Scholastic Journalism 2008 Abstracts
Scholastic Journalism Division
A major decision: Students’ perceptions of their print journalism education and career preparation • Jennifer Wood Wood Adams, Auburn University, Brigitta R. Brunner, Auburn University, and Margaret Fitch-Hauser, Auburn University • This study examines examine print journalism majors’ perceptions of their journalism education and career preparation. This paper investigates why the undergraduates who participated in the study selected print journalism as their college major, what career they plan to pursue after graduation and how prepared they feel they are to employ various skills utilized by print journalists.
GSP testing as a student screener: Investigating its predictors and its ability to predict • Glenda Alvarado, Texas Tech University, and Coy Callison, Texas Tech University • A review of more than 1250 college graduates’ transcripts revealed that scores on a Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation test can best be predicted by the score received on the English portion of the ACT. Additionally, the journalism students for whom the test was implemented are not the communication major for which the test best serves as an indicator of success.
Twenty years of censorship? The impact of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier in the state courts • Genelle Belmas, California State University at Fullerton • Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier was decided by the Supreme Court in 1988. This paper is a review of the state cases that have relied on Hazelwood to determine the extent of free speech and press protections in the public schools. An analysis of the state cases reveals a mixture of restriction and expansion of free speech and press rights in a number of different categories, from dress codes and disciplinary issues to censorship and curricular concerns.
Trust me! Wikipedia’s credibility among college students • Naeemah Clark, University of Tennessee, Daniel Haygood, University of Tennessee, and Kenneth Levine, University of Tennessee • Although it has been shown to be useful to students, teachers, librarians, and reporters, it is acknowledged that the user-generated entries found on Wikipedia raise issues of credibility for those who rely on it for information. The present study used surveys to address how college students use Wikipedia as an academic tool and how credible they deem the Web 2.0 encyclopedia to be.
A curriculum evolution: How journalism programs are dealing with convergence • Meredith Cochie, University of Florida • This study, a survey of college journalism programs, found the most important reason for a curriculum revision is to keep up with the now-converged industry standard. Through the examination of the data about teaching methods, coursework, facilities and faculty, it was suggested that the majority of administrators and faculty were altering their approach to teaching journalism to include multi-platform training. This study found that the curriculum alteration depended on industry changes, cost and faculty support.
Prior review in the high school newspaper: Perceptions, practices and effects • Joseph Dennis, University of Georgia • The 1988 Hazelwood Supreme Court ruling legalized the practice of prior review, giving high school administrators the right to censor student-produced publications. Newspaper advisers around the nation were invited to complete an online survey regarding their perceptions and the practices of their high school newspaper. The results show correlations between certain adviser perceptions of the newspaper and prior review, as well as prior review and adviser censorship.
Knight’s Hazelwood paradigm reconsidered: A conundrum, a paradox and an enigma • Thomas Dickson, Missouri State University • The author analyzes Knight’s Paradigm, which suggests that Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier presents a paradox, a conundrum and an enigma. The paradox is that even though it seemed to limit the student press, it also allowed for more freedom. The conundrum is: Who is the publisher if not the state? The enigma is an incomplete public forum analysis suggesting that the school could censor based upon viewpoint of the author, something not allowed previously.
Academic comparisons between students with and those without high school newspaper or yearbook experience • Jack Dvorak, Indiana University, and Changhee Choi, Indiana University • In order to better understand the worth of high school publications experiences, this study to some extent replicates studies done more than 20 years ago. By using data gathered in ACT pre-college standardized tests as well as results of collegiate performance, the authors were able to study various academic-related outcomes comparing those students who had newspaper or yearbook staff experiences with those students who did not. The ACT data set included 31,175 students nationally.
The Urban News Project: Examining the impact of community-based reporting on student perceptions of journalism and community • John Hatcher, University of Minnesota Duluth • This study analyzes a community-based reporting project at a Midwestern university in a city of 90,000. Qualitative pre- and post-test analysis of students’ perceptions of the community and of the journalism they were practicing found the project challenged their preconceived notions about the community they visited and of the best way to practice journalism. Students said the project took them out of their comfort zones and challenged their preconceived notions about the community they visited.
