda said a college setting is a perfect place to spark a They did a large package on this issue of violence in Saginaw and discussion about a larger issue, like the violence in Saginaw. the cartoon was a part of that package,” Bachleda said. “The function of the college newspaper is to be a voice of the The cartoon depicted a young man visiting three Michigan students,” Bachleda said. cities: Midland, Bay City and Saginaw. In the first panel, a Mid- “They’re talking about issues that are important to them, land resident greets him, hands him a painting and says: “Please that matter to our student body. And so while some people enjoy this complimentary art.” found this offensive, it really did create a positive outcome.

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 17 It did spark the dialogue it was intended to spark. So I think resulted in varied responses and outcomes. However, they all had there’s a certain amount of satisfaction in that.” the precedent of the protections of parody and jest to fall back on. Laws that protect parody, like mocking or exaggerating a pub- “For this, we sincerely apologize.” lic figure’s persona, make cartoons much more protected from le- Recently, one of the most widely covered and controversial gal action than the written word. editorial cartoons in a college newspaper was printed on Jan. 13 It’s difficult to succeed in a libel case against a cartoon, Lamb by Notre Dame University’s student newspaper The Observ- said, citing the 1988 Supreme Court case Hustler Mag- er. The cartoon made a joke about violence against azine v. Falwell, which established that parody gay students, which garnered attention from is legally protected. organizations like the Gay & Lesbian Al- Hiestand said the Falwell case es- liance Against Defamation (GLAAD) tablished the standard still in place and national media outlets. today, which is that the readers’ In the cartoon, a character in perceptions make all the differ- the shape of a caricature of a wood ence. saw, holding a drink and talking to a “What the Falwell case man in the next panel. The saw says stands for is the notion that if to the man, “What is the easiest way people understand that some- to turn a fruit into a vegetable?” The thing is intended as a joke, that male character responds, “No idea,” its not intended to be taken seri- to which the saw responds, “A baseball ously, then that material can’t be bat.” successfully sued upon,” Hiestand Two days later, the Observer issued an said. apology in the form of an editorial for But when a joke falls flat, or does not come the errors in judgment that led across as a parody to the audience, the material can be to the cartoon being printed. have an unintended connotation. “The Observer, though an independent newspaper, is “Where students can run into trouble, is that they’re not very representative of the community of the University of Notre Dame good at doing humor, simply because they don’t do it very often and the values it so cherishes: family, understanding, service, respect and doing good humor is very, very difficult,” Hiestand said. and love,” the editorial reads. “Allowing this cruel and hateful com- If the readers can claim that they didn’t know the material was ic a place on our pages disgraced those values and meant in jest, Hiestand said, then the material may severely hurt members of our Notre Dame fall into the same categories as any other poten- family — our classmates, our friends. tially actionable printed material. For this, we sincerely apologize.” “Once there has been a determina- Despite the Observer’s indepen- tion that a reasonable reader could in- dence from the university, Notre terpret this as being factual, or not a Dame also issued a statement joke, then you look at it and you’re after the cartoon’s publication, thinking it’s libelous and you’re denouncing “the implication looking at it just like you would any that violence or expressions of other libelous material in the con- hate toward any person or group text of material that would incite of people is acceptable or a matter violence,” he said. that should be taken lightly.” The ultimate responsibility over The outcry over the cartoon led the cartoons that go to print lies with the to the Observer accepting the resignation newspaper’s publisher, Steve Kelley said. of the paper’s then-Assistant Managing Edi- Editors should be able to understand tor Kara King. A letter from King was posted on the the meaning of a cartoon, and its Observer’s Web site, in which she claims responsibility for allowing potential ramifications, before the “message of hate” to print in the paper. approving − or rejecting − it for Though controversial and hurtful to some, the cartoon pub- print, he said. lished in the Notre Dame Observer alluded to violence, but not to “If it elicits anger or resentment from readers you should be any specific threat, which is where courts draw the line in finding able to weather that. You should anticipate it. Political cartoons content to be protected, said Mike Hiestand, consulting attorney by their nature are incendiary.” for the Student Press Law Center. Throughout the historical legal cases involving cartoons and “Is it a credible threat? Is the threat of violence imminent and the circumstances still surrounding them, their purpose and func- not just speculative, not just something in the future? It has to be tion as an editorial tool has been protected, and their place on the something that creates the clear and present danger of imminent opinion page has been maintained. lawless conduct,” Hiestand said. “They’re supposed to shake you up. They’re supposed to reach down and grab the reader and shake them by the shirt collar,” “They’re supposed to shake you up.” Chris Lamb said. “If we start censoring speech or editing cartoons The content of these cartoons has been under close scrutiny, and because you’re offended, well, where does that leave us?”n

18 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 Editors question how much police blotter information to publicize

By Katie maloney ous reasons choose to redact the names, addresses and iden- tifying information of those involved. Local crimes and arrests listed on the police blotter are a “A lot of times you don’t put names in it because, ini- matter of public record, public interest and sometimes pub- tially, a lot of the information is likely to be wrong,” McBride lic entertainment. But blotter entries may be printed with- said. “Charges change, suspect descriptions change, the facts out an evaluation by the same discerning eye afforded to change. There is something about the nature of initial reports other news content. And while the decision to print police that they’re not as reliable as something that has been investi- blotter information may be fleeting, it can have enduring gated, and police blotter stuff hasn’t been investigated.” consequences for the subject. Different student publications make different decisions, “There have been challenges on privacy grounds, but create different policies and see different consequences re- when the matter is of public record, any privacy claims have garding the use of this information. been defeated,” said Dick Goehler, an attorney with Frost At the University of South Carolina, Director of Stu- Brown Todd LLC in Cincinnati, Ohio. “People will rattle dent Media Scott Lindenberg acknowledged the difficult their sabers about that from time to time, but there really is decision between feeling a responsibility toward the com- not a privacy problem. There is no invasion of privacy if you munity, and being concerned with creating an easily acces- publish information that’s contained on the public record.” sible permanent record of sometimes fleeting issues. Papers might, for their own editorial reasons, decide not “If somebody was convicted of a crime at 19 years old, to print the information, Goehler said, but if so it should be the ethical dilemma is: Should that follow them for the rest for ethical and not legal reasons. of their careers or their lives?” Lindenberg said. The information provided by police must be evaluated When deciding the news value of a story, Lindenberg on the same merits of newsworthiness as any other story, said in many instances if the blotter information is important and it must serve a purpose, said Kelly McBride, an instruc- enough to be printed, it should be covered in a story, not just tor for the Poynter Institute. a news brief. This can also help prevent another common is- “With any police blotter, whether it’s a regular newspa- sue with printing blotter information: lack of follow-up. per or a college newspaper, you have to ask what the pur- S. Daniel Carter, director of public policy for Securi- pose of the information is, what the purpose of publishing ty on Campus Inc., a non-profit campus safety advocacy it is,” McBride said. “And for the most part, you want to group, said following up on police blotter information is the publish blotter information to give people a sense of the responsibility of all journalists. types of crime that are happening.” “Campus media have just as much responsibility to fol- Some papers fulfill this purpose by printing pertinent crime information to inform the community, but for vari- Blotters, page 35

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 19 Different words, one goal: journalism students around the world work hard to inform their communities and gain practical experience in their chosen field. Editors in Ireland, Canada, South Africa, Singapore and Iraq talk to the Report’s Katie Maloney and share their unique perspectives on what it means to be a student journalist.

20 SPLC Report ll Spring 2010 hether it is called com- need in order to be hired upon gradua- munications, media tion, Butler said. They have set up pro- studies or journalism, grams in the countries like Georgia and the W theoretical education students re- Botswana, with the ultimate goal that ceive when learning to be journalists the schools will eventually appropriate is an important foundation. It is the control of the programs. combination of that foundation and David Klatell, the chairman of the hands-on experience students gain International Studies and a professor at their campus media outlets that cre- of professional practice in the Gradu- ates well-rounded graduates, who are ate School of Journalism at Columbia ready for employment. But globally, University, who travels across the globe the access students have to that practi- to help schools set up journalism pro- cal experience varies greatly. grams, has witnessed other roadblocks Students and educators alike con- that impede student journalism. tribute to the establishment and main- “In some countries the schools tenance of these programs, through themselves actively impede students which student journalists gain experi- from publishing ... because they’re ence and learn to be the voices of their afraid that the school will be legally peers and their communities. responsible for what the students may “Most students in the United States publish on the Web site ... They pre- who go to [journalism] school will find vent students from publishing and if plenty of opportunities to get practical you can’t publish, you really can’t be a experience,” said Patrick Butler, vice journalist,” said Klatell, who added that president of the International Cen- these circumstances are worst in coun- ter for Journalists. “There are student tries like Iran, Egypt, Syria and Iraq. newspapers, radio stations, television Interviews with five student edi- stations at the campus, they do intern- tors-in-chief from five different coun- ships at professional news organiza- tries indicated that efforts to further the tions, their classes are even often about practical education of student journal- going out and doing reporting on the ists are very much a priority. streets and writing stories. But in most The five editors all expressed a com- of the countries where we work, which mon goal: To make sure their newspa- is mostly the ‘developing world,’ that is pers continue to educate new classes of not the case.” journalists with the hands-on experi- The International Center for Jour- ence they need to succeed after gradu- nalists is involved in helping to establish ation, and to function as the watchdog programs where journalism students their communities have come to ex- can gain the practical experience they pect.

