Chapter 10-12

Chapter 10 Administration

College boards and administrators in general are cordial to and supportive of freedom of the press for campus publications.

The kind of administrative involvement with student publications- to shoe up student commitment to a free forum press against pressure for self-censorship form the outside- we could do with more of on American Campuses. P110

On page 112 there is a piece of a document that the Board of Trustees and regents has adopted guaranteeing the freedom of the press. IS there anything like that at Eckerd?
Should we make one?

GOOD Administrators believe in allowing college students the freedom to learn, which includes the freedom to learn from one’s mistakes. Page 114

Administrators step in when the paper is being pulled from distribution areas and for example, burned. They protect the paper in this regard. Page 114

Even if administrators don’t like the content, most will stand by the paper on basis of having a free press.

There should be no editorial control by administrators or faculty. P116




Chapter 11 Guidelines and Policies

There is a student press bill of rights that is on p117. Is this the kind of addition you are thinking for the handbook?

When writing policies and guidelines, the following are good advice: P 119

The guidelines should be fairly short
The guidelines should not be argumentative
The guidelines should clearly meet every constitutional test concerning freedom of the press and due process.
Language should be precise and avoid generalizations
Abstract terms should not appear in the guidelines

The list on p119-120 should be looked at to see what we want to add to our policy. I don’t even think we have one right now, do we?

We should protect ourselves from the points in the list on page 121-122. I think we have seen some of those already, which is why it’s really important to get the board up and running this year.


Chapter 12 Private colleges

In state universities, journalists know where they stand regarding free press because they are protected by the Constitution. For private colleges, its hard to know because administrators in private institutions are not considered functioning state officials.


These 5 areas of student papers were surveyed in a 1986-87 study:
Organizational structure and decision making
Management
Academic relationships
Professional affiliations
Free press


Under Organizational structure, many colleges had different publishers and different people had the final say on the paper prior to press. P125

Eckerd’s: Editor in Chief has final say
Publishers are the students, the president as the entity of the college and the college as a whole. Is this correct?

Under management, 36% of college’s student press budget is controlled by the student government, who think they can discipline the student journalists. P126

Right now ECOS controls our budget. Is the plan to have the college separate out a sum and give the rest to ECOS to allocate to the clubs, because when the board is made, we will no longer be a club? Is this going to include the radio and literary magazine?

Under academic relationships, in most colleges the paper is not part of the academic program. P 127

Some colleges reported that the paper is critiqued or looked over in classes.

Professional Affiliations
Having professional ties or help in the student publications would be beneficial to the student press, and wouldn’t interfere with the freedom of press.


Free Press
There is some confusion as to the level of press freedom in the student press. Written policies will help clear up the conclusion.


It is recommended by the author that private school adopt a policy that guarantees free press, because of they are not ensured the protection of the 1st and 14th amendments. P129
Chapter 13 and addition to come shortly

Chapter 7 Censorship

Censorship of the campus press could be accomplished only if someone other than the student staff was in a position to approve copy prior to publication. Page 95

Students in private colleges have rarely gone to court to seek protection from censorship.

It is good advice to a college administrator not to take action against the student press, even though the press has been obnoxious or severe. The danger is not only in court action but also in on-campus relations. Page 98

Administrative attitudes toward censoring student publications by various control techniques swing on a pendulum of inexperience. Page 99

The common scheme [of censorship] is to threaten to reduce or eliminate funding or facilities. Student government, student personnel people, presidents, and deans have been known to use this ploy in a heavy handed manner Another plan is to pressure publication boards or committees to chill or control content. Page 100

Question: The senate is censoring us by cutting our budget 3,000 dollars. Can we do something about that? Sue them, write to them, I don’t know. It’s just that it states in this article that funding is a way of censoring and I believe that they think they can control us that way.


Chapter 8 Troubles in the Courts

Libel is visual defamation. Articles that hold persons to public hatred, ridicule, or scorn and have the effect of destroying professional reputations can be said to be libelous. Page 101

Not all things that are embarrassing or critical are actionable in a libel case. The court:
1. Determines that the alleged libel was published.
2. Determines that the material pertained to the person in the suit
3. Determines whether the material is actually libelous. Page 101-102


In most cases, the courts rule in favor of the newspaper. P102

Educational institutions have two other avenues to escape liability. For Private and Non Profit colleges there is charitable immunity, which may protect from liability. P103

Governmental immunity is based on the 11th amendment and extends to public colleges. P103

There is also Agency law. If a person acts outside the scope of his employment, his advisors and superiors may not be held liable.


