Protect Student Journalists
Only 17 states ensure student press freedom, leaving the door open for censorship
Graphic courtesy of the Student Press Law Center.
Nebraska may finally pull off what Iowa managed to do pre-Grunge. Legislative Bill 1071 would protect the freedom of the press for both high school and post-secondary student journalists and their advisors. The bill was introduced into the Nebraska legislature on Jan. 8 and will have a public hearing this Wednesday, Feb. 21.
If passed, LB 1071 would put Nebraska in some sadly exclusive company. Only 17 states have laws that protect student journalists. Six more—Arizona, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—are considering what the Student Law Press Center (SPLC) calls “New Voices” bills like Nebraska’s LB 1071, though there’s no guarantee those will pass. Both New York and Missouri tried last year and failed. Missouri’s bill never even made it out of committee.
The reason these bills are important dates back to a 1988 Supreme Court decision, Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. As JMM pointed out in a post last year, the student newspaper at Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis was set to publish stories “about their peers’ experiences with teen pregnancy and the impact of divorce.” The school’s principal, however, deleted the pages that contained the stories before they went to press. He also didn’t tell the students. The kids sued. It went to the Supreme Court, which, in a 5-3 decision, said that the “paper was sponsored by the school and, as such, the school had a legitimate interest in preventing the publication of articles that it deemed inappropriate and that might appear to have the imprimatur of the school.” Translation: Schools can censor student journalists.
Iowa was the first to push back on the decision. In 1989, then Gov. Terry Branstad signed the Student Exercise of Free Expression Act. The law protects Iowa public school student journalists and allows them to publish what they want as long as it’s not libelous, slanderous, or obscene. It also protects student media advisors from retribution for protecting the rights of student journalists. The only quirk, though, is private schools like Drake aren’t covered.
To help with that, the SPLC published a guide for private school press that spells out the rights student journalists have on private campuses. It also has legal guides, helpful FOIA templates for most states (Iowa’s sadly not included), and a free hotline if a student journalist feels like their rights are being threatened.
It also celebrates Student Press Freedom Day, this year on Feb. 22. And while Thursday is the official holiday, SPLC, along with the Journalism Education Association, is hosting multiple events for student journalists as a part of Scholastic Journalism Week. There’s an Op-Ed Bootcamp today (Mon., Feb. 19), a webinar Tuesday on the future of college press freedom, a public records training session on Wednesday, and an AMA Thursday on Instagram with a first-amendment lawyer. You can get the full rundown of events here.
But the best way to celebrate Student Press Freedom Day would be for Nebraska to pass LB 1071. It would ensure student journalists in our neighbor to the west are free to do their work. It would also make Nebraska—at least in this one case—as cool as Iowa.
Small Victories
Two bills JMM mentioned last week, House Study Bill 678 and Senate Study Bill 3168, both of which would give city councils direct control over their local libraries, have died. Neither were voted out of subcommittee, a key hurdle to ensure a bill moves on to the next stage. It means that, for now, the legislature has backed off from its book-banning binge, though there are still plenty of gross bills still swirling around the statehouse.
Time to Apply
You can work for the largest magazine media company in America. The DotDash Meredith Apprenticeship Program allows ambitious journalists and graphic designers the opportunity to earn both academic credit and gain professional, portfolio-level work experience.
Selected students commit to working 15-20 hours per week at DotDash Meredith both semesters of either their junior or senior year. Apprentices earn $15 an hour as well as up to three credits per semester.
To apply either share a Google Drive link or send an email to jeff.inman@drake.edu containing a cover letter, resume, and (if applicable) up to five work samples contained in one PDF by 5 p.m. Fri., March 8. Interviews will be held during the last week of March. For more info contact Prof. Inman at the above email address.
Top Job
Admit it, you’ve always wanted pure, unadulterated, vein-bulging power. The kind reserved for royalty and Taylor Swift. And JMM has a way for you to get it. Become a student media leader. OK, yes, you can only wield your power for good. And no one will serve you tiny cucumber sandwiches, though those are totally overrated anyway. But you will get to oversee one of Drake’s six student media organizations: Drake Broadcasting System, Drake Mag, Drake Political Review, DUiN, Periphery, and the Times-Delphic.
All you need to do is send a resume and cover letter, as well as up to five work samples, to BSC co-chairs Prof. Lakshmi Tirumala (Lakshmi.tirumala@drake.edu) and SJMC Sen. Eva Kellen (eva.kellen@drake.edu) by 5 p.m. March 8. Interviews for the positions will be held post-Spring Break. For more information, contact Prof. Tirumala or Sen. Kellen.
Summer Paychecks
Internship season is starting to get steamy. Now that Valentine’s Day is in the rearview, it’s time to look for that perfect summer job hook-up, the one that you’ll love and leave but always think about fondly long after you’ve settled into your career. OK, maybe that’s too much. But there are lots of great summer positions ripe for that taking. Here are a few worth checking out:
• Iowa PBS is hiring multiple positions for the summer including emerging media and production interns. You’ll be based in fabulous Johnston, Iowa. You’d also be following in the footsteps of 2007’s PBS Communications Professional of the Year Prof. Jennifer Konfrst—not a bad person to try to live up to. Applications are due March 6.
• Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation is looking for both a graphic design and a communications intern. Both will work on INHF’s donor magazine, help with the group’s website, and maybe even end up working at the non-profit’s annual Ragbrai booth. The deadline to apply is March 8.
• HerCampus has been one of the leading voices for college women for years. A group of websites including HerCampus, Spoon University, and College Fashionista, the company hires remote interns to help create content, design graphics, and run social media for its various websites. They have rolling internship sessions, with the summer one starting May 8. Get more info here.
• Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines needs a communications intern to help create multi-channel content for the summer. You’ll also make bank. The gig offers $20-$25 an hour depending on experience. Check it out here.
• The St. Louis-based River City Journalism Fund is looking for a summer writing fellow. You’ll be embedded in a St. Louis newsroom, work 30 hours a week covering social justice and underrepresented communities, and be paid $700 a week. Get more info here.
• American Public Media Group, home of Minnesota Public Radio, has multiple internships for the summer including audio, video, production, and reporting. All of the gigs are based in St. Paul, Minnesota. You might even end