SPLC Report ll Spring 2010 21 he “fortnightly” Trinity News at Trinity College can students do, but they do pay a fee that goes toward a Dublin has been serving the university community student services pool that is divided among different student in Ireland’s capital city since 1953. The press free- groups, like the publications committee that helps fund the domT laws on the Emerald Isle have changed since the newspa- paper. per’s inception, but it is still run by committed students like Like the United States, Ireland has a Freedom of Informa- Editor David Molloy. tion Act, originally passed in 1997 and amended in 2003. This During the past few years, along with managing the staff grants access to matters of public record, but Molloy said the and content, the editors have had to navigate new rules im- university can still make getting records difficult, whether by posed by the university. delaying the answers to information requests, or using what he “There are lots of rules that have been brought in called “advanced linguistic wordplay” to bog down facts. The the last couple of years that have major re- university has impeded both student and percussions and for the paper and for its ed- professional papers from finding out what itorial staff after publication,” Molloy said. they want to know, Molloy said. There used to be what Molloy called a “Ireland is a very small nation, very discipline loophole between the adminis- parochial. This kind of secrecy by one insti- tration and the paper, which freed editors tution … that we all know something but from any threat of punishment by the uni- we can’t prove it so we can’t print it, this versity for publishing something. Recently, happens a lot. I’ve spoken to professional however, that has been closed. Now, if journalists who know something [but] can’t anything printed is deemed to affect the prove it and have never published the story,” “health, safety and welfare” of anyone, a he said. standard Molloy described as “ridiculous- Filing a Freedom of Information request ly broad,” there are potential disciplinary can also become prohibitively expensive, consequences from the school. Molloy said. There is a fee, plus hourly fees Circumstances are getting worse, for the time it may take to research and as- Molloy said, and while the school’s new semble the requested information. powers have yet to be exercised, he fears There have been advances in the legal these are things his successors will have protections of journalists in the past few years to worry about. in Ireland. The Defamation Act of 2009 es- “As we’ve kind of pushed people in tablished the Press Council, of which Trinity a certain direction, not with any agenda News was the first student publication mem- on our hands, but just as we’ve kind of stepped up the ber. Papers that choose to become members of game a little bit in terms of publishing stuff that people don’t this council are subject to established ethical standards and to want published, the response from the university has been a decisions made by the Press Ombudsman, who may be sought little bit strong, a little bit heavy handed,” Molloy said. out to solve problems between the paper and other parties. The paper has also struggled with the university restricting People can bring an issue to the Press Ombudsman, who access to people and information. Molloy said the university will then investigate the situation and make a decision that can is very tight lipped and tries to find various ways to prevent include making the paper print a correction for the material student journalists from accessing information. in question. Before this, Molloy said, papers were hesitant to The paper has been asked to direct questions to the school’s print anything that might be an admission of liability. Communications Office, a request the paper ignores in order Despite the legal similarities and the journalistic protec- to directly contact the departments from which they need in- tions offered by Ireland and the United States, one cultural formation, Molloy said. difference that Molloy believes affects press practices isthe “[The university does] respond. They don’t like to be said American fondness for filing lawsuits. not to comment. But what they will do is give you an incom- “I think press freedom in the United States is actually much plete answer at five past six on a Friday evening as we go to better than here − on paper. [But] I think that because we have print, every single week. We’ve actually lodged a formal com- a less litigious culture over here we’re better off at the end of the plaint in the past about this policy but they keep doing it,“ day. If you could combine the freedom of the press defined by Molloy said. the United States law and the lack of a litigious culture that we Students at Trinity don’t pay traditional tuition like Ameri- have here, I think you’d be onto a great winner.”

22 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 he student-run independent newspaper at the formation was true was not good enough. University of Ottawa has been independent of the “If you can prove that what you’ve written is substantially school’s student union since 2005, and The Fulcrum accurate … and if you can prove that what you wrote was in is nowT enjoying its symbiotic relationship with the university, the public interest, so you’re not just writing about some little but also the benefits of its relatively new independence. neighbors fighting or something … and if you can show the “In the past two years we’ve definitely taken more critical judge that you’ve been essentially a good journalist, you’ve angles of both the university administration and the student checked your facts, you’ve gotten the other side of the story, union, but we always try to do it in a way that’s constructive. If you’re not biased, you went out of your way to be fair, you something needs to be criticized, it needs to be criticized and weren’t misled by some source with an agenda … then you can we won’t hesitate to tell somebody something when we hear an say to the judge ‘I’ve been a responsible journalist and this is issue. But I think the relationship has been pretty good, quite not libel.’ ” respectful definitely as well, so that’s really great to see,” said The Fulcrum is a member of a cooperative called the Ca- Fulcrum Editor-in-Chief Emma Godmere. nadian University Press, Godmere said. This organization The editorially independentFulcrum is still funded partial- includes about 70 or 80 other Canadian student newspapers ly by levies from the Graduate Students’ Association and the and affords members things like access to media lawyers when Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, which supple- necessary and a forum of student journalists across the nation. ment the funds garnered through advertising sales, Godmere TheFulcrum is not the only independent student newspaper at said. The levied funds come from student fees and, along with the University of Ottawa; there is also La Rotonde, the franco- advertising revenue, they cover the paper’s printing and distri- phone student newspaper. bution costs. “The Department of Communications has been able to set “In recent years before we were autonomous, when we up a chance for student journalists at The Fulcrum and La Ro- were still owned by the student union, there were issues with tonde to meet with the university president, Allan Rock, several the student union pulling issues off of racks because they had times a year,” Godmere said. “That’s been helpful in giving us content that they didn’t agree with. Since we’ve been autono- access to the administration. Because I know a lot of other mous since 2005 … there have never been any serious threats student newspapers just don’t have access at all to their admin- or complaints from the university administration,” Godmere istration. But we’ve never had a problem, for the most part, in said. getting in touch with top administrators or even the president The Supreme Court of Canada recently made it easier for himself.” professional and student journalists alike to defend themselves Though the paper covers local crime, being located in with a ruling in the 2009 case of Grant v. Torstar Corporation, the larger community of the nation’s capital, the Fulcrum can which Godmere said is referred to in short as the “responsible sometime have tough competition in the professional papers. journalism” standard. “It’s definitely hard in Ottawa because we’re in the na- Mary Agnes Welch, president of the Canadian Association tion’s capital. There are several times when we want to cover of Journalists, said this newly established precedent makes it national affairs ourselves, especially when things matter to significantly easier for journalists to defend themselves when students, and when you’re in that situation, when you’re deal- sued for libel, when before this, sometimes even proving that ing with Ottawa bureau journalists from across the country,” your in- Godmere said. There are also other media laws in Canada that limit not only the information journalists can get, but also what can be published. Limitations on hate speech, Welch said, begin when content crosses the line from offensive to potentially inciting crime or violence against a group of people. The general practices of collecting information are differ- ent as well, said Welch, who has worked as a journalist in the United States and Canada. Even if there were an accident and a reporter had the victim’s name and called the hospital to ask his or her condition, Welch said that information would not regularly be given. “The balance is just tilted much more in favor of people’s privacy,” Welch said.

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 23 he political landscape in South Africa has changed They can’t do anything to us.” dramatically since most undergraduate students at Varsity has been the official school newspaper of the Uni- the University of Cape Town were born. With the versity of Cape Town since 1942 and has seen significant na- end Tof apartheid came a new political landscape, and with that tional changes since then, and the paper is still committed to came new media freedoms. Rémy Ngamije, editor-in-chief of encouraging large and small-scale change. Varsity Newspaper at UCT, said some issues still arise between “Varsity Newspaper was very active during the apartheid journalists and those who do not understand the extent of free- years, campaigned strongly for academic freedom and is still dom of speech in South Africa, but the Varsity staff continues campaigning strongly now for media freedom,” Ngamije said. to train and educate young journalists in those freedoms. “But now [there is a shift] toward more social responsiveness “UCT campaigned strongly for academic independence and Varsity Newspaper is trying to become one of the student way back in the ’80s during the apartheid era. And because newspapers in South Africa and Africa that champions social of that, they’ve sort of filtered it down to every UCT student. responsiveness within the realm of racism, HIV/AIDS, pov- So generally, the university cannot interfere or stop us from erty or education, climate change, all of those.” doing something that we want to do. We’re completely inde- A recent occurrence at UCT sparked Varsity coverage and a pendent. We’re independent, but ultimately protected by [the discussion of the freedom of speech. When the South African university].” president’s convoy was driving by the campus, a student jog- Ngamije said while the paper is editorially independent, ging on the same road was accused of giving the middle finger as a student organization the school still offers it some protec- as the motorcade passed, Ngamije said. tions. A member of the convoy then took the student to the po- “We regulate our own content, our own internal processes lice station where the student, who said the action in question completely and separately from the University of Cape Town. was just a wave, not a middle finger, was interviewed and ques- But because we are a society from UCT, if anything drastic tioned, Ngamije said. ever happens, the university does protect our paper. They’re “The biggest story we covered [from that] was … the free- like the protector of last resort,” Ngamije said. dom of speech in South Africa and also generally what people The paper does receive an annual “allowance” from the can and cannot do, abuse of constitutional rights of freedom university, but the paper is financially sound in large part due to speech,” he said. to its advertising revenue. There is “generally complete freedom of speech,” Ngamije “We have a very strong advertising department and people said, and journalists often have a better grasp than others on are always keen to advertise in our paper, so we’re financially the freedom to speak and exchange information. stable,” Ngamije said. “It’s hard telling the truth, but it’s even harder hearing it,” Although the university has no authority over editorial Ngamije said. content, Ngamije said, they sometimes request a story be post- poned and discussed if, for example, there were a story about dissatis- faction with the school chancellor or vice chancellor or if there were coverage of some sort of scandal. “We try and follow all jour- nalistic procedures … but if, for example, we go to print with a groundbreaking story involving university management and they were not available for comment they can always ask us to post- pone the article. But ultimately the decision lies with us,” Ngamije said. “… The university has no re- course against us and we do follow through with the article later. But we are completely independent.

