INSIDE: Supreme Court shows interest in Hosty v. Carter case, PAGE 24 WINTER 2005-06 VOL. XXVII, NO. 1 Saying ‘Yes’ Can minors give RSTUDENTEPORT PRESS LAW CENTER consent? PAGE 14 ALSO INSIDE: Using Facebook in the newsroom, PAGE 18 AND Crime incident reports, why some colleges don’t want you to have them, PAGE 33 PUBLICATIONS FELLOW ART Evan Mayor Jonathan Brown CONTENTS Chris Crawford REPORTERS [email protected] HIGH SCHOOL CENSORSHIP Clay Gaynor Will Gaynor James Madison University New study says gender, geography affect high [email protected] school students’ views on expression . 4 Kyle McCarthy College of the Holy Cross Talia Greenberg High school reporters battle to cover homosexuality . 6 Kim Peterson Danny “Om” Jean-Jacques ‘Joke’ Web site changes student’s life. 8 American University [email protected] Students in N.J. win censorship battle . 10 CONTRIBUTORS Melissa Malisia Former student loses free speech lawsuit in Calif.. 10 InBRIEF . 11 Adam Goldstein Jessica Zimmer Mike Hiestand [email protected] COVER ART COVER STORY Jack Dickason Saying ‘yes’: the validity of minor consent . 14 Student Press Law Center Report Student Press Law Center Report (ISSN 0160-3825), published three times each year by the Student Press Law Center, summarizes current cases and controversies involving the rights of the student INTERNET press. The SPLC Report is researched, written and produced by To use or not to use: social journalism interns and SPLC staff. Student Press Law Center Report, Vol. XXVII, No. 1, Winter 2005- networking sites in the newsroom . 18 06, is published by the Student Press Law Center Inc., 1101 Wilson Students increasingly punished for Internet speech . 21 Boulevard, Suite 1100, Arlington, VA 22209-2275 (703) 807-1904. Copyright © 2005 Student Press Law Center. All rights reserved. Yearly subscriptions to the SPLC Report are $15. Contributions are tax-deductible. A membership form appears on page 46. COLLEGE CENSORSHIP High court shows interest in Hosty . 24 Executive Director Mark Goodman InBRIEF . 28 Covert censorship: what it is and what to do about it . 30 Legal Consultant Director of Development Mike Hiestand Julia Pfaff New Media Legal Fellow Outreach Coordinator CAMPUS CRIME Adam Goldstein Michael Pittman Under wraps: why some Corporate Board of Directors schools are reluctant to provide incident reports. 33 Dr. David L. Adams Kathleen Kirby Indiana University Wiley Rein & Fielding LLP Bloomington, Ind. Washington, D.C. ACCESS Angela Buenning Terry Nelson Eastside College Prepatory School Muncie Central High School Mich. court rejects students’ request for access. 36 East Palo Alto, Calif. Muncie, Ind. InBRIEF . 37 Jerry Ceppos Tonda Rush, Esq. Knight Ridder (retired) American PressWorks Inc. San Jose, Calif. Arlington, Va. NEWSPAPER THEFT Shawn Chen Cedric D. Scott, Esq. National Journal's Technology Daily Jackson Walker LLP Four face charges for stealing papers . 38 Washington, D.C. Houston, Texas InBRIEF. 40 Virginia Edwards Rosalind Stark Education Week International Women’s Media Foundation Old theft updates . 41 Bethesda, Md. Washington, D.C. Robert Garcia Mark Stodder ABC News Radio Dolan Media LIBEL & PRIVACY Washington, D.C. Minneapolis, Minn. Professor sues student newspaper for defamation. 42 Richard Goehler, Esq. Mark Witherspoon Frost Brown Todd LLC Iowa State University InBRIEF . 42 Cincinnati, Ohio Ames, Iowa Mark Goodman, Esq. Student Press Law Center ADVISERS Arlington, Va. InBRIEF . 44 Organizations for purposes of identification only ROUNDUP Texas students, adviser receive Courage in Student Journalism Awards Four students from DeSoto High 2004, their school board approved a Richtsmeier stood before the school board School in suburban Dallas, Texas, and stu- $65,000 payment to a consultant named and defended her students’ coverage and dent media adviser Carol Richtsmeier Project JAMS for an assessment of gang- their press freedom. Despite frequent pub- received the 2005 Courage in Student Jour- related activity at the school. The students, lic criticism by the board, Richtsmeier’s nalism Awards presented by the Newseum, suspicious that Project JAMS had overstat- unwavering support of the Eagle Eye staff the Student Press Law Center and the ed the level of gang-related activity at the paved the way for their investigation and National Scholastic Press Association. school, launched an investigation. Delving set a courageous example of strong journal- The Courage in Student Journalism deep into the background of the consult- istic principles for her students to follow. Awards are presented each year to student ant, the students raised questions about the A NEW LOOK journalists and to a school administrator or program’s credibility and uncovered false In this issue, the Student Press Law Cen- media adviser who have demonstrated claims, unfulfilled contracts and unsub- ter Report begins a transformation that we exceptional determination and support for stantiated statistics. hope you will appreciate. Long-time read- student press freedom, despite resistance or DeSoto’s school board responded