Scholastic Journalism 2011 Abstracts
Law Textbooks for School Administrators: Do They Present the Same Tinker and Hazelwood We Know? • Candace Perkins Bowen, Kent State University; Trevor Ivan, Kent State University • Textbooks that future secondary school administrators use in their educational law classes cover student media and related legal issues. These books explain the challenge of balancing students’ First Amendment rights and principals’ concern for control. Comparing how these texts and the only scholastic media text on the subject, Law of the Student Press, cover two landmark Supreme Court cases — Tinker and Hazelwood — could be a clue to disagreements and misunderstandings between principals and journalism teachers.
Technology, Self-Efficacy, and Job Satisfaction: A Study of Predictors of Burnout Among High-School Journalism Educators • Gretchen Sparling, University of North Texas; Koji Fuse, University of North Texas • This research investigated high-school journalism educators’ use and teaching of convergence technology, as well as their self-efficacy, job satisfaction, job dissatisfaction, and burnout. In general, instructions and uses of multimedia tools were not as prevalent as traditional-journalism instructions and tools. One-third of the teachers expressed moderate or strong levels of burnout in terms of their emotional exhaustion. Although both job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction were strong predictors of burnout, self-efficacy was not.
Journalism students and civic engagement: Is there still a connection? • Geoffrey Graybeal, University of Georgia; Amy Sindik, University of Georgia; Jen Ingles, University of Georgia • This study examines the civic engagement levels of high school journalism students. Through a pilot study and focus groups, this paper examines the way high school journalism students feel about civic engagement, and if the students connect civic engagement to their works as young journalists. The focus group findings indicate that being involved in journalism does increase an interest in the world around them, and creates a group of students that believe that they know more about current affairs than their peers. Cyclically, the students believe that civic engagement also develops their journalism skills.
Digital Natives, Journalism and Civic Engagement: Cultivating Citizenship with Technology • Ed Madison, University or Oregon • Scholarly literature reveals a troubling truth: younger generations show declining levels of interest in civic affairs. Simultaneously, new technology, in the form of smartphones, electronic tablets and other mobile devices that were once considered optional accessories are quickly becoming essential communicating and learning devices. This qualitative study looks at two schools where digital cameras, laptops and smart mobile devices are being used to catalyze civic engagement in and outside of the classroom.
The student journalist: Roles of the scholastic press in the 21st Century • Adam Maksl, University of Missouri • This paper examines normative roles of high school journalism in general, and the high school newspaper in particular, over the course of the history of the scholastic press. More importantly, through a survey of high school newspaper advisers (N=365), it answers the question of what school newspaper roles are most dominant today, as well as what factors influence an adviser’s role perceptions. Implications for future study of scholastic press freedom are discussed.
Just Hit Reply: How Student Journalists Use Email in the Newsroom • Sara Netzley, Bradley University • This article examines the way in which student journalists use email on the job. College students working at campus newspapers across the country participated in an online survey asking them how often they use email to conduct certain newsgathering tasks, including using email to conduct interviews with sources. It also asked about their perceptions of the quality of such interviews and their use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The findings could have implications for how these students will conduct themselves in professional settings upon graduation and for how journalism educators should approach this topic in the classroom.
Journalism as a viable career choice: What guidance counselors are telling students • Terry Rentner, Bowling Green State University; Seth Oyer, Bowling Green State University; Mark Flynn, Bowling Green State University • Media portrayals of journalism careers paint a dismal picture of its future. Of concern is how these portrayals may influence high school guidance counselors’ recommendations of a journalism career. This study surveyed U.S. high school guidance counselors to gauge their knowledge of the journalism field. Results show that while roughly half of the guidance counselors surveyed would recommend a journalism career, they think that fewer students are likely to pursue journalism as a career path.
Student Journalists v. School Administrators: A More Structured Way To Resolve Disputes • Jonathan Peters, University of Missouri • Public schools have wrestled for decades with the boundaries of free expression. Although students do not enjoy the same First Amendment rights as adults, they do not shed those rights at the schoolhouse gate. Disputes between student journalists and school administrators are common, and because they take place in the school environment, they have the potential to be disruptive. Student journalists and school administrators need a structured way to address and resolve those disputes.
Perils and Recommendations for Student Publications After Christian Legal Society v. Martinez • Andrew Pritchard, North Dakota State University • The Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, that a public university’s student organizations may be required to accept a “”take all comers”” policy as a condition of recognition, jeopardizes the ability of student publications to maintain their quality, distinctiveness, and independence. Close examination of the court’s opinion, however, reveals several avenues by which student publications can limit the decision’s consequences for them.
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