en on the way to your forum
public forum.” It conveys the
intent behind the public
forum phrase anyone
unfamiliar with the relevant
Supreme Court rulings
should understand.
School officials actually
practice this policy by
exercising a “hands-off” role
and empowering student
editors to lead. Advisers
teach and offer students
advice, but they neither
control nor make final
decisions regarding content.
This forum, and thus
policy statement, is best
because it places journalistic
responsibility in student
hands as they face issues,
demonstrate what they
have learned in multiple
classes and practice civic
engagement through
content leadership and
establishing an unfettered
voice. • FORUMS BY PRACTICE A
school policy may or may
not exist regarding student
media, but administrators
have a “hands-off” approach
and have empowered
students to control content
decisions. Advisers teach and
offer students advice, but
they neither control nor make
final decisions regarding
Closed and limited forums
offer the specter of prior
review and restraint,
potentially creating fake
news and inviting censorship. Establishing the forum
choice early in the decision-
making process sets the
table for other crucial
choices:
To help schools, students and
communities understand
what we consider public
forums, please note these
definitions:
• FORUMS BY POLICY An
official school policy exists
that designates student
editors as the ultimate
authority regarding content.
content.
• Developing a mission state
for your student media
• Revising or creating an
editorial policy
• Crafting separate ethical
guidelines that show why
your editorial policy choices
work
• Building from ethical
guidelines to staff manual
procedures that show how
students will carry out the
guidelines. For example, if
the publication staff has an
ethical guideline saying it
will use unnamed sources
only in rare cases, the
procedures would be the
steps the editorial board
takes to decide if this is one
of those cases – the unnamed
source could be in danger, for
instance.
Information about
developing these four steps
is available at the SPRC’s
Foundation package.
Creating a successful
Foundation package for your
student media is among
the most important choices
advisers and students can
make. A good choice aids all
involved, from students to
community.
A wrong choice, well, is
very, very bad, also for all
involved.
Resources: When your
publication is a public forum
and when it is not, Mark
Goodman, Knight chair in
Scholastic Journalism, Kent
State University.
Candace Perkins
Bowen
Candace Perkins Bowen,
MJE, is an associate
professor in Kent State’s
School of Journalism and
Mass Communication and
director of both the Center
for Scholastic Journalism
and the Ohio Scholastic
Media Association. A
former Dow Jones News
Fund Journalism Teacher
of the Year, she has served
as the president of the
Journalism Education
Association. She is part
of the Student Press
Law Center’s Steering
Committee for its Advisory
Council and past head of
the Scholastic Journalism
Division of AEJMC