24 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 he student newspaper at Nanyang Technological even if it’s for the smallest article, because they know that the University (NTU) faces challenges not only cater- publication that it will be published in is…for the general pub- ing to the large, multicultural student body at the lic,” Charles said. SingaporeanT university, but also writing under a policy of prior When reporters need information from the school, the ad- review. viser can usually help point them in the direction of the right The Nanyang Chronicle is written mainly in English, with a people, Charles said. She added that there is a good relation- section in Chinese, and has advisers for each section. ship between the Chronicle and the university since the relevant “Singapore is pretty multicultural. [We have] four differ- people from the school review information before it is printed, ent main languages in … English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil,” ensuring it isn’t “condescending in any way.” said Nanyang Chronicle Chief Editor Shereen Naaz Charles. Regardless of the prior review of content, Charles said the “Because NTU started off as a Chinese University … we paper tries to publish relevant and not pay a little homage to our ancestry just positive stories. at the university, so we have the “I think we also try our best to Chinese sections in our paper be- make sure that we’re not just being a cause of that.” very positive paper all the time. There The Chronicle’s English-speak- are instances where you have to tell ing adviser reviews all English lan- the truth, and you do, but you do it guage content in the paper before in such a way that you don’t offend it goes to print, and this Chinese- anybody,” she said. speaking adviser reviews that sec- The paper, which is funded by the tion, Charles said. school and advertising revenue, has “Generally, he will tell you some practices that can make it easier whether or not certain ideas work, to get people to speak on the record how they work [or] how they don’t for pieces in the opinion section. work,” Charles said. “For opinion pieces… we don’t When the adviser deems informa- have to name who we are speaking tion to be too sensitive or controver- with ... because some people tend sial, she said, he or she either brings to be very shy with their opinion, the story back to the editors with sug- and they don’t really want to say gestions on how to remove controver- what’s on their minds, unless you sial material, or tells them the content can guarantee them some sort of should be taken to the dean for vetting anonymity,” Charles said. before publication. The dean, Charles She said there is a noticeable said, is the person with whom final edi- difference in the strength of -opin torial discretion rests. ions expressed in interviews when reporters promise their sub- “If we have certain problematic stories, or stories that jects that their names will not be included with their com- are potentially sensitive … these stories have to go to vetting ments. by the dean of the school before we can put it out to print,” Although local crime is not covered unless there is an angle Charles said. that would affect students, Charles said local police would not As a student journalist, trying to gather sources can be release that type of information anyway. difficult, Charles said, since people are less inclined to speak When Charles was the opinion editor, a politician from an with you when it does little for their public image to be in the opposition party came to campus, causing quite a stir by hand- campus paper. Also, Charles said, people are much more likely ing out pamphlets and eventually being escorted from campus. to speak with you about something positive than something The school decided the story was too sensitive to be printed, negative. She added that when she does work for other news which the then editor-in-chief was very upset by and protested, organizations, she does not mention to sources that she is still Charles said. in school. “That was really disappointing to a lot of us because we felt “When I work with these organizations and set up inter- that …‘it’s the truth, we would like to print it,’ but at the end views, I don’t even mention that I am a student and they are of the day, the final say does come from the people up above,” very willing to step forth and agree to an interview with me, she said.

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 25 n the less than three-year existence of the American relevant ways. University of Iraq-Sulaimani, students have tried three “AUI-S itself is a new experience in the region. We try to be times before to establish a newspaper, before finally fair and logical in our critiques. We have caused some changes successfullyI establishing the AUI-S Voice this year. and we are looking forward to being more influential, but we are For this first year of the paper’s existence, Editor-in-Chief aware of the difficulties facing AUI-S as whole, so our aim is not Dana Jaff and the four other editors were selected by the adviser, to publish everything controversial but everything beneficial,” he Jackie Spinner, based on experience, interest and “cultural diver- said sity on campus,” Jaff said. But after this year, the staff of theVoice The editorial board, and ultimately the editor-in-chief with will select its own editors and the editor-in-chief. the guidance of the adviser, is responsible for what is printed in “All of the reporters, columnists, photographers and editors the paper. Jaff said the paper has printed and will continue to are in a learning process. Many mistakes are expected in the be- print critical articles when fitting. ginning. Sometimes they don’t know how “I personally encourage our folks to the policy works or they ignore the im- write about whatever they see negative and portant technical details of their work,” wrong on campus. It is my dream to make Jaff said. the Voice a real voice of the students,” Jaff Members of the currently 45-person said. staff all had to sign the Voice’s handbook, The critical articles the paper has writ- containing the paper’s policies. The staff ten in its short existence have covered continues to grow, he said, as new people problems from the campus’ ban of Face- apply every week. book, to the social implications of differ- Spinner, an American who used to ences between Eastern and Western values work for The Washington Post, is also the on campus. Stories have also criticized the director of media relations for the univer- university’s criteria students must meet sity. The adviser does review content be- to study abroad and the school’s belated fore it is printed, Jaff said, since few staff decision to consider the Iraqi Election members have much journalism experi- Day, which was held on March 7, a holi- ence and the paper is published in Eng- day, Jaff said. The school eventually did lish, which is a second language for most declare March 7 and 8 holidays, but it students. This review is given to the adviser was decided too late for many students voluntarily, Jaff said. to go back to their hometowns to vote, He added that an agreement between he said. he and Spinner limited her “editorial pow- The American University of Iraq- er” to potentially controversial subjects, and Sulaimani is in a region of Iraq safe from thus far there has been no instance where the ongoing Iraq War, Jaff said. she suggested not publishing an article. “Our university is located in Sulaimani, in the “Some of the faculty [members] like to have that edito- Kurdistan region in the North, which is safe and has no security rial power, but we − the editors − and Jackie have refused [that] problems. So I can say that we are fine and the military situation strongly ... The idea of having an adviser is to prevent any other in the other parts of Iraq has not affected us,” Jaff said. people from the faculty and staff … from intervening in the Though not directly affected by violence in other parts of the work,” Jaff said. country, Jaff and the newspaper’s staff feel the impact of the con- One topic the Voice avoids covering is politics, Jaff said. The flict. staff tries to keep the coverage local and focus on covering the “Although we are in a safe part of Iraq, we do feel the affect campus. of the violence in Iraq. We see our friends from Baghdad and “We are trying to avoid the local politics. Everything here is the other parts, who really have a hard time in every visit to their mixed with partisan politics in a way or another, so one of my hometowns … I frankly say that this is work, though small, is a conditions to work with the newspaper was to avoid Iraqi and genuine effort to start a professional journalism in Iraq, which can Kurdish politics and politicians,” Jaff said. benefit the country in the future,” he said. Jaff said that although the fledgling paper does not cover poli- tics, the staff tries to cover most topics germane to the university, Editor’s note: As this magazine went to print, Dana Jaff stepped down and editors hope to continue to grow their coverage in helpful, from his position as Editor-in-Chief of the AUI-S Voice.

26 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 Looking forward Trip abroad offers journalism students chance The outlook for journalism is chang- ing globally, not just in Iraq, and student to test, improve international reporting skills journalists are playing an influential role in the transformation. Journalism pro- American journalism students trouble with sources than print jour- grams have evolved since many of today’s enjoy learning about the media in a nalism students, because people professors were in school, since techno- country that has relatively strong pro- seemed to be averse to being on re- logically savvy students now drive so tections for a free press. But those corded on film. much of the innovation in the industry, students interested in experiencing Along with the help from SISU stu- Patrick Butler said. different media systems by explor- dents, the group had what is called a “Kids who are going to journalism ing international journalism must ex- “fixer,” a person, usually a journalist, school today are the ones who are go- plore different ways to get that type who is familiar with the area and can ing to be inventing the media systems of first-hand experience. help find and set up interviews with that we are going to have in the future. The international reporting class sources. It’s changing so rapidly that they have to at Penn State University offers “Fixers tell you ‘Yes, learn how to be entrepreneurs and that just that, but it that’s a good story, includes social networking,” Butler said. also means yes you can do it in “They have to learn how we’re going to s p e n d i n g the four days that do quality journalism at a time when it’s Spring Break you have here and all more about citizen journalism and so- not lounging yes, I know the peo- cial networking [and] all about low cost with friends on ple...’ ” Barbieri … The young students of today are going the beach, but said. “Or they tell to have to find a way to make sure that researching and you ‘Yes, that’s a we’re getting quality in-depth and inves- writing with class- good story but no, tigative reporting while still incorporat- mates and profes- you cannot possi- ing the trends of citizen journalism and sors in far-flung bly do that in four multimedia.” countries. days so go on to In countries where censorship is an is- This year’s class, something else sue, access to the Internet is also exposing taught by professor or change the students to the methods of news coverage Tony Barbieri, trav- emphasis.’ ” outside their countries. David Klatell said eled to Shanghai in B a r b i e r i journalists often learn to self-censor when March, after spend- said he helped they are raised and taught in an environ- ing the first part of s t u d e n t s ment where it is known, long before pen the semester learning determine is put to paper, what information will and about Chinese history whether certain will not be tolerated in the media. The In- and politics and devel- story ideas were feasible within ternet is breaking this dam of information oping story ideas. their four-day time limit, but in terms and also allowing students to report more “This is China’s time in the world of preparing them to work within the anonymously or under pseudonyms, Kla- right now and I wanted [the students] restraints of a more restrictive media tell said. to be exposed to what is going to be system, Barbieri said his advice to “The good news is students all around the next economic superpower,” Bar- the students was to do nothing differ- the world, one way or another, get on the bieri said. ently than they normally would. Web and get on social networking sites. A relationship with students at “[I told them to] do everything they So they now know there are other ways the Shanghai International Studies did completely openly and above to do it. They’re not living in a cocoon University (SISU) was another reason board and not sneak around and not anymore,” Klatell said. the city was selected, Barbieri said. try and avoid anybody or evade any In the future, what student journalists Some of the SISU students were laws,” he said. around the globe need from their schools, able to help the Penn State students None of the stories students Klatell said, is for these journalistic prac- by offering to translate and guide worked on were sensitive enough to tices to be recognized and implemented students. garner anger from the government, in curricula, “rather than simply pretend Many for their stories were found Barbieri said, so with the help of their they don’t exist, or tolerate them in igno- ahead of time and contacted via fixer and a group of international stu- rance, or … force honest journalism into phone or e-mail before students left. dents they worked with, students dark corners.” n Stories included examinations of were able to research their stories The Report’s Laura Dobler beauty norms in China, being gay in despite being outside of the system sat down with visiting China and Chinese domestic adop- they had grown accustomed to in the student journalists from tions, said Grace Muller, a broadcast United States. Azerbaijan and Georgia. See journalism student who went on the “You just go about your business a video of the discussion trip. She added that broadcast jour- as best you can,” he said. online at www.splc.org. nalism students had a little more -By Katie Maloney