Chapter 9 Journalism Education

Journalism education became caught up in the academic mazes that have created much confusion about higher education. Journalism is still going through name changes on campuses. P105

Newspapers provide labs for journalism programs at colleges. P106

Journalism is a broad term encompassing all aspects of print media and most aspects of electronic media as well as theoretical and philosophical bases of such media and their impact on society.

Why don’t we have a journalism program?

10-13 on the way

Chapter 1,2,3, 6

Chapter 1-3


Mythmaking

Guidelines for report: page 3

Student press that is relevant to its campus makes service its ideal purpose
A self regulated student press is a free student press.
A responsible student press should reasonably be expected to maintain a level of professional performance and ethics pertinent to its purpose and restricted by its resources.
Financial independence is a cornerstone of true freedom and responsibility of the student press.
The role of the student press advisor is to help students to transfer their theories to practice.
The free student press is free to all who have something worth saying.
This was not adopted by the College Media advisors, but I like it.


On page 8 the author notes that because college journals and journalists have been treated as miniatures of the real thing, they have behaved that way. If the matter [of obscenity etc] was approached in a more mature and professional manner by the institution (OR STUDENT GOVERNMENT) the college journalists would respond in kind.

Advertising produces considerable revenue for most colleges. Page 9 Hopefully Katie will get on the ball this year. I really need someone to show her all the ropes. No one ever showed me and we just called all advertisers last spring and told them about our situation and that we would contact them in the fall... I am clueless in that department.


On page 10 The University is not legally the publisher of a campus paper, the paper cannot be censored, student editors cannot be summarily dismissed for their writings and the courts’ ruling of libel and obscenity for the general, commercial press apply to the college press also.

Administrators cannot require prior submission to an advisory board and that college officials cannot censor expression they dislike. Page 12

“The mere dissemination of ideas-no matter now offensive to good taste- on a state university campus may not be shut off in the name alone of ‘conventions of decency’” page 13 What about private?


The student editor makes an editorial judgment on the choice of materials to go into the newspaper. It said the editor’s refusal to run the advertisement was not government action, and therefore the first amendment prohibited judicial interference with the decision of an editor. Page 13

Chapter 2 Independence

Out of the 26 listed points for “independence” from the school, The Triton does #14, and #15

The Triton does not contain ECKERD in it and we have subscriptions to parents, alumni, ASPEC, trustees etc. Not many newspapers are completely independent. Complete independence removes the institution form responsibility for the student paper. Page 19

The author says on page 18 that a prescription for independence would mean reliance on advertisers, those who appeal to mass markets. Few editors think their paper is for mass audiences. Most are specialty papers aimed at college students.

Page 21 Journalism departments should be ready to provide practical advice to student papers whenever the papers want it.

The commission requested that an autumn professional journalist seminar be held for student editors and that skilled newspaper experts be brought in to discuss reporting, editing and other journalistic techniques. Page 21 We should see how much it would cost to bring in people from the Poynter institute…


On page 30 there is an indented section in the code for the Michigan Daily. I think something like this needs to be included in our bylaws. I have only seen the by laws once. Maybe we need to reexamine them.

On page 33, there is an instance where the student government voted “no confidence” in the student editor and went to the board to have him fired. The board turned down the senate, but could have fired the editor. IF and when we get out of the ECOS side of things, can they do a similar thing?
On page 38 The ideal situation in both public and private colleges is the establishment and maintenance of an atmosphere of freedom of expression for student publications.

Most colleges that claim they are independent, are not according to the guidelines at the beginning the chapter. They have a faculty advisor, don’t pay rent for their space, use student fees, use college equipment etc. It would be very difficult for the Triton or any other small private college paper to be fully independent. Very few student newspapers are truly independent.

The question is do you really want to be fully independent? I think that the Triton needs to be independent of the student government, but still be a college newspaper, by the students for the students, with student activity money, NOT allocated by ECOS to ensure our freedom as the press and freedom of expression.

Chapter 3
Funding…oh boy

Student activity fees should be used for the paper.

