Law and Ethics Understanding the Legal Issues of Scholastic Journalism

The First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The Job of a Journalist Journalists serve: A political function (watchdog of government) An economic function (business, farming, industrial, ads) A sentry function (pointing out social problems) A record-keeping function (important news) An entertainment function (diversion) A social function (gets people talking to one another A marketplace function (place for exchange of ideas) An agenda-setting function (what the public should be talking about)

Terms Ethics—a system of moral principles Plagiarism—taking and using another’s writings or inventions as your own. “Composite Characters”—fictional characters a news writer creates by using characteristics of several real people. The creation of composite characters is generally frowned upon by ethical journalists

Ethical Problems  Deceit  Conflict of Interest  Friendship  Payola  Freebies  Checkbook journalism Participation in the news Advertising Pressure Invasion of Privacy Withholding Information

Terms-continued Libel—written defamation; damaging false statements against a person or institution that appear in writing or are spoken from a written script. Slander—a damaging false statement against a person or institution spoken or broadcast extemporaneously Prior restraint—censorship banning publication of certain material. This is illegal in the United States except in circumstances concerning national security in wartime.

Defenses against Libel  Truth  Invasion of privacy suit  Privilege  Public forum  Fair Comment  Reviews of movies, books, etc.  Admission of Error  Running a correction, non-malice, layout  Public Officials and Public Figures  Burden of proving malice

Terms—continued In loco parentis—the legal idea that school authorities act “in place of the parent” and assume a parent’s rights, duties, and responsibilities Forum Theory—the idea that once a forum, or place where ideas are exchanged, is created, the ideas expressed there cannot later be controlled

Journalism Ethics Credibility—must be able to be believed and trusted Accuracy—close doesn’t count. Names, dates, details must be correct Objectivity—cannot permit their own opinions to be a part of their stories. Also—attribution, good taste, right of reply, fairness to all, plagiarism, the truth

Other Ethical Standards  Good Taste  Right of Reply or Simultaneous Rebuttal  Fairness to All  Plagiarism  Attribution  The Truth

Discussion At one point, the Pledge was said every morning. Now we only say it on Mondays and not everyone has to join in. Is that fair? Does that in any way fly in the face of our Veteran’s Day program at EHS? Why do you think the policy changed? What about the “under God” phrase?

Discussion To protest the continuation of the U.S. use of drones, six students are wearing all black for the next seven school days, one day for each year drones have been used in Afganistan. Is that an appropriate protest? Does political commentary of that nature belong in school?

Discussion A friend of yours posts disparaging remarks about a teacher on Twitter. The school sees it and calls your friend in to the office. What happens in that meeting? Does your friend get in trouble?

Discussion  Do you think that high school students can handle discussions of controversial and sensitive topics like gay marriage, teen pregnancy, abortion rights, prayer in school, parental divorce, and affirmative action? Should a school have the power to declare some topics off limits to student journalists?

Law and Scholastic Journalism About 40 years ago it was believed that the control student expression rested with school authorities—they acted in the place of the parent

Tinker v. Des Moines 1969—during the Vietnam War 3 students in Des Moines, IA decided to wear black armbands to protest the war. School administrators suspended the students—the students sued Lost in district and appeals courts but won when their case reached the U.S. Supreme Court

The Tinker Decision Supreme court said: “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate…School officials do not possess absolute authority over their students. Students in school as well as out of school are ‘persons’ under our Constitution”

What did Tinker mean? Prior restraint (censorship) of student journalists is illegal unless the material was libelous, obscene, or an invasion of privacy. School was a public forum where expression must be tolerated Student editors had the legal right to decide what would go in the publication. Most principals, advisers, and students worked together and legal problems were rare—until Hazelwood.

Hazelwood S.D. v. Cathy Kuhlmeier Facts 1983: The student newspaper: The Spectrum prepared a series of stories about student pregnancy and the effects of divorce on students Principal deleted the 2 pages of the paper on which the stories were to appear The principal said they invaded the students privacy even though they were unnamed

Hazelwood Facts, cont. Also believed the topics were inappropriate for school Principal said he was the publisher of the newspaper Court of appeals said that government has never been permitted to control the press, and because the administrators are the “government” of the school they should not control the student pubs.

Arguments for and against Some say administrators should have the final say because if there is a libel suit the school will have to pay The other side says libel is a not likely to happen in a school If schools grant students the responsibility for what they print, then students inherit the responsibility to pay any libel judgments.

Arguments for and against Some say student journalists are too young and too inexperienced to make mature judgments. But many student journalists are sophisticated and if they receive proper guidance from their advisers, they will make proper decisions.

Arguments for and against Some say that control belongs to the school because the yearbook and newspaper are produced by classes—the journalism teacher should exercise control. This is a good argument for schools where the publications are financed by the school and credit is granted for working on them.

Limits on Hazelwood Supreme court said it was not an open forum—so they chose in favor of the administrators. If a school newspaper has been declared a place where members of the school community can exchange ideas they may be in a different legal position than a pure lab newspaper.

States that question Hazelwood Kansas, Iowa, Colorado, Arkansas, and Massachusetts have passed laws that sidestep Hazelwood and allow students the same rights as professional journalists How can they do this? States may grant more freedom than the federal government; they just can’t grant less