SPLC Report ll Spring 2010 27 internet

A voicewith no name With the fear of school disciplinary action in the back of their minds, anonymous speech can be a valu- By LAura dobler able tool for college students criti- When the right to speak freely on a college campus is cal of their universities. threatened by the fear of disciplinary action, anonymous speech can be an im- portant tool to restore those rights. “We see all too often that criticism of university officials is punished and anonymous speech permits students to write sincerely with- out the fear of punishment,” said Adam Kissel, the Director of the Individual Rights Defense Program for the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). Freedom of expression on college campuses is necessary to foster a healthy learning environment, but if that speech is critical of a university, protecting it may not be an administra- tive priority. Those involved in higher education, from students toad- those ministrators, create an interconnected academic community inter- and it is common for individuals to choose not to speak about actions. I an issue because of their positions within that community, said wouldn’t be Jess Zimmerman, a junior at Butler University who started an able to do my job,” anonymous blog to voice his concerns without academic rami- Zimmerman said. fications. Historically, anony- “Anonymous speech allows you to break free of that and mous speech is protected by have things discussed and have important conversations that the United States Constitution and Su- might not otherwise be allowed to happen on a campus,” Zim- preme Court rulings, because it gives a voice to merman said. those with minority or disfavored views without retali- Zimmerman, under the alias Soodo Nym, started the anony- ation, said Sam Bayard, assistant director of the Citizen Media mous blog TruBU in October 2008, to chronicle student life at Law Project, an organization that provides legal training and Butler University and to examine a series of unpopular admin- resources for individuals and organizations involved in online istrative actions. Zimmerman created the blog as a “sounding and citizen media. board” for students at Butler and invited others to contribute. “It allows for people to voice their opinions and their views Zimmerman chose to write the blog anonymously because in situations where they think that perhaps their identity itself he did not want to lose his position as the class president and might skew people’s reception of that speech,” Bayard said. member of the Council of Presidential Affairs (CPA), an inter- TruBU chronicled the dismissal of Andrea Gullickson, mediary group between students and administrators. Butler University’s former music chair. Zimmerman, who is “From seeing how [members of the administration] interacted Gullickson’s stepson, included e-mails from Gullickson, But- in the past and from interacting with them, I had a pretty good feel- ler President Bobby Fong, and anonymous faculty members ing that if I said anything negative about them I would be shut out of Anonymous, page 34

28 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 Photo Illustration by Laura dobler Opportunities for col- legecontent journalists sharing to share hanks to the slew of content sharing websites crop- ping up this year, content produced by college news- stories, photos and video papers is making its way off campus – and onto other media platforms across the country. are spreading across the College newsrooms, mirroring their professional counter- Internet. The Report’s parts, are adopting content sharing agreements at a growing rate. While exchanging articles, columns and photos offers Laura Dobler examines students the opportunity to get their work and bylines in front of a new audience, the ultimate impact of content shar- what this means for the ing for student journalism has yet to be seen. “It seems like everyone out there has suddenly realized that student media. they can get free or very low cost stories, photos and videos from students,” said Rachele Kanigel, a journalism professor at San Francisco State University. The ‘internet newspaper’ A collective source for campus news from across the na- tion surfaced when Huffington Post launched a college sec- tion on its website on Feb. 22, 2010. “We are in the business of promotion, and bringing dif- ferent types of news together,” Leah Finnegan, editor of Huff- ington Post College, said. Finnegan, the former editor-in-chief of the University of Texas-Austin’s student newspaper the Daily Texan, is respon- sible for selecting articles from college newspapers to post on the website each day. “We have the time and the space on the site and have people here who are excited about college journalism. It seems like the right direction to grow because [college newspapers] are such untapped, interesting journalism,” Finnegan said. The Huffington Post is an online news source that primar- ily aggregates content from other news organizations. It does not act as a wire service that shares content with its members. Rather, the website links to the content and sends the reader back to the original source to read the entire article. “We want to funnel some of that traffic back to the col- lege papers, give them more visibility, more of a chance to be read,” Finnegan said. Part of the agreement with Huffington Post College is that student newspapers include a Huffington Post widget – a graphic application on a website that links to another site or HTML code – on their websites, Finnegan said.

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 29 newspaper, Hendricks said. The current system allows the CNN Web site to stay manageable between two people. “It is very hands off to the point that we don’t edit anything, everything is post- ed with only a few filters to keep out blog posts and things that wouldn’t be rel- evant,” Dunn said There are only three rules to the CNN membership agreement: The newspapers must be college newspa- Though the inclusion of the widget on one spot for all news of interest to anyone pers, the newspapers must share all of college newspaper websites is not meant with ties to higher education. I look for their content and if a newspaper uses con- to imply that the newspaper agrees with anything that pops out to me as interesting tent from the wire the original reporter’s the opinions and articles published on and as a window into life on campus and name and newspaper must be included in the Huffington Post, Suzanne Yada, on- the culture of higher education,” Jenna the byline, Hendricks said. line editor of the San Jose State University Johnson, reporter for Campus Overload, “We are doing this because we are stu- student newspaper The Spartan Daily, said said. dent journalists and there is a need at our that some readers will judge her newspaper Content aggregation websites don’t paper and I assume at other papers to have based on the Huffington Post’s reputation. just increase the exposure of college news- a service like this,” Hendricks said. “The fact that the Huffington Post papers. They also provide a source for new Fryman said the CNN allows her is seen as a very partisan blog — it hurts story ideas. newspaper, the Nevada Sagebrush, to stay schools that are trying to stay politically “I try to encourage my staff and myself connected with other college newspapers. neutral,” Yada said. to just see and know what is going on in “It is great to have other people to rely Finnegan said she understands why the nation and make sure we are outside of on and share that information in order for college newspaper editors are wary of be- our little bubble at University of Nevada- us (the newspaper) to be able to give our ing affiliated with other news organiza- Reno,” Fryman said. readers full coverage (of a story),” Fryman tions and protective of who re-publishes said. their content. A new news cooperative The interconnection fostered by an or- “I remember last year [as a college edi- The College News Network (CNN), ganization like the CNN can lead to more tor] being approached with a partnership like the Huffington Post, offers an outlet comprehensive coverage of college events. and I was very stubborn because you care for exposure and inspiration, but also pro- Hendricks said there was an incident so much about your paper, you want it to vides a more tangible product: free content in spring 2009 when students at Kent remain strong and independent,” Finnegan to fill the pages from other college newspa- State University in Ohio were arrested af- said. pers in the network. ter a party got out of hand and a couple The Huffington Post, which usually Dave Hendricks and Ryan Dunn, edi- weeks later a party at Ohio University also does not ask permission to link to newspa- tors for the Ohio University student news- ended in police arrests. pers’ content, seeks permission from col- paper the Post, founded the CNN in Octo- “Had there been content sharing in lege newspapers to establish a relationship ber 2009 to provide a wire service for Ohio place then, we (the Post) could have used between the news organizations, Finnegan college newspapers to share content. stories and video from [Kent Wired] and said. The Post sometimes relied on opinion then a few weeks later they would have ac- For the staff of theNevada Sagebrush at and editorial content from other newspa- cess to all the information we were putting the University of Nevada-Reno, the draw pers and “we needed that safety net and out about the riots here in Athens,” Hen- of participating in the Huffington Post was realized that everyone else did too,” Dunn dricks said. the opportunity of bringing national expo- said. In February, Ohio State University’s sure to their content. The CNN has quickly expanded its student newspaper, the Lantern, printed “It’s good for people who are out of reach and as of March, 53 newspapers a story from the Post found on the CNN state to find out what’s going on in Nevada from 28 states are part of the network, about a student dying of meningitis at and it’s also good for us to have a place to Dunn said. Since January, 8,684 articles Ohio University, Everdeen Mason, the go to know what’s going on at other uni- have appeared on the wire, approximately Lantern’s editor-in-chief, said. versities,” said Jessica Fryman, the Nevada 217 articles each day, Hendricks said. “We have students here who are from Sagebrush editor-in-chief. “We didn’t think it’d get this big. It’s that area. Most of (the students at) Ohio Campus Overload, a newly launched strange to think it (CNN) transitioned to State are from Ohio so anything that hap- section on the Washington Post’s website, bigger than our hopes for it,” Dunn said. pens (in the state) it kind of resonates,” follows a model similar to the Huffington Every day, members of the CNN up- Mason said. Post. Launched in February 2010, the sec- load their newspapers’ content to the web Sharing is not just limited to writ- tion aggregates news from across the web site using RSS feeds – a format used to ten content; Big Ten University student and makes it easily accessible to readers published frequently updated work – and newspapers share photographs of sporting interested in higher education. the website then aggregates the content to events using a service called the Big Ten “The purpose of [the site] is to create display the headlines and the associated Photo Exchange, Mason said.

30 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 Now that it’s online... “It’s really helpful, so if there is a road long, people are going to forget game that we can’t send our people to, if that [UWIRE] is there, so I’ll be curious ...is is still mine? we wait a couple minutes the photogra- to see how they build that customer base phers will upload their sports photos to back up and what they do in the future,” Before you publish and share your the page and we can use that in our paper,” Murley said. content online, it is important to Mason said. UWIRE will begin by sharing only understand how your work can and College newspapers do not have the written content, but plans to expand to cannot be used on the Internet, and same resources to cover national issues sharing video, photography and multi-me- the steps you can take to ensure that that larger news organizations do, “so by dia content over the summer, Orr said. you are credited — and maybe even having [the CNN] we are allowing student In the current job market it may not paid — for the work you produce. newspapers to help each other out,” Hen- be enough to write only and reporters may dricks said. need to learn how to shoot video and pho- This is what you need to know about tography and “we think we are pretty well copyright laws and the right you — UWIRE makes a comeback positioned to help people and help our and others — have to your writing, The original source of college - news members and our students do that,” Orr photos, video and other creative paper content sharing and part of the in- said. content when it is shared online: spiration for Huffington Post College and For UWIRE to compete in the cur- CNN is back on the scene with UWIRE’s rent digital market, the creators will need l You should be the the owner and April 1, 2010, re-launch. to find a unique way to produce and share copyright holder of the content you Founded in 1994, UWIRE was the news that keeps viewers coming back to produce at your college newspaper, nation’s leading source of college content the site, Murley said. unless you signed a work-for-hire with more than 800 college newspaper “If [UWIRE] could find a way to ag- contract. members when it abruptly disappeared in gregate [video and web based] content fall 2009, due in part to financial difficul- they would have something that would be l A work-for-hire contract means ties. Now that the website has returned, it unique to themselves rather than just go- that the newspaper is the owner of hopes to retake its position as the top dog ing to aggregate the written word,” Murley the content you produce for com- for college content, said Tom Orr, general said. mercial purposes — but this is rare manager of UWIRE and executive produc- Other plans for the upcoming months at college newspapers. er of Palestra.net, UWIRE’s partner site. include reinstating UWIRE 100, which “I don’t think anyone else’s network is showcases the 100 top student journalists l If your newspaper publishes really close to the size of ours and when in the country, and setting up internship the work online and the content is you are able to aggregate content from that and job opportunities for students with shared among other Web sites, you many places you have a lot of opportuni- UWIRE’s professional partners, Orr said. are still the copyright owner. ties to find great stories,” Orr said. With many professional media orga- The sudden departure “ultimately nizations continuing to downsize, “we un- l Ownership of content and the helped us be a stronger company and we’ve derstand how difficult it is to get the kind right or license to use content are learned about the need to adapt to the cur- of opportunities that you need to really different: As the owner you are the rent market conditions,” Orr said. make it these days. There are some really only person legally allowed to sell UWIRE plans to keep all of its college talented students out there so we are trying your content and make a profit newspaper members and most of its pro- to help those students find the opportuni- from duplications. You do not need fessional partnerships, and is in the process ties that they need to succeed,” Orr said. to own content to link to it online of forming new partners, Orr said. Larger media organizations, like Unit- provided there is not a direct profit A six-month absence is a long ed Press International (UPI), are also us- from the use of the original work. time in the digital world, said Bryan Mur- ing student content in their professional ley, professor of new and emerging media publications. UPI launched the Univer- l Generally, it is legal for another at Eastern Illinois University. sity Media Alliance (UPIU), a collective site to link to your work as long as it “I think being gone for so website for college media networking that is obvious that you are the owner of that work. It is not legal if the Web site is suggests it is the owner of the original content.

