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| Version | User | Scope of changes |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 26 2007, 12:40 PM EST (current) | lar294 | 3 words added, 3 words deleted |
| Oct 31 2007, 8:21 AM EDT | lar294 | 15 words added, 12 words deleted |
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by Laura Riggio
On October 1 2007 at East Coweta High School in Georgia, Principal Derek Pitts pulled 500 copies of the award winningaward-winning school newspaper, Smoke Signals, out of teacher Ellen Thomas’ classroom. The content, he determined, was inappropriate.
One article, written by Caitlyn VanOrden, managing editor of Smoke Signals, criticized the high school’s Indian Princess pageant as shallow and unnecessary because it is based on looks alone. The Another, written by Justin Jones, was a satirical piece modeled after the 18th century essayist Jonathan Swift’s, “A Modest Proposal” and suggested fifth graders be executed if their IQ test results were in the bottom 25 percent.
The reaction to the articles or potential reaction was enough to make Pitts take the remaining 500 undistributed copies and form a newspaper advisory board.
While some students thought Jones' article went a little to far and others just didn't understand it, it wasn't the student's response alone that made Pitts take away the newspapers. It was flak that influenced his decision.
Media theorist Noam Chomsky wrote with Edward S. Herman in their book, Manufacturing Consent about the theory of the five filters in which news is filtered before publishing. After corporate ownership, advertising, and sourcing, his fourth filter, "flak and the enforcers" talks about flak--negative responses to a media statement or program-- and how it can be a powerful force influencing news. In this case, it was flak that influenced the censorship of a student newspaper.
Jim Thompson, editor of the Athens Banner-Herald who wrote about the Smoke Signals issue on October 27 said in an email interview that administrators tend to worry about the public's perception of their school and they deal with that by keeping any potentially negative information from getting out. "The best way to do that is to keep student newspapers focused on relatively banal issues, like whether or not there's sufficient time for changing classes, whether there's enough variety in the lunch menu, etc.”
And Pitts told VanOrden just that. He told her the content was inappropriate. Pitts said profanity was used in some articles. One quoted a senior describing boot camp as hell. The other was in Jones' when he used the word "bastardizing" in his editorial.In an email interview, she said, "he found the editorials to show EC in a negative light. I was told he wanted the newspaper to be a 'positive, uplifting' publication. When my mom and I went to meet with him and he told me the word bastardizing was inappropriate, I offered to read him the dictionary definition (to corrupt or debase) and he said he didn't want to hear it."
Opinion editor Justin Jones said in an email interview that many students were upset when they heard about the issue. But while some students may have believed Pitts violated First Amendment rights, he wasn't violating policy. The Coweta County School board policy states that, "school officials, consistent with the First Amendment, may exercise editorial control of the style and content of student speech in school-sponsored expressive activities so long as their actions are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns."
This policy reflects a Supreme Court’s 1988 ruling that school sponsored student publications that are not forums are subject to censorship by administration officials. In Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier the administration wanted to censor stories in a school-sponsored student newspaper concerning teen pregnancy and the effects of divorce on children. The court ruled that administrators can censor school-sponsored speech if it interferes with the school’s educational mission.
VanOrden said she doesn't believe that the September issue violated any of the guidelines but has resigned as managing editor after newspaper adviser Ellen Thomas stepped down. After Thomas resigned the newspaper shut down until an advisory board formed, consisting of two students and two teachers who oversee decisions on content.
Jones thinks the advisory board will ruin the paper's future. After the senior class graduates, which includes he and VanOrden, he "can't imagine a wave of underclassmen signing up for the course... with the new stipulations in place."
VanOrden thinks the staff will be much more likely to self-edit now. "They will probably choose not to write unpopular views or about anything that portrays EC in a light that is anything but positive. This new version of Smoke Signals and its production method will not prepare students for a career in journalism; as we all know, newspapers are not filled with only positive, happy stories."
But Thompson said he is not sure there are that many administrators who are interested in allowing students to take an unbridled approach to journalism. Regarding schools in which administrators are willing to give student journalists more free rein, "its incumbent on those students -- and their faculty advisors, as well -- to handle that willingness responsibly. Advisors should make students aware of the paramount importance of doing adequate research on controversial topics, of making sure that a variety of views are reflected in stories, and that opinion pieces are well-reasoned, with conclusions based on fact rather than emotion.”
Pitts has since reinstated the newspaper and vowed not to interfere with future publications so long as there is a committee. Dean Jackson told the Student Press Law Center that the committee is not considered censorship but rather "an internal editorial process."
VanOrden said she will be speaking at the next school board meeting to request the policy be changed to include a recognition of students' First Amendment rights and more clear rules for censorship. "It would be amazing to eventually see Georgia become an anti-Hazelwood state. I am a senior and will be moving out of the county after graduation, but I want to see the policy changed so that other student journalists in the county after me do not have to go through this again."
On October 1 2007 at East Coweta High School in Georgia, Principal Derek Pitts pulled 500 copies of the award winningaward-winning school newspaper, Smoke Signals, out of teacher Ellen Thomas’ classroom. The content, he determined, was inappropriate.
One article, written by Caitlyn VanOrden, managing editor of Smoke Signals, criticized the high school’s Indian Princess pageant as shallow and unnecessary because it is based on looks alone. The Another, written by Justin Jones, was a satirical piece modeled after the 18th century essayist Jonathan Swift’s, “A Modest Proposal” and suggested fifth graders be executed if their IQ test results were in the bottom 25 percent.
The reaction to the articles or potential reaction was enough to make Pitts take the remaining 500 undistributed copies and form a newspaper advisory board.
While some students thought Jones' article went a little to far and others just didn't understand it, it wasn't the student's response alone that made Pitts take away the newspapers. It was flak that influenced his decision.
Media theorist Noam Chomsky wrote with Edward S. Herman in their book, Manufacturing Consent about the theory of the five filters in which news is filtered before publishing. After corporate ownership, advertising, and sourcing, his fourth filter, "flak and the enforcers" talks about flak--negative responses to a media statement or program-- and how it can be a powerful force influencing news. In this case, it was flak that influenced the censorship of a student newspaper.
Jim Thompson, editor of the Athens Banner-Herald who wrote about the Smoke Signals issue on October 27 said in an email interview that administrators tend to worry about the public's perception of their school and they deal with that by keeping any potentially negative information from getting out. "The best way to do that is to keep student newspapers focused on relatively banal issues, like whether or not there's sufficient time for changing classes, whether there's enough variety in the lunch menu, etc.”
And Pitts told VanOrden just that. He told her the content was inappropriate. Pitts said profanity was used in some articles. One quoted a senior describing boot camp as hell. The other was in Jones' when he used the word "bastardizing" in his editorial.In an email interview, she said, "he found the editorials to show EC in a negative light. I was told he wanted the newspaper to be a 'positive, uplifting' publication. When my mom and I went to meet with him and he told me the word bastardizing was inappropriate, I offered to read him the dictionary definition (to corrupt or debase) and he said he didn't want to hear it."
Opinion editor Justin Jones said in an email interview that many students were upset when they heard about the issue. But while some students may have believed Pitts violated First Amendment rights, he wasn't violating policy. The Coweta County School board policy states that, "school officials, consistent with the First Amendment, may exercise editorial control of the style and content of student speech in school-sponsored expressive activities so long as their actions are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns."
This policy reflects a Supreme Court’s 1988 ruling that school sponsored student publications that are not forums are subject to censorship by administration officials. In Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier the administration wanted to censor stories in a school-sponsored student newspaper concerning teen pregnancy and the effects of divorce on children. The court ruled that administrators can censor school-sponsored speech if it interferes with the school’s educational mission.
VanOrden said she doesn't believe that the September issue violated any of the guidelines but has resigned as managing editor after newspaper adviser Ellen Thomas stepped down. After Thomas resigned the newspaper shut down until an advisory board formed, consisting of two students and two teachers who oversee decisions on content.
Jones thinks the advisory board will ruin the paper's future. After the senior class graduates, which includes he and VanOrden, he "can't imagine a wave of underclassmen signing up for the course... with the new stipulations in place."
VanOrden thinks the staff will be much more likely to self-edit now. "They will probably choose not to write unpopular views or about anything that portrays EC in a light that is anything but positive. This new version of Smoke Signals and its production method will not prepare students for a career in journalism; as we all know, newspapers are not filled with only positive, happy stories."
But Thompson said he is not sure there are that many administrators who are interested in allowing students to take an unbridled approach to journalism. Regarding schools in which administrators are willing to give student journalists more free rein, "its incumbent on those students -- and their faculty advisors, as well -- to handle that willingness responsibly. Advisors should make students aware of the paramount importance of doing adequate research on controversial topics, of making sure that a variety of views are reflected in stories, and that opinion pieces are well-reasoned, with conclusions based on fact rather than emotion.”
Pitts has since reinstated the newspaper and vowed not to interfere with future publications so long as there is a committee. Dean Jackson told the Student Press Law Center that the committee is not considered censorship but rather "an internal editorial process."
VanOrden said she will be speaking at the next school board meeting to request the policy be changed to include a recognition of students' First Amendment rights and more clear rules for censorship. "It would be amazing to eventually see Georgia become an anti-Hazelwood state. I am a senior and will be moving out of the county after graduation, but I want to see the policy changed so that other student journalists in the county after me do not have to go through this again."
Resources
Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, Manufacturing Consent New York: Pantheon Books, 1988.
Dennis, Joe, "Civics 101: Censoring Students Robs Democracy" The Atlanta Journal Constitution. 26 Oct 2007.
Downey, Maureen, "Our Opinions: A Principal's Immodest Response" The Atlanta Journal Constitution. 23 Oct 2007.
Skinner, W. Winston, "'Smoke Signals' Takes to Internet" The Times Herald. 16 Oct 2007.
Downey, Maureen, "Our Opinions: A Principal's Immodest Response" The Atlanta Journal Constitution. 23 Oct 2007.
Skinner, W. Winston, "'Smoke Signals' Takes to Internet" The Times Herald. 16 Oct 2007.
