Introduction

Introduction When I was about to start teaching journalism, I visited the Newseum, the interactive national museum of news and journalism, then opening its doors in the nation’s capital. I found a great deal of material about the importance of journalism in our free and democratic society, but not much on how to convey that lofty ideal to middle or high school students. As it turns out, most teachers quickly find out that students are not inherently interested in lofty ideals. What I learned after many attempts, through trial and error, was an approach to teaching journalism from the bottom up—based on a student’s world view—rather than passing down truths from Mount Olympus. The purpose of this book is to share that approach with you—other teachers of journalism. It starts with students who have a knack for finding out interesting things that are happening, and informally pass this information on to their friends. As a teacher, you can work with this and teach them the skills to structure their work so they can become better writers and clearer, more organized thinkers. In the process of shaping their natural curiosity and adding layers of writing skills, they start to become reporters. After that, you can teach more sophisticated concepts as your students mature and engage in issues beyond the school environment. As an example, textbooks with their top-down approach never worked well for me in teaching about censorship, the limits of press freedom, and Supreme Court cases that guide student-press freedom. I found that the easiest way to teach this—considering the developmental needs of students—was when a slightly edgy story was questioned 11

by the administration (this happens more than you might think). The research it takes for students to learn about the law and apply it in their school situation comes much easier when they have an emotional stake in the outcome. Further, I found it best not to try to teach about objectivity because the concept was too abstract for most grade levels. But “fairness,” a close cousin, is something that students understand naturally and can be a pathway to the concept. This awareness of abstractness becomes important when bridging the divide between eighth graders and 12th graders. It is another reason why I try to introduce concepts based on cognitive capacities at grade level. So, while it is hard to teach students about credibility (which is critical in journalism) it is fairly easy to discuss how their friends abandon them when they have lied or lost their trust. When students learn the skills associated with being a professional journalist (clear thinking, good listening, “tight” writing and speaking), they acquire the nonacademic skills associated with success for whatever career they pursue. We use that approach in this book, because it is a bonus to address what the Partnership for 21st Century Skills includes in its education standards of “contextual learning skills, and information and media skills” (2004) while at the same time producing an outstanding school newspaper. Rather than offering specific lesson plans, this book breaks down a journalism class into topics that should be addressed over the course of two semesters. Use this guide as a loose pacing plan to put out a weekly or monthly publication, while teaching some valuable lessons along the way.

The Big Picture So much attention is being paid to the death and dying of American newspapers, great and small, that lovers of print journalism seem to be in a perpetual state of mourning as we advance into the 21st century. 12

But while the somber obituary of the newspaper industry is being written, we forget that society still needs journalism (storytelling, clear and critical thinking, good listening, tight writing, and speaking), whether it is via newspapers, television, radio, professional Internet news outlets, citizen bloggers, or some other delivery system not yet conceived. Even without newspapers, journalism lives on through 21st century education standards, which, according to Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) Compendium of Standards (http://www.mcrel.org/topics/Standards/), require students to develop skills in critical thinking, communication, problem solving, collaboration, and media literacy. Also necessary for the 21st century are life skills such as leadership, ethics, accountability, and adaptability—the very fundamentals of journalism (Framework for 21st Century Learning 2004). There is measurable payoff, too, according to a 2008 study by the High School Journalism Institute of Indiana University. It conducted this survey for the Newspaper Association of America and found that “students with journalism experience in high school earned higher scores than non-journalism students” (Dvorak, Bowen, and Choi 2009) on ACT Composite Scores, ACT English scores, and college freshman English grades. These students also had higher grade point averages in high school and as college freshman.

Major Newspapers Fold Over the past few years, the icons of the news business have been disappearing. In February of 2009, Denver’s esteemed Rocky Mountain News shut down after 150 years of publication. In the northwest, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer became an Internet-only publication after 146 years. The same thing happened with the Christian Science Monitor, which was in print for 100 years. As a sign of the times, the American Society of Newspaper Editors has changed its name to the American Society of News Editors. 13

The highly prestigious New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post—once giant-slayers with fully staffed foreign news bureaus—are shadows of their former selves. It seems as though there is a natural progression from our reliance on print journalism as society’s watchdog, to the fear that if the watchdog does not watch what kind of mischief might befall us? Thomas Jefferson is credited for having said that if he had to choose between government without newspapers or newspapers without government, he wouldn’t hesitate to preserve newspapers. Another famous saying of Jefferson graces the editorial pages of many American newspapers: “Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it.”— (Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 1786). These are the cornerstones of a belief system that is bedrock for democracy—that freedom of speech (and the press) be fundamental, and that the press keep a watchful eye on our government. As a grade-school student, I took these things as an article of faith, but the concept was abstract. As a former newspaper reporter, I can tell you from experience that local reporting about the issues of public life—taxes, property zoning, school achievement, crime, political influence, and such—helps inform the public and holds elected leaders and government agencies accountable.

Newspaper Features In addition to regular reporting, the media’s use of editorials and guest columns (op-ed pieces) helps shine a light on government, business, and culture. Meanwhile, the time-honored feature of “Letters to the Editor” helps facilitate a conversation about issues of the day. These features are available not only in the American press 14

but also are common worldwide, particularly in democratic nations. The reporting—especially in wartime—sometimes comes at great personal risk. A memorial at the Newseum honors 1,913 international journalists including reporters, photographers, and broadcasters who have died while covering the news through 2008. That number increased by 29 in the first half of 2009. But what happens when newspapers merge, economize, or fold? Nationally, 450 daily newspapers have met their demise between 1940 and 2007; circulation peaked in 1984 and has declined steadily ever since, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

n EDITORIAL—a piece of writing distinct from a news story in that it represents the opinion of the newspaper’s editorial staff. n OP-ED—the point of view of the author. It derives its name from its location in a newspaper, classically on the page opposite from the editorial page. This generally is where a wide array of opinions are aired.

Here is a small example of why newspaper lovers are in mourning. For serious news junkies, nothing beats the glorious past of the mid-20th century. That 1940 benchmark was a time when there were nearly 2,000 daily newspapers. Some major cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco had three or more daily newspapers each. Competition was king, and reporters were everywhere. Fully staffed news operations had reporters in City Hall, the police station, the courthouse, and the halls of the state capital. When something newsworthy occurred, reporters scrambled to try to beat the competition. Who benefited? Readers who were able to get their news from a variety of vantage points.

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On the national scale, no one questions that the gumshoe reporting by the Washington Post and others led to the unraveling of the Watergate scandal and cover-up of the 1970s, which resulted in the disgrace and resignation of United States president Richard Nixon. Since then, when mergers occurred, news bureaus shrank in size and then disappeared altogether. Locally, instead of having two or three reporters from competing newspapers during a session of the city council, for example, soon there was only one. Often, when lesser bodies like planning commissions meet, not a single reporter is present and results are checked by telephone. Who gets called? Sometimes a reporter will call a civil servant, like the city clerk or a trusted councilmember, for a summary of what occurred. Many things are lost in this translation. For a reporter, there is no substitute for “being there.” You can’t cover the war—any war—from home. You cannot get the sense of a natural disaster without getting mud on your shoes. When you do not walk the halls of Congress or your local statehouse, you do not pick up the sights, sounds, and gossip that lead to news tips, insight, and context. With changes in ownership and consolidation of newsgathering operations, I would not be surprised if, 100 years from now, newspapers as we know them will have become extinct. It would be a sad and tragic event for lovers of print journalism. But as long as the function of gathering news and disseminating it remains, our society will need well-educated students trained in journalism to carry out that important mission regardless of the new technology of the day.

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