l If you feel that someone is in- fringing your copyright, ask yourself these questions: Am I sure the work is mine? And do I know the use is illegal? If the answer to both ques- tions is ‘yes,’ notify the designated agent of the service provider that infringing work is on the server.

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 31 offers professional advice in exchange for “I would go onto [websites] and see publishing rights to student articles. that something I had written was appear- “So in a sense we are also getting free con- ing there but I wouldn’t get any notice of tent, but I feel like it is also balanced because that or any money that they perhaps made we are giving [students] a lot of our time in on advertisement for that,” Hendricks terms of critiquing,” said Harumi Gondo, said. an international coordinator of UPIU. Orr said most of UWIRE’s content UPIU asks journalism professors to sharing is among college newspapers, be- submit student work from across the world cause the 18-23 year old demographic is for its publication, which is copy-edited the most interested in college news and and critiqued by UPIU staff, Gondo said licensing student content is not the main It is important to work with college source of the site’s revenue. losing sight of the monetary value of their journalists because “that is the landscape Ultimately, he said, it is about provid- own work. right now. Student journalists are the ones ing the best possible content for college “The thing that concerns me is that it right now that are most on top of social newspapers: “It is a very cyclical thing, our seems like it’s getting easier and easier to media. Social media is the future and I’m goal is to make our members successful be- get published and harder and harder for not sure that everyone has caught on to cause by making our members successful [students] to make a living at it,” Kanigel that,” Gondo said. we will make ourselves successful in turn.” said. However, whether the college newspa- Journalism students are so accustomed The implications of sharing pers themselves will have monetary success to producing free content for news orga- Content sharing websites have created based on increased website traffic from nizations that “the value of that content is collective hubs for college news, networks national organizations still remains uncer- going down and students won’t be think- for college newspapers to share ideas and a tain, Murley said. ing of themselves as producing work for chance for student journalists’ work to be “Is that web traffic valuable? Is it- lo pay,” Kanigel said. exposed on a national level. cal traffic [that] will buy local advertising? However, students like Klecic are still However, there are concerns that the Most student newspapers still have not hopeful that increased exposure on the use of free content provided by student solved the online advertising (dilemma) Huffington Post and other news outlets journalists is being abused by large busi- because [its] website traffic tends to be will help his staff prepare for the future nesses, said Murley. older, more parents, alumni and faculty and lead to better job opportunities. “They are getting money off of a bunch than students,” Murley said. “When you go to an interview for a job of people who are working for free. So that The University of South Florida’s stu- someday that is something you can put on is sweat equity to me, you are putting in dent newspaper, the Oracle, had three arti- your resume and talk to an employer about the effort and you are getting nothing in cles featured on the Huffington Post in its and say ‘Hey my stuff is on the Huffington return,” Murley said. first week and the website traffic increased Post’ instead of just saying ‘Hey my stuff is Like many other large media organi- by approximately 900 to 1,000 hits per on the Oracle’,” Klecic said. zations, UPI at first only thought of col- day, Kerry Klecic, the Oracle’s editor-in- Murley said he encourages students to lege journalists as a free source of content, chief, said. share their content openly and realize that Gondo said. Even though it is too early to calculate their work in college is not as valuable as “We want free reporters, but what I monetary gains, Klecic said, “it is going to they think. He also warns students to be have learned is that it doesn’t always work diversify the kind of people that are going wary of organizations that may be making that way, you have to be fair. You have to to visit our website and read our content, money off of their work. put in too, you can’t just take out,” Gondo which is really exciting.” “Your content is not this all-valuable said. While job opportunities at traditional thing that you think it is — on the web it’s This is not a new occurrence. UWIRE newsrooms dwindle and student interns just like everything else out there, it’s just had the licensing rights to distribute student replace professional journalists, San Fran- as free,” Murley said. work to any news organization it was part- cisco State University journalism profes- Murley and Kanigel agree that students ners with, CNN’s founder Hendricks said. sor Kanigel said she is afraid students are should create an active online identity apart from the college newspapers, by blogging, setting up a personal website and creating an area of expertise and sharing content among newspapers can achieve this. Students should think of themselves as a brand and learn how to sell the value of their skills and expertise rather than their content, Murley said. “The student journalists who I know that have succeeded coming out of college have been online, have developed a brand and have shared a lot of content,” Murley said. n

32 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 Money is a constant source of concern for college students and the cash handed over to the campus bookstore every month for stacks of textbooks doesn’t help. Fourteen states have laws re- quiring disclosure of information regarding textbook purchasing-- including the prices campus bookstores pay for course materials.

At public colleges and universities Many of the textbook disclosure laws refer to in Arizona, California, Colorado, “adopters,” or faculty, administrators and employ- Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New ees who are in charge of developing course mate- York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington rials and selecting textbooks. These individuals and Connecticut, require that potential have access to the textbook pricing disclosures adopters -- faculty members, administration -- so ask them to share the information with you. or employees responsible for course If asking nicely doesn’t give you the desired re- materials -- have access to the price at sults, file a Freedom of Information request. The which textbooks are available to the campus Student Press Law Center’s FOI letter generator bookstore from the publisher. will create a request -- you will need to identify the state, agency and the records you’re seek- Tennessee requires that any on-campus ing. The process can be simplified by requesting bookstore at a public institution of higher records from the entire academic department. education disclose to faculty members the Once you have the records in hand, gather costs to students of purchasing the course’s the retail pricing information from the on- required textbook, and that the faculty member campus bookstore, and compare to see how acknowledge those prices. significant the bookstore’s mark-up is. Some laws require disclosure of the substan- Textbook publishers in Illinois must disclose tive changes from one edition to another, so the existence and price of any alternative by requesting that information, you can find out forms of a textbook to the adopting faculty whether books are being marketed as “new” edi- member. tions with minimal updating.

At Kentucky’s public colleges and Because all the textbook-pricing information is universities, the textbook publisher must submitted to one office -- the chief state school of- provide the chief state school officer with ficer -- the open records request process is stream- a sworn statement of the list price and the lined. Send a Freedom of Information Act request lowest wholesale price at which a textbook for the textbook pricing statements submitted by the is sold to the adopting university. publisher and compare to the books’ retail prices.

l Many of the laws that deal An enterprising student journalist can use these laws to with price disclosure also require find out just how high of a markup cash-strapped students the disclosure of the substantive are paying to the campus bookstore. With the records and updates in each new editon of a text- book purchased by the campus book- simple math, you can see just how much is being made store and requlate the “bundling” or off the sale of that semester’s hefty economics text book. course materials. A faculty member claims to not have requested the in- formation? The lack of committment to knowing the true l For the complete text of these textbook transparency laws, go to cost of textbooks to students is a strong story in itself. www.splc.org

