A Ball State University organization is working in alliance with journalism educators across the nation to defend the First Amendment rights of students.
J-Ideas, a group that advocates excellence in high school journalism and the importance of student rights, formed the J-Ideas First Amendment Public Policy Alliance last week. The alliance met for the first time Thursday at a symposium titled "Beyond the First Amendment Study: Public Policy Implications." The symposium was hosted by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Warren Watson, director of J-Ideas and creator of the alliance, said J-Ideas formed the alliance because it realized that the goal it wanted to accomplish could not be done alone.
"The First Amendment is our first priority, and we realized that we needed to take the fight to another level," Watson said. "However, we could not deal with this nationwide problem alone."
One of the primary things discussed at the symposium regarded legislation. The alliance discussed ways to reverse the policy held in most states by the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier decision of 1988. In that case, the Supreme Court decision made student journalists subject to a lower level of First Amendment rights than independent student newspapers established as forums for student expression.
Since then, six states have allowed high school students to exercise the same First Amendment protection as all other journalistic mediums. Other states such as Michigan, North Carolina, Washington and Indiana are looking to change their policies in the future. Watson said Indiana could have a policy in place as early as next January.
However, Angela Thomas, assistant director of J-Ideas, said the battle would be an uphill one because of what education administrators do not understand.
"What most administrators don't seem to realize is that civic education and journalism overlap," Thomas said. "No one can be a good journalist if they don't understand their rights as journalists. However, some administrators don't seem to make the connection between the two."
One of the ways the alliance has decided to combat this problem is to have First Amendment training for principals and administrators. Watson said this may be the key to changing policies in schools and ultimately in the states.
"J-Ideas does a lot of First Amendment training for high school students, which is good because we get students to see that they have rights and then they can fight for those rights," Watson said. "However, principals and administrators are the anchors for any school. They have the influence and if we can get them to see the importance of civic education and how importantly it ties in with journalism then they can set that new influence in that school for a long time."
Thomas said there were four key factors the new alliance wants to get to all administrators and policymakers in the nation.
"We have to get them to see that service journalism, civic education, media literacy and the First Amendment are all so closely connected," she said. "They need to see that you can not have one without the other three."
Watson said that 15 to 20 civic educators and journalists will meet at Ball State's Indianapolis center in March to further discuss public policy issues.
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