Scott Menscher



Call me a teacher with a bad journalism complex.

I know, as a high school newspaper advisor, I should be pushing the boundaries at my school and not curtailing my students’ fundamental right to free speech.

That’s what I heard from Mark Goodman, the executive director of the Student Press Law Center, who spoke to teachers last Friday at the American Society of Newspaper Editors High School Journalism Institute at the University of Texas.

Goodman said more and more students aren’t learning about the fundamental freedoms of being an American. The lawyer worried that school administrators across the country have censored school newspapers because of controversial content.

Goodman called this a bad trend because journalism is one of the only ways to give students a chance to understand these American values.

Indeed, Goodman does have a point. But I’m apprehensive, because the New York Times and Chicago Tribune, two of the biggest newspapers in the nation, aren’t supporting the cause.

These papers believe that high school is a time for students to learn about journalistic responsibility and getting the story right before tackling the harder, more complicated stories. First Amendment rights should come later because they are still learning the basic tenets of journalism.

Goodman scoffs at this idea, and called the papers “selfish” and “only looking out for themselves

But good journalism is more than just free speech.

Often young journalists forget the need for accuracy, objectivity, and, of course, fairness, which is something that must be taught in the classroom before a student writes a story. Instead of seeking out controversy, high school advisors should be making sure students get it right.

It’s certainly something the big boys often don’t follow. In an age of instant CNN journalism, where it is important to get the news out quickly and then shove accuracy and fairness aside, I wonder what are my students are learning?

Just get the news out, and let the facts fall where they may?

After the recent scandals of New York Times reporter Jayson Blair and CBS anchor Dan Rather, no wonder the public is losing trust in journalists.

This is a time for high school students to learn the basics. Journalism is a craft, and high school journalists need to learn where to go to get the right sources, gather strong facts, listen attentively, ask thought-provoking questions and write interesting stories.

Students shouldn’t have to rush and go for the controversial jugular. When students understand, then that’s good journalism.