In the same vein I have been thinking a lot about our own high school newspaper, which I have advised for the last three years and which I am quitting next year. It is a thankless job. I end up herding cats and trying to make high school students understand the value of reporting a good story. At the same time I have to teach them layout, selling ads, editing, etc. They are overwhelmed with all my badgering and then they see the fruits of their labor scattered through the hallways and in the trash bins. With each issue they lose a little more of the tenuous "His Girl Friday" gumption they came into newspaper with.
And we just don't get very much support. It is like there is a rule somewhere that schools have to have sports teams, a yearbook, functional bathrooms and a newspaper. No reason why, it just has to have one. But there has never been any standards, any requirements or any mission for the newspaper as it exists. I have asked and pleaded with so many other teachers, not just English teachers to take up the mantle next year. No one wants it which is so disheartening.
I have had many hard talks with Sydney, the one returning senior next year. She looks at me on the verge of tears when I talk to her about what it will be like or what it could be like. She is not an idealist, but she doesn't want newspaper to just disappear. I don't either. But I don't want to see the students compromise good writing for fluff, or see them over-sensationalize news in order to get higher readership. All that said--I am not a layout teacher, I am not technologically savvy enough to put the whole thing online, I am so tired of scraping money together and I am really tired of being the last person to see and send off a newspaper that the students should have total ownership over.
A couple years ago I went to the "seminar" for newspaper advisers. I was new and looking forward to the challenge of taking on a new class. I gained nothing from those three days but how to forget my other classes and other professional obligations and devote all my time and energy and effort to a class that isn't assessed by CSAP. It was like a secret society of teachers who had lost their minds. None of those advisers convinced me that newspaper is valuable or enriching to students. They only managed to convince me that it had to stay alive and young teachers like me were just the people to do it.
Do students need a voice? Yes. Should it be a student-run publication? Yes. WHAT SHOULD THAT LOOK LIKE??? This, my dear friends, is the million-dollar question. In three years I haven't figured it out and now I am done, but that doesn't mean I have stopped caring about it. What do you think? Is print media on its way out? Why should high school students have a newspaper? Who should teach it? How should it be supported?
4 comments:
I have to say that I think, perhaps, it is on its way out. Not entirely -- but on a highly frequent basis, yes. Daily papers, even in big cities, are hurting. There is so LITTLE reason, in my opinion, to publish a daily paper anymore. We have television, radio, internet, internet, and internet that can serve the same purpose faster, greener, and more economically. I DO believe the newspaper staff in high schools should shift toward an online format, much like that of successful "professional" papers. Perhaps they should consider merging with other journalism departments in a high school, such as yearbook and television production departments, so they can include podcasting and video elements. Perhaps something of a ning format, even? Just brainstorming...
There was a poorly presented, poorly attended session at last year’s CHSPA Journalism Day that nonetheless had some great thoughts on this topic. In essence, the presenter suggested that scholastic journalism is actually much better positioned to succeed at convergence than professional news outlets. This marrying of print and online — and the embracing of all of the positives of these various media — is something that “real” papers struggle to fit into the old-fashioned print business model. In fact, the Rocky did it just about as well as anyone, and you can see how far that got them.
With multiple journalism classes (and tons of funding), you could tweet or blog a football game from the game, post photos (maybe also video, audio) and a Web story within 24 hours, include some of that content in a monthly wrap-up in the print edition, use it again for a season wrap-up in the yearbook at the end of the year, and then again for a multi-media yearbook DVD. It’s a very exciting idea, cutting edge, and again wholly impractical. Maybe teachers who only teach journalism and have big budgets could have a lot of fun with this — I know I could. But the reality is far from this at most schools.
I really believe that students deserve a voice, and a student paper can be the perfect outlet for this. “High-risk” students need this even more, but their schools are even less supportive of school papers. As my students are getting ready to distribute only their 2nd issue of the whole school year in about 10 minutes — and as they don’t yet know that I’m also bailing out next year as adviser — this discussion seems particularly timely and newsworthy.
I am currently the yearbook adviser at my school and will be taking the newspaper next year as our long-time adviser retires. My yearbook class is run as a journalism class, so the kids are working all year to improve their writing. Yes, the journalism business is changing and we need to find ways to adapt or die.
I believe that journalism is important to help students understand active citizenship and responsibility. My job is no less important than that of a coach or the drama teacher or the culinary arts teacher or the web design teacher. I don't always get the support that I want, but I've found that the more I talk up my class (and let the kids know that I'm talking them up...no matter how small the accomplishment)the more support I get. It is possible to have a successful program with a small class and no funding (full disclosure: my hardware was funded by our county's Regional Occupational Program)from my school site. Advising is a challenge and is sometimes frustrating but it's worth it.
Thank you for all your comments! To update, I found someone who wants to take on the newspaper next year so I am moving on. The editor next year knows these issues and is ready to start planning, I think the adviser will be a good help for that. But good discussion, change happens because of us having these discussions.
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