with ers will notice more news briefs and a few difficult circumstances. threats of censorship, and Project JAMS longer stories that explore in-depth the Students Whitney Basil, Eric Gentry, responded with threats of legal action. issues confronting the student media as well Zach Kroh and Jeremy Willis, who report- Although pressured to stop their investiga- as a more graphic presentation of important ed for DeSoto’s student newspaper the tion, the students continued. Eventually, facts and advice. All of this, we hope, is Eagle Eye, share the $5,000 student prize. their efforts led to a series of town meetings packaged in a more user-friendly way. Richtsmeier received a $5,000 prize as well. and gained the attention of local print and Combined with the News Flashes on The awards were presented at the National broadcast media. As a result, the school our Web site (www.splc.org/newsflash.asp), Scholastic Press Association/Journalism board rejected the nearly $1 million in addi- the Report strives to give you a complete Education Association convention in tional funds requested by Project JAMS. picture of developments in student press Chicago in November. Eagle Eye student newspaper adviser law. As always, we appreciate your sugges- The students were recognized for their Carol Richtsmeier encouraged the students tions and comments. E-mail your commitment to journalistic principles and throughout their investigation. Knowingly thoughts to our publications fellow, Evan defense of press freedom. In November jeopardizing her position at DeSoto, Mayor, at [email protected]. I Report Staff Kyle McCarthy, journalism intern, is a junior at College of Evan Mayor, Publications Fellow, gradu- the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. He is ated from Vanderbilt University in May 2005 pursuing a double major in political science with degrees in communications and politi- and English. He served as the sports editor cal science. While at Vanderbilt, he was the for The Crusader, the student newspaper at editor in chief of the student newspaper, The Holy Cross. He was also a staff writer for Vanderbilt Hustler. He freelanced for The MLSnet.com, the official site for Major Tennessean in Nashville, Tenn., and interned League Soccer. McCarthy plans to take over as a police reporter there last summer. Mayor as editor in chief of The Crusader in the edited and designed the Report. spring. McCarthy covered access, campus Clay Gaynor, journalism intern, is a grad- crime, confidentiality and libel & privacy for uate of James Madison University in Har- the Report. risonburg, Va. He received his degree in print Kim Peterson, journalism intern, is a sen- journalism with a minor in human resource ior at American University in Washington, and development in May 2005. While at D.C. She is pursuing a major in internation- James Madison University, he wrote features, al relations and a minor in communication. news and entertainment articles for The She has worked as an intern for the Dow Breeze, the student newspaper there. He also Jones Newswires in Brussels, Belgium, and served as an editor and writer for Curio, a the Seattle Weekly. She has also written for regional interest feature magazine produced at the college. In The Eagle, American University's student newspaper. While liv- addition, Gaynor worked as a freelance writer for Harrisonburg's ing in Seattle, she worked for the Mirror, a subsidiary of The Seat- Daily News-Record. Gaynor covered Internet, high school censor- tle Times, as a staff writer. Peterson covered college censorship, ship and high school advisers for the Report. newspaper theft and college advisers for the Report. I WINTER 2005-06 SPLC REPORT 3 HIGH SCHOOL CENSORSHIP Gender, geography affect views on expression Females less supportive of press rights, urban students favor expression, new reports find New reports suggest high veyed believe the First Amend- portive, but it seems the oppo- Males tend to make moral- school students have differing ment “goes too far” in guaran- site is true,” Watson said. istic judgements, such as the opinions on the First Amend- teeing freedom of speech and Conservative attitudes in the difference between right and ment depending on their gen- freedom of the press. suburbs, political correctness wrong, while females worry der and where they live. Researchers for the study, and hesitancy towards risk-tak- more about maintaining rela- Urban students are more funded by the John S. and ing could provide reasons for tionships, Arnold said. likely to favor greater means of James L. Knight Founda- “I don’t think young expression — such as airing an tion, questioned 112,000 women are stupider or less unpopular opinion or reciting students, more than well-read than young men,” profanity-laced lyrics — while 8,000 teachers and more [C]ivics education in she said. suburban students are more than 500 principals and America’s high schools David Yalof, a University likely to believe the govern- school administrators must be improved....” of Connecticut professor ment should have the right to nationwide.