Morse v. Frederick in the lower courts: Narrow ruling or another nail in the coffin for free student expression? • Dan Kozlowski, Saint Louis University, Melissa Bullard, St. Louis University, and Kristen Deets, Saint Louis University • In Morse v. Frederick, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public schools can prohibit speech “that can reasonably be regarded as encouraging illegal drug use.” This paper studies more than a dozen lower federal court opinions that have already interpreted the Supreme Court’s ruling.
‘Periodical’ pursuits: A bibliographical listing of scholastic journalism articles published in noteworthy national education journals • Bruce Konkle, University of South Carolina • More than 700 articles addressing scholastic journalism topics appeared in 33 national education and curriculum publications, including High School Journal, Nation’s Schools, School Review, and School and Society, during the 20th century.
Understanding a four-year college newspaper’s newsroom culture and change • Sarah Ling Wei Lee, Western Michigan University • The purpose of this study is to explore organizational culture and change in a college newspaper’s newsroom. Student journalists often use college newspapers as a means to get editorial experience and also to get published. Even so, the college newspaper newsroom is unlike a typical metropolitan or local community newspaper’s newsroom in the way that it experiences change.
An examination high-school media advisers’ reactions to controversial news topics: A developmental and confirmatory analysis • Adam Maksl, Ball State University, Vincent Filak, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and Scott Reinardy, University of Kansas • A survey of 563 high school media advisers revealed that oral sex, sex, administrative issues, homosexuality, and birth control are the topics high school media advisers feel the least comfortable seeing run in their media. Consistent with an earlier examination, oral sex was the topic with which media advisers showed the lowest levels of comfort and remained the only topic with mean scores below the neutral point.
First Amendment knowledge of leading high school journalism students in southeast Louisiana: A 10-Year Perspective • Joe Mirando, Southeastern Louisiana University • Research over the past five decades has consistently shown a pattern of ignorance of the First Amendment on the part of high school journalists in America. This study provides evidence that this trend may be continuing based on the results of an academic quiz bowl-style competition limited to publication editors and top journalism class students in Southeast Louisiana high schools last year. The study replicates a similar study the author conducted in the late 1990s.
Prior review and restraint of the digital college press: How media advisers view their circumstances • Marie Ory, University of Louisiana at Lafayette • American students often gain their initial impression of First Amendment freedoms while working on a college newspaper. The legal question in the United States is how much free expression is to be afforded to young adults in college newsrooms and how much authority belongs to their academic administrators and media advisers.
“Playboy for the College Set”: The rise and impact of campus sex magazines • Daniel Reimold, Ohio University • Campus sex magazines have received worldwide media attention and achieved levels of controversy and popularity unmatched by anything else in collegiate journalism over the past decade. This paper explores the magazines’ inceptions and their much-debated messages related to sex, romantic relationships, and gender roles. Related information was culled from interviews with student editors, an analysis of magazine content, an historical review, and an examination of relevant news reports.
Satisfied: The Maslach Burnout Inventory measures job satisfaction and lack of burnout among high school journalism advisers • Scott Reinardy, University of Kansas, Adam Maksl, Ball State University, and *Vincent Filak, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh • The three-component Maslach Burnout Inventory (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment) was used to examine burnout among high school journalism advisers (n = 563). The study also examined the correlation between burnout and job satisfaction. The results indicate that journalism advisers are not experiencing burnout on any level. At most, they indicated average levels of emotional exhaustion, but that is clearly countered by high levels of personal accomplishment.
Public high school newspaper advisers and free speech: The law in inaction • Erica Salkin, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Public school newspaper advisers must know student press law to protect their students, and public employee speech law to protect themselves. This study examined the relationship between advisers’ legal knowledge and restrictiveness. Though the data revealed no correlation, restrictiveness was affected by such variables as professional memberships or district size. Open-ended answers showed respondents rarely used the law as a guide, suggesting the law is not in action–but rather in inaction in student pressrooms.
Framing the divide: How professional newspapers frame journalism education • Marc Seamon, Robert Morris University • The literature suggests there is a disconnect between the professional practice of journalism and journalism education, with the former seeing the latter as the “ivory tower.” This study involves a computerized analysis of the frames present in American daily newspaper coverage of journalism education. Results indicate that important frames about journalism curriculum, new media/convergence, and scholarly research in journalism are ignored.
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