33 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 33 Anonymous, from page 29 broke the law, Bayard said. of the blog’s anonymity because it rein- “The law certainly has to find a way to forced the notion of fear. and students. balance the benefits of some level of anon- “There are perils to writing -anony Zimmerman wrote in the blog that he ymous discourse with the negative conse- mously. I think one could be misunder- thought Dean of the College of Fine Arts quences of allowing people to hide behind stood. But I do think there are situations Peter Alexander and Provost Jamie Com- anonymity,” Bayard said. where in order to get a view across, par- stock were abusing their power and lying For a statement to be libelous, it must ticularly when you are dealing with a very to the students and faculty at Butler about be a statement of fact, not opinion, it must powerful institution, that I understand why Gullickson was dismissed from her be proven false, and it must be damaging why people write anonymously,” Watts position. in a way that could harm a person’s reputa- said. On January 8, 2009, Butler Univer- tion or business. It is harder to gain credibility when sity filed a lawsuit against “John Doe aka “Something that happens a lot is that writing anonymously because many peo- Soodo Nym” for alleged defamatory and people have to fight off bogus attempts to ple will be suspicious about the reason the libelous statements posted on TruBU and unmask them if they are anonymous, when writer wishes to remain anonymous, Ba- for alleged harassing and threatening e- someone has an opinion or a true fact that yard said. mails from the e-mail address thetruebu@ somebody doesn’t like and therefore tries “When you are online and you see gmail.com. to unmask the blogger in order to scare anonymous speech, you should start with Six days before the suit was filed, Vice them into not speaking,” Jeschke said. the presumption that it is unreliable and President of Student Affairs Levester John- Zimmerman said university attorneys maybe through [the writer’s] further speech son requested a meeting with Zimmer- threatened to replace his name in the law- and showing their reliability they can gain man. suit over the summer, but on October 30, your trust,” Bayard said. “When I went in, [Johnson] showed 2009 – two weeks after Zimmerman pub- Anonymity has an undeserved nega- me a number of e-mails that I had writ- licly announced he was the author of Tru- tive connotation, Zimmerman said, be- ten that demonstrated that I knew who the BU – Butler dropped the lawsuit against cause however the speech is presented, if it anonymous blogger was and it was at that “John Doe.” is well written and supported by truthful, point that I knew they were reading my “I believe that once Jess came forward factual evidence, it can help effect change e-mail,” Zimmerman said. the situation was resolved pretty quickly,” in governance. Following the meeting and a warning Allan said. By making issues publicly known and of the impending lawsuit sent to the anon- After dropping the lawsuit, Butler not being reckless about the facts, students ymous e-mail, Zimmerman took TruBU University proceeded with internal disci- can change the actions of their administra- offline because he didn’t want to be sued plinary action as a result of Zimmerman’s tors to create a better academic commu- by the university. speech on the blog. As part of the agree- nity, Kissel said. “I shut it down then, assuming that ment, Zimmerman is not allowed speak “Students can shine the light of criti- [the controversy] would dissipate,” Zim- publicly about the details of the resolution cism on the university for failing to live up merman said. but said overall, he is happy with it. to its promises, as [Justice Louis] Brandeis But the lawsuit did not go away and William Watts, an English professor at said many decades ago, ‘Sunlight is one of Butler attorneys confirmed the identity Butler University and a vocal supporter of the best disinfectants,’ ” Kissel said. of Soodo Nym in June through subpoe- Zimmerman, said threatening legal action Watts said Jess’ blog was “fairly care- nas granted by a judge, Fong indicated in against a student for speech that is not vio- ful, fairly judicious,” and administrators a Faculty Senate meeting on October 13, lent or threatening in nature should not be should welcome and learn from criticism, 2009. permissible in any academic community. anonymous or not, to develop a stronger “The university’s intention was never “What I think is deeply wrong about and healthier academic community. to sue a student, the university’s intention what has happened here is the response of “We must insist on communities that was to find out who was writing what they the university backed up by high-paid law- allow for the free expression of ideas and wrote,” said Marc Allan, public relations yers and unlimited legal resources. The re- we must be confident that speech that is representative for Butler University. sponse was disproportionate,” Watts said. honest and truthful will be protected,” Suing an anonymous source is a com- Attaching a byline when writing about Watts said. “Fear is the most pernicious mon legal tactic to find out the source’s heated and controversial topics can quickly censor of all.” identity. If a plaintiff thinks what is writ- identify the writer and make him or her an Zimmerman said it is important for ten is a false statement and harms his repu- easier legal target, Bayard said. students not to be afraid of their adminis- tation, he can request a subpoena from a “But in other ways, [using your name] tration and talk about issues that they care judge to uncover the blogger’s identity to lends credibility and seriousness to your about even if the opinions are not accepted sue the person for libel, said Rebecca Je- work and that provides some level of pro- or controversial. schke, media coordinator for the Electric tection against legal threats as well,” Ba- “If students have something that they Frontier Foundation, an organization that yard said. want to talk about and they feel that they defends online civil liberties. Watts wrote a message that included need to be anonymous then by all means When granting a subpoena to reveal his name on the TruBU blog about the they should. Anonymous writing is one of the identity of an anonymous defendant, climate of fear on campus and why it is the biggest tools in journalism and in dia- the bottom line for the courts is whether important to stand up to power. He also log as long as it is used with some degree of there is plausible evidence that the person mentioned in the post that he was critical responsibility,” Zimmerman said. n

34 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 Blotters, from page 19 As with The Tiger at Clemson, the po- “For us, I just don’t really see where that lice blotter is well read in the Pitt News for information is particularly beneficial to the low up on the outcome of a case as they do to both information and entertainment. student body. I think its good to give peo- report on a case when it’s fresh,” Carter said. “People want to know what’s hap- ple a sense of where crimes are happening,” Publishing blotter information but not pening around them, and they also want Lawrence said. “In terms of knowing names following the case through to completion to know what their police are doing, and it’s not really to protect anyone, I would can lead to more requests for newspapers to I think that’s very newsworthy, entertain- have no real problem publishing a name, its remove information from their Web sites. ment value aside,” he said. just I don’t think it’s particularly helpful.” “Technology is opening up a whole Pitt News runs a disclaimer to ensure The choice not to print the names and new can of worms that we need to deal readers know the blotter information is identifying information, which Lawrence with,” Lindenberg said. straight from the police and has not been said he believes is irrelevant, eliminates This technology puts added weight on further investigated, Singer said. In terms several problems, like takedown requests the decision of whether to run identifying of amending information after charges and a lack of follow-up on a blotter entry information in the police blotter, he added. have been dropped or a record has been ex- including a person’s name. “We owe this to our readership and it’s punged, he said he would follow the same SOC’s Carter said deciding to print a one of the most read parts of our paper, ethical guidelines for both stand-alone sto- name should be done circumstantially, and but do we really want to affect a student’s ries and blotter entries. not as a result of a strict policy. life from here on out because technology “It’s the job of both everybody who’s “I don’t think a blanket policy of always has changed?” Lindenberg said. writing and editing the blotter to keep an doing it or never doing it is appropriate. I At The Tiger at Clemson University, eye out for things that are worth following think you have to look at the circumstanc- names and addresses are printed in the po- up on. But can we follow up on every sin- es of each case and decide what is respon- lice blotter in order to fulfill a responsibili- gle entry in the blotter? No,” Singer said. sible, what’s professional, what the needs ty the paper has to inform the community, Making this public information easily ac- of the community are what the needs of said Tiger adviser and Associate Director of cessible is also a motivation for the Pitt News the people involved may be and so I don’t Student Media Patrick Neal. to print it in the paper and on the Web. know that there is a single answer. I don’t “For better or worse − and some peo- “It’s out there, it’s already public record think that there is a single proper answer ple don’t like to acknowledge this − but it and all we’re doing is our job,” he said. to that question,” Carter said. is a well-read item,” Neal said. “Were taking information that’s out there Some states, like California and Massa- Deciding when information goes into and information that our readers find im- chusetts, restrict the information police re- the blotter and when it becomes a full story, portant enough to read, which is kind of lease more than others. But the information Neal said, is circumstantial, but often has where you draw the line, and we’re giving released on campus should be no different to do with the severity of a crime. Patterns them access to that information.” than that given to the community, he said. of crime, like a string of small but related Goehler said even if the initial informa- “The campus environment should be thefts, might also warrant a story, he added. tion provided by police later turns out to no different than the local community sur- “If it was a very public event that was have been false, if there was no reason for a rounding it. If in the local community that witnessed by a lot of people, that might paper to think information was false when it information is a matter of public record, it make it from the blotter into a stand-alone was printed, it is still protected. should be disclosed and discussed on cam- story. If it was a particularly serious crime, “It may later turn out that that infor- pus no different than it would be in the that would be a criteria for it being a stand- mation was false, but at the time of publi- surrounding community.” alone story,” he said. cation if you did not know that, you didn’t There have recently been advancements Sometimes these policies lead to requests have actual knowledge of falsity, you had no on many campuses in how safety and crime for stories or identifying information to be reason to doubt the truth of the information information is distributed. The responsibil- removed from the paper’s Web site, Neal contained on the public record, you’d have ity to inform the community, Carter said, said. If people can prove a record has been qualified privilege, either common law or must remain with the student media, and expunged, or the existing information is in- statutory, depending on your jurisdiction, to not be thrust solely upon the police. correct, the paper may take the story down. publish that information,” Goehler said. “In this world of electronic communica- However, this will not be done for people A privilege, either statutory (created tion we exist in now, it’s important to remem- simply embarrassed about their past actions. by legislature) or common-law (created by ber that student journalists still play a critical “We can’t rewrite history,” he said. court order) protects against liability even role in getting campus crime and safety in- While many papers have standing po- in the event of an error. formation out to their communities,” Carter lice blotter policies for their print versions, Editor-in-Chief of The Cavalier Daily said. “It’s not something that [should] ever some, like The Pitt News at the University Ross Lawrence said his paper publishes crime be dependent on campus police departments of Pittsburgh, are just establishing policies information, which is important to the com- sending out text messages or other forms for the same information on websites. munity, but for the paper’s purpose, the iden- of communication. The campus media still Current Editor-in-Chief Drew Singer tifications of those involved are irrelevant. have a vital role to fill and they need to con- began Pitt News’ policy that all blotter The paper’s policy has been long- tinue to remain engaged in filling that role so information printed in the paper also is standing, but is maintained by Lawrence, their campus communities can be informed posted to the website. who said journalists are provided with and make informed decisions about not only “If it’s newsworthy enough for print it’s identifying information, and could print it their own safety, but the accountability of the newsworthy enough for web,” Singer said. but they choose not to. processes that are keeping them safe.” n

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 35 legal analysis Understanding reporter’s privilege A student’s guide to the protections afforded by existing, potential shield laws

By frank lomonte from the lawyer for a party in a civil case. Normally, the demand comes in the form of a subpoena ñ A student photojournalist, compiling pictures for a class a directive issued by a judge or a lawyer to give testimony or to assignment that he hopes to publish, captures the scene of a fatal produce evidence. For instance, in 2008, two college student shooting at a dice game. newspapers in California were faced with subpoenas in which A team of college students enrolled in an Investigative the parties in criminal cases demanded to see unpublished Reporting course re-interviews the witnesses whose testimony materials.3 helped convict a Chicago man of murder, and obtains sworn An Orange County, Calif., prosecutor subpoenaed journalists statements that cast doubt on the validity of the conviction. at Saddleback College’s The Lariat seeking unaired video, notes Are these students “reporters,” even if they were working for and other documents relating to an assault on a campus security course credit instead of pay, and had no assurance their work officer that was filmed by a student videographer. Apublic would ever be commercially distributed? defender sought access to unpublished photos of an anti-war And if so, should the reporter’s privilege allow them to refuse demonstration from the University of California-Santa Barbara to disclose their unpublished newsgathering materials even if the Daily Nexus, believing that the materials might help her client, materials might help solve a crime? who was arrested at the protest. Cases involving student journalists present some of the A journalist who wishes to assert the reporterís privilege most challenging privilege issues that judges and legislators are normally will, through legal counsel, move to dismiss ñ or ìquashî facing today. The answers are not always obvious. Deciding what ñ the subpoena.4 A judge must then decide whether the privilege material is privileged means balancing two competing priorities: applies. (1) to protect the ability of journalists to effectively and safely In the case of the Daily Nexus and The Lariat, both papers gather news, and (2) to make sure the right people (and only the obtained volunteer legal counsel through the Student Press right people) are caught and punished for crimes. Law Center and were able to negotiate for the withdrawal of In this article, we’ll look at how reporter shield laws work, and the subpoenas without going to court to test the extent of their which types of laws protect students and which donít. We’ll focus protection under California’s shield law. on how recently enacted or revised state laws ñ and several being debated in Congress may (or may not) benefit students. And Who and what is privileged? weíll look at some recent court cases that test the limits of what When looking at a shield law, the first question to ask is: Who information students can withhold when faced with a demand for is a reporter entitled to claim privilege? their unpublished work. A few state laws explicitly require that a person be employed for substantial compensation by a recognized news organization Shield law fundamentals to claim the benefit of shield protection. The Florida statute is an Every state except Wyoming has some type of reporterís example of a privilege that is based on the journalistís employment privilege. Some are created by state legislatures and can be found status. It covers only a “professional” journalist who is ìworking in the statute books. Others are “common-law” privileges created as a salaried employee of, or independent contractor forî a media by state courts.1 organization.5 The core purpose of the reporter’s privilege is to protect the More commonly, a statute will simply provide that a person integrity of the newsgathering process ñ that is, to make sure that who is engaged in gathering or distributing news for a media journalists can effectively keep the secrets that enable them to do organization is entitled to claim reporter’s privilege. Georgia’s their most important work. Proponents of a broad reporter shield is an example of a shield law that covers people based on their argue that, if journalists can be compelled to disclose confidences, journalistic function rather than how they are employed. It covers then many sources will stop sharing sensitive information, and any “person, company, or other entity engaged in the gathering or valuable stories will be lost. dissemination of news for the public through a newspaper, book, In a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court case concerning the reporterís magazine, or radio or television broadcast(.)”6 privilege, Justice William O. Douglas wrote: “A reporter is no In those states, it is up to the courts to determine whether a better than his source of information. Unless he has a privilege student fits within the intended scope of the law’s coverage. to withhold the identity of his source, he will be the victim of Many shield laws are decades old, predating the Internet and governmental intrigue or aggression. If he can be summoned to the development of nontraditional newsgathering entities. Still, testify in secret before a grand jury, his sources will dry up and courts have been relatively generous in extending the protection the attempted exposure, the effort to enlighten the public, will of shield laws even to people who donít seem to fall within the be ended.”2 laws’ literal definition of a “reporter.” A shield or privilege law comes into play when a journalist or For example, even though the District of Columbia’s reporter news organization is faced with a demand to turn over unpublished privilege code covers “any person who is or has been employed material. The demand may come from police, prosecutors or by the news media in a news gathering or news disseminating defense attorneys working on a criminal matter, or it may come capacity”7 (emphasis added), at least one court has said a freelancer

36 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 or author working without a guarantee of publication can still media, proponents believe the existing shield law already covered take advantage of the privilege.8 students working for pay at independent publications.13 Assuming that the statute does apply, the next question to ask While 38 states now have shield statutes, the status of is: What material is considered “privileged?” journalists in the federal courts has long been uncertain. This All privilege laws will at least protect the identity of, and is why journalists sometimes find themselves going to federal information obtained from, a confidential source who was prison for defying subpoenas in federal lawsuits or criminal promised anonymity. Many shield laws - either by their wording, prosecutions.14 or in the way that judges interpret them - go quite a bit further. In its fragmented 1972 ruling in Branzburg v. Hayes, the Oregon’s law illustrates the broad approach to confidentiality. Supreme Court appeared to recognize that the First Amendment It allows journalists to withhold not just the identity of confidential can provide some limited degree of privilege, though not a informants but also “all notes, outtakes, photographs, tapes or blanket immunity against giving testimony needed in a criminal other data” that has not been publicly distributed.9 Importantly, proceeding.15 (In that case and a companion case, two professional shield laws apply not just to the unpublished materials themselves, journalists - one who wrote about the inner workings of the drug but also to the reporter’s own testimony. It would be pointless to trade in Kentucky and another who infiltrated the Black Panthers have a reporter’s privilege allowing a journalist to withhold her militant civil-rights group - were found to have no protection unaired video footage if attorneys could simply subpoena the against testifying before grand juries in criminal matters.) journalist and force her to testify about what is in the video. Lacking clear direction from the Supreme Court, the contours Finally, a journalist seeking to invoke of a constitutional privilege - who and reporter’s privilege must take note of what it covers, and what is required whether the privilege is an absolute one to override the privilege - have been or a qualified one. left to lower courts to determine. If the privilege is absolute, then Advocates have had difficulty the journalist’s information cannot be getting a reporter shield law obtained under any circumstances. through Congress despite 15 years But most states provide only qualified of sustained efforts. As of April protection. In those states, the privilege 2010, two competing shield bills can be overcome if the party seeking were pending in the House and disclosure can make a compelling Senate. showing that the information is necessary H.R. 985, the “Free Flow of and is unavailable elsewhere. And some Information Act of 2009,” would states have a “two-tier” law in which the cover only a journalist who gathers most sensitive information - such as the name of a confidential and distributes news “for a substantial portion of the personís informant - is absolutely privileged, while other newsgathering livelihood or for substantial financial gain.” The Senate shield information receives only qualified protection. bill, S. 448, is more expansive. It protects anyone who engages in “the regular gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, States expand privilege, Congress wavers recording, writing, editing, reporting or publishing of news or Since 2008, Maine, Hawaii and Utah have adopted new information” to the public.16 reporter shields that protect those performing journalistic S. 448 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Dec. 10, functions - meaning that there is a strong argument that they 2009, after senators reached a compromise with the White House cover even unpaid students. and the Justice Department creating exceptions to the shield For instance, Utah’s reporter shield - enacted in January 2008 where sensitive terrorism-related information is involved. by the Utah Supreme Court as part of that state’s code of evidence While the difference between the two bills is of great - extends coverage to any “publisher, editor, reporter or other consequence to students, the disagreement over the scope of similar person gathering information for the primary purpose of coverage has focused on the role of occasional amateur bloggers, disseminating news to the public” as well as the news organization not students. “This definition is no definition at all. It’s so broad “with whom that person is connected.”10 as to be meaningless,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., when the Texas also added a shield law in 2009, but its definition bill came before the Judiciary Committee.17 For better or worse, of a “journalist” is limited to a person who gathers news “for a students’ status under the shield law may be joined at the hip with substantial portion of the person’s livelihood or for substantial the fate of bloggers. financial gain.”11 Consequently, an unpaid student journalist would have no claim of privilege, and even a student doing Students test limits of shields’ scope occasional freelance work for a token payment might have Fortunately, student journalists rarely have to put the difficulty qualifying. reporter’s privilege to the test. There are only a handful of known The newest shield statute, signed into law April 15, 2010, in court rulings in which a student journalist attempted to resist a Kansas, covers those “employed” by news organizations, but it subpoena on the grounds of privilege. makes no reference to payment and its proponents believe the In almost all of the known instances, judges have decided law was intended to cover student journalists.12 A new Maryland the issue on grounds other than the studentís status. As a result, law expands the scope of that stateís shield law to cover college there is almost no guidance from the courts as to when a student’s journalists; though the law expressly applies only to those journalistic activity will be recognized as being substantial enough working under school supervision or in or college-affiliated to qualify for the reporter’s privilege.18

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 37 Two recent high-profile cases are spotlighting studentsí on the Project’s Web site23 and in conjunction with professional uncertain position under shield laws. journalists in the Chicago media. The first of these cases starts in April 2009. San Francisco Between 2003 and 2006, students in the Project scrutinized State University photojournalist Alex Welsh was working on the case of Anthony McKinney, a Chicago-area man serving life a class project documenting life in the Bayview-Hunters Point in prison for a murder conviction in the 1978 shooting death of a area, an African-American neighborhood that Welsh believed was security guard. McKinney had always denied involvement. under-covered by the mainstream media. The students retraced the steps of criminal investigators, Welsh had sold other photos to professional media outlets. He and gathered fresh statements from witnesses - published on the had talked with several about the Bayview-Hunters Point project, Project’s Web site24 - indicating McKinney was not involved and but had reached no agreement. pointing the finger at an alternative suspect. Welsh was photographing a dice game when one of the players, In 2008, attorneys with Northwestern’s legal clinic moved 21-year-old Norris Bennett, was suddenly shot and killed. to reopen and retry the McKinney case based on the student Welsh notified the police, but declined to turn over his photos journalists’ newly discovered information. from the scene, asserting the reporter’s privilege. Police obtained Prosecutors with the State’s Attorney’s Office responded a search warrant and, before the student could get a lawyer and by subpoenaing not only all of the students’ notes, interview challenge the warrant, raided his home and seized photos, a tapes and other unpublished newsgathering materials, but also computer hard drive, and other materials. background materials about the Investigative Reporting course The student went to court demanding that police turn over and the students’ performance in it.25 The prosecutors theorized what they seized. His attorney cited California’s shield law, that those course materials might show that the students were which applies to any “publisher, editor, reporter, or other person motivated to bias their investigation by promises of better grades connected with or employed upon a newspaper, magazine, or other if their findings cleared McKinney. periodical publication, or by a press association or wire service, or Northwestern fought the subpoena, raising the reporter’s any person who has been so connected or employed(.)”19 privilege as a defense. In July 2009, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Tomar Illinois law extends the reporter’s privilege to “any person

Once information falls into authorities’ hands, arguing for the protection of report- er’s privilege may be, as a practical reality, irrelevant.

Mason“ ruled that, even though Welsh was not “employed” by a regularly engaged in the business of collecting, writing or editing recognized news organization at the time he took the photographs, news for publication through a news medium on a full-time or California’s shield law applied to him.20 The judge ordered all of part-time basis,” and it includes an electronic “news service” as a 26 ” the confiscated materials returned. recognized “news medium.” Welsh later willingly disclosed one of the murder-scene State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez responded by questioning the photos as part of a portfolio submitted to University of Missouriís students’ legitimacy as journalists, pointing to their irregular College Photographer of the Year awards. His entry won the gold publishing schedule and lack of affiliation with a recognized media medal in the documentary category for 2009.21 As it turned out, organization. Prosecutors suggested that the students crossed a his photos did not capture any identifying information about the line from journalist to investigator, and were not entitled to claim shooter. privilege under Illinois law. The Welsh case has aroused strong reactions, because it In support of her position, Alvarez produced statements from involves a serious crime to which the journalist was an eyewitness. two of the Medill students’ witnesses in which the witnesses wavered A police detective called the photographer a “coward” for refusing on what they told the reporters.27 One witness told prosecutors to come forward and volunteer his information.22 that a Medill student passed him $40 through a cab driver, which Nevertheless, the case was in some ways a classic illustration the witness admitted using to buy drugs. Another said that female of the benefits of the reporter’s privilege. As demonstrated by his reporters flirted with him, and he told them what they wanted to award-winning documentary portfolio, Welsh was frequenting a hear to keep the conversation going. neighborhood where crime and violence are a daily reality. If not Multiple media organizations filed briefs supporting the for the wall of separation between press and police, the student students’ entitlement to protection under the shield law, including may never have been allowed to capture the candid scenes that he the SPLC, College Media Advisers, the Society of Professional photographed, including the sudden and senseless end of Norris Journalists, and the Association for Education in Journalism and Bennett’s life. Mass Communications.28 The second recent high-profile case involves students enrolled The issue was largely mooted, however, when lawyers for in Prof. David Protessí Investigative Reporting lab class at McKinney changed tactics. Northwestern Universityís Medill School. In February 2010, they resubmitted their petition for a new trial The students assigned to the Medill Innocence Project work without using the two witnesses who waffled on their statements to in teams reexamining old criminal convictions about which the journalists.29 The revised petition relies on two other witnesses, doubts have been raised. When they reach a conclusion about who have changed their stories since McKinney’s trial and now say whether the conviction was wrongful, they publish their findings they did not see McKinney commit the murder.

38 SPLC Report l Spring 2010 Although the Medill case may not result in significant new 2008, https://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1756. legal precedent affecting the typical student journalist, it has had 4 See, e.g., Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(c)(3)(A)(iii) (providing that a an impact. Maryland state Del. Sandy Rosenberg said he proposed judge may be asked to quash a subpoena that ìrequires disclosure of House Bill 257, amending Maryland’s shield law to include some privileged or other protected matterî). college journalists, as a direct response to the uncertainty over the 5 Fla. Stat. Sec. 90.5015(1)(a). Medill journalists’ status.30 6 O.C.G.A. Sec. 24-9-30. 7 D.C. Code Sec. 16-4702. A shield may not stop all bullets 8 Prentice v. McPhilemy, No. 98CA0004309, 27 Med. L. For student journalists at school-supervised publications, Rptr. 2377 (D.C. Super. Ct., May 5, 1999). subpoenas from lawyers may not be the biggest confidentiality 9 ORS 44.510(5). concern. Since shield laws typically block intrusions only by police 10 Rule 509, Utah R. Evid. or by courts, it’s questionable whether even the strongest reporter 11 Tex. Civil Practice & Remedies Code, Sec. 22.021(2); Tex. privilege could block a demand from school officials (or snooping Code Crim. Pro., Art. 38.11(2). by school personnel with access to newsroom computers). 12 SPLC News Flash, ìProposed Kan. shield bill could include There are no known court cases in which a student journalist student journalists,î March 25, 2010, http://www.splc.org/newsflash. has attempted to claim reporter’s privilege when faced with a asp?id=2054. demand for information from a school administrator or faculty 13 SPLC News Flash, ìMd. shield law now includes protection adviser. However, aside from reporter’s privilege, there are other for college student journalists,î April 27, 2010, http://www.splc.org/ legal arguments against forced disclosure of confidential sources. newsflash.asp?id=2081. There is some risk that, if a journalist goes back on a promise of 14 See, e.g., Joe Mozingo, Imprisoned blogger is freed in deal confidentiality, the journalist could be sued for breach of contract with federal prosecutor, Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2007, at 3. if the source is harmed by the disclosure. This happened to two 15 408 U.S. 665, 692 (1972). Minnesota newspapers in the case of Cohen v. Cowles Media.31 16 See Charles Savage, Deal Reached in Senate on Bill Protecting In the Cohen case, a campaign aide leaked unflattering court Reportersí Sources, The New York Times, Oct. 31, 2009, at A1. documents about a candidate for governor to reporters at the St. 17 Jerry Zremsky, Journalism Shackled: Should the Federal Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch and the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, Shield Law cover online reporters and bloggers, Buffalo News, March under a promise that his identity would be protected. The papers 21, 2010, at G1. later decided that the source of the leak was newsworthy and, 18 For a full discussion of cases in which students have raised going back on their promise, identified the leaker, Dan Cohen. the reporterís privilege, see the Student Press Law Centerís Law of When the story came to light, Cohen was fired from his job the Student Press (2008) at 297-98. and sued the publishers of both papers. The U.S. Supreme Court 19 Calif. Evid. Code Sec. 1070(a). decided that the First Amendment did not protect the newspapers 20 Jaxon Van Derbeken, Student ruled a journalist, San against a suit for breach of promise.32 Francisco Chronicle, July 16, 2009, at A10. So keeping a promise of confidentiality is not just a matter 21 Welshís award-winning entry can be viewed on the of sound ethical behavior - it can also be a matter of self- College Photographer of the Year site at http://www.cpoy.org/index. preservation. php?s=WinningImages&c=191. A student journalist who is confronted with a demand for 22 Van Derbeken, supra note 16, at A10. confidential materials - especially the identity of sources who gave 23 http://www.medillinnocenceproject.org/. information under a promise of anonymity - should (politely and 24 http://www.medillinnocenceproject.org/mckinney. courteously) resist the demand. If pressure persists, the journalist 25 Jeff Long,Medill justice project finds itself targeted, Chicago should promptly obtain legal counsel from an attorney licensed in Tribune, Oct. 19. 2009, at A1; Monica Davey, Prosecutors Turn the appropriate state. The SPLC’s Attorney Referral Network often Tables on Student Journalists, The New York Times, Oct. 25. 2009, can be of help matching up students with volunteer lawyers. at A14. As a final note of caution, students who deal with confidential 26 735 ILCS 5/8-902. informants should be wary of saving any identifying material 27 Emma Graves Fitzsimmons, Prosecutors Say Students Paid in accessible places in an on-campus newsroom - including on Witness to Aid Case, The New York Times, Nov. 11, 2009, at A20. school computers. It is not unheard-of for schools to use their 28 http://www.splc.org/pdf/SPLC-MedillAmicusFiling.pdf. access to school premises and computers to search for journalistsí 29 http://www.medillinnocenceproject.org/ newsgathering materials.33 Once information falls into the mckinney#Updated3. authorities’ hands, arguing for the protection of reporter’s privilege 30 SPLC News Flash, ìCollege journalists included in may be, as a practical reality, irrelevant.  proposed amendment to Md. shield law,î Feb. 3, 2010, http://www. splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=2023. 31 501 U.S. 663 (1991). 1 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has 32 Id. at 670. compiled a state-by-state rundown of these laws at www.rcfp.org/ 33 See, e.g., SPLC News Flash, ìStudent reporter who privilege/. discovered university security breach punished but not expelled,î 2 Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665, 722 (1972) (Douglas, Oct. 5, 2007, http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1621 J., dissenting). (describing Western Oregon Universityís search of school 3 Student Press Law Center News Flash, “Two Calif. papers computers seeking materials given to the student newspaper by a successfully challenge subpoenas for unpublished material,î May 20, source).

SPLC Report l Spring 2010 39 Law of the Student Press Third Edition The Student Press Law Center gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the following institutions and individuals n i n d i s p e n s a b l e r e f e r e n c e t o o l f o r who have joined in our effort to defend A the rights of student journalists. t h e l a t e s t m e d i a -l a w developments Contributions from Dec. 12, 2009 to April 1, 2010. FREEDOM FIGHTERS ($10,000 or more) “This comprehensive book is the one-stop-shopping destination for anyone involved or McCormick Foundation interested in student journalism. It charts the path for keeping student expression safe Yellow Chair Foundation and strong. And it gives students, lawyers and journalists the background they need to STUDENT VOICE CHAMPIONS understand and fully enjoy the rights the First Amendment provides. Censors may try to ($5,000 to $9,999) follow students into cyberspace, but with this book in hand, student journalists will be able Journalism Education Association to continue their work that is so vital in our 21st century democracy.” FREE PRESS PROTECTORS — Tony Mauro, Supreme Court correspondent, Legal Times ($1,000 to $4,999) Candace Bowen John Bowen “At a time when school authorities and others find student journalism uncomfortable and Patrick Carome inconvenient, this new, expanded edition of ‘The Law of the Student Press’ gives young College Media Advisers journalists the solid information they need to stand up and do what needs to be done. It’s Richard Goehler clear, easy to navigate — a true gem.” — Andrew Barnes, Chairman, Poynter Institute for Mark Goodman Frank D. LoMonte Media Studies Andrew Stark Thomas Whitehead STUDENT VOICE ADVOCATES ($500 to $999) Order your copy of the must-have Caesar Andrews Jerry Ceppos Law of the Student Press online at Shawn Chen Thomas Eveslage Garden State Scholastic Press www.splc.org! Jostens Kansas Associated Collegiate Press Missouri Press Foundation Discounts are available for SPLC members and large groups. Lomante Hanarrum Northwest Scholastic Press Rosalind & Martin Stark STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER FIRST AMENDMENT FRIENDS ($100 to $499) 1101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1100 Non-Profit Org. Alan Heider U.S. Postage Paid Robert Becker Arlington, VA 22209-2275 Benn Law Firm Washington, DC Beverly Keneagy Brown Phone: (703) 807-1904 Robert Bluey Permit No. 4702 Karen Bosley Web site: www.splc.org Madeleine Corson Charles Donaldson Joseph Esposito Susan Everett Findlay High School Ann Franke Barbara Hines Nancy Hudak John R. Mohn Ronald E. Johnson John Kittross David Langlois Leonard W. Lazarick Liberty High School David McCraw National Scholastic Press Association Nebraska JEA New York Press Association Peninsula Press Club Harry Proudfoot David Randall James Salzer Tracy A. Sena Shawnee Mission North High School Helen Silha Howard & Juanita Spanogle Reginald Stuart Susan Tantillo Sherri Taylor Amanda Thrash ATTENTION: STUDENT MEDIA Va. Association of Journalism Teachers Mark Webber John Wheeler Esther Wojcicki