On page 46 some student s sued their college for using student money to fund the paper. They disagreed with its contents and wanted their money pulled out. The paper could not run without student funds and so the paper shut down. EEK hope this never happens.

P 47 There is no legal, philosophical, or practical reason not to allocate student fee monies to the campus press. Use of the student money for a well-written well-edited, reasonable and intelligent campus newspaper is a positive way to provide for freedom of expression and effective communications in an ongoing and stable manner. This is educational achievement. I LIKE THIS.

Advertising is going to be very important this year, especially with the budget cut. Man, some of the campus papers get over 100,000 dollars to function. JEALOUS! We are at 18,000.

The author makes a really good point on page 57 saying that in the past 20 years publications have been weakened because administrative and student gov’t officers disagree with contents of the paper, and the money “would be convenient in other places” Budgeting officials should understand the need for adequate and stable financing of student publications. (But they don’t, or they do and they want to see us squirm)



Chapter 6

Publisher

College papers seem to be confused about whom or what is the publisher of the paper. In Eckerd’s case, the publisher is the College, and if a person needs to be named it is the head of the college, President Eastman.
The student government is not the publisher.

A lot of colleges seem to confuse publishing and printing. Our printer is NPC Newspaper Printing Company in Tampa, and I have final say before it is PDFed there.

On page 93 the author says that the college can not be considered a publisher, but a publishing agency. A publisher is an individual who performs management functions for the owners of the publishing company or agency. Some colleges have not designated anyone to perform these functions.

On page 94 the authors says that since the student staff controls content, it, in effect, under the leadership of the student editor (me), serves as publisher, even if the university provides advice, technical help or financial assistance. I think this should be written somewhere. So when we get the board up and running, will the board be the publishing agency and the staff is the publishers?

Part 2 of Chapter 6

Part 2

From page 214


Newspaper staff should check quotes with their sources.

Off the cuff comments need permission to be printed. What does this mean?

The editor does have an obligation to understand the concepts of the institution in which he is enrolled. P215

Gaining admittance to the news sources is REALLY important. Printing material without gaining admittance to the source is poor journalism. All stories need sources. You need to prove how you got the story and that it is fact. P 216

Factual news stories and columns will receive little or no comment. A criticism, change in policy, controversial topics will receive a lot of backlash. Stick to the facts. No one will read a factual follow up to a sensational first piece. Get is right the first time so you don’t create problems.

The editor who has “staff empathy” and “admittance to sources” is in a position to judge veracity of the news. Page 217


Responsibilities of a College newspaper

Responsibilities of the editor

You must find a way to present your facts without editorializing. P218

Better to have a short concise story than to drag it out to fill space. Shorts can be used to fill in the extra space.


Key Principles of a first-rate newspaper: page 219
Responsible and thorough coverage of the news, the important news as well as the interesting news.
Emphasis on interesting in 1st part because the news reads to be covered interestingly or else no one would want to read it.
Fair play-the paper is responsible for being a student run paper, to cover important, interesting, academic, sports, social sides of the community which they are responsible to.

Functions: P220
Its size does not have a great deal to do with its function. Its just as hard to put our a little paper than a big one.
You must aim your content at the basic interests of your readers.
You must give them material you very well that they should read but will not be inclined to do so because it is a little too heavy. Present it in a way that it will want to be read. (I want to do a story on Global Warming and how it is going to affect Eckerd if we continue to contribute to it. I think it would be a good story. More details when I get back)
Job description manual is needed. ( I am working on it )


Student writers and reporters
An editorial page is the soul of the paper. It really shows the personality of the paper. P222
Don’t let intimidation stop you from asking really in depth questions.


Standards for college papers

We should be expected to:
Print the news accurately and literally
Provide a forum for the free exchange of opinion
“The manner in which a newspaper of any kind addresses itself to this responsibility [to the reader] is the exact measure of its merit.” P224 I really like this.

Attitude and standard are a big part of a newspaper staff. We should have the respect for truth, as encrusted in fact; the search fir clear, concise expression; the pride for accomplishment P225. These must be self-imposed to be effective.

Responsibility in Int’l news and nat’l news

It is important to expose the readers to issues in the nat’l news and Int’l news. ( I feel like Will and Jamie have successfully strengthened the World news section of the paper. Since Eckerd has such a big Int’l program, and its Int’l majors are prominent, I believe that this section needs to be a consistently strong section every week. It appeals to a large number of readers)

News briefs could be incorporated into the paper to help the readers gain knowledge on the issues nationally. (The problem with this is that it takes so damn long to get our paper back) p230

Endorsing political candidates

Most campus papers choose not to or have a policy against endorsing political candidates. (Do we have a policy against that?)
Some faculty advisors commented that because the paper is a monopoly publication, that editorial endorsement would be unwise. P232 (I don’t think any 4 people on our staff have the same views on politics… so how would we even be able to write one)

(Do you feel that we should have editorials in the paper more often?)

Although most campuses do not endorse Political candidates, they do cover event run by student political groups (Young Democrats, Republicans etc.), mock elections and impartial coverage of political issues.




Do you not want me to do chapter 7? I have the readings on it, but you didn’t assign it…. Student Publications 1-3,6 on the way

Chapter 6 first part

Chapter 6 Responsibility of the College Press

The responsibility of the student editor

The responsibility of the editor is to those who support you and pay for the results of your production page 199

There is a delicate balance between view and news in the paper. The news is more important than your opinion. You are just reporting the news, not your take on the news. Page 200

A freedom to print what you think is the truth is not freedom, but license- and licenses aren’t handed out to everyone. Page 200

The student editor must bear a responsibility to his University.

When writing editorials, editors must be careful not to be misinterpreted. You must write with the weight of some experience. Page 201

As an editor, your responsibility is to your fellow students. As a student, your responsibility is to the establishment (the school).

On Politics: Leave it to the people who have had experience in politics. Anyone can have an angry irrational thought. It needs to be backed up with fact.

On Religion: If you feel something needs to be said, attempt to use it in another medium. The topic of religion and targeting a specific religion are two different things. It is dishonest to blatantly use your position to offend people. You should be courteous.

On Sex: if you are using sex in your columns to produce an uproar or reaction then you are displaying immaturity.

On Administration: you must be backed by the student body in order to print an editorial that questions the administration. Not just print something because they aren’t doing what you want.

It’s better to resign then to submit to the likes of the Student Government concerning content, layout and length.

An editor also has a responsibility to himself p205

A staff should develop within itself with advice from past editors.

A Staff should have “staff empathy” which means that they all know what everyone is thinking.

A staff must have pride in its work. Positive reinforcement is always a good thing.

Primary is the belief that the newspaper is beyond an activity. Page 207
BINGO. It’s more than a work study job, more than just a paycheck. I think we need to instill this in our staff members this year. Getting away from the “club” aspect will help us do this.

An editor needs to be a reporter, a copyeditor, a columnist, a student, a deskman and perhaps news editor. P 208
Well, I haven’t done all of these things, but we have a small staff and there is no way I could’ve done them all before taking my position.

The newspaper staff members should be aware of a professional attitude that results from an appreciation of newspaperman in the field. I wonder if we can visit the SP times….

The Editor achieves staff empathy by directing the policy of the paper, by trusting the editors he has appointed to their jobs, but insuring that the staff regenerates itself with new reporters, by meeting with other campus leaders on problems they care to discuss, by writing forcefully and well, by maintaining an understanding with the faculty advisor who is advising not censoring and seeking and gaining admittance to the news and policy sources of the University page 210 This is really good. I feel like I need to take more time in the beginning of the year to bring the staff together and explain my expectations, not in an overbearing way, but in a “taking pride in our work” kind of way. What do you think?

The editor must have “been around”. The editor should maintain conversation with administrators.

The biggest fault of an editor is to be unwilling to discuss a matter directly and forwardly with an administrator for fear that they will ask you not to print it or alter the story.

The editor must be willing to state honestly what he feels. P210

Being able to discuss business face to face and then expressing opinion justly in the newspaper is the obligation and most difficult task of the editor of a college newspaper.

An editor should be a good enough thinker and a responsible enough person that if he is confronted with the fact that alters his opinion or denies him a story, he can accept the attitude that it is part of professional journalism. P211

The editor must be a person who can also judge other writers for their ability to handle material in good taste. P 212 I am working on this….

The university must provide every opportunity possible for students to evaluate their own work and to assume responsibility for what is printed. P213

It’s a good policy that no one should read the article, outside if the newspaper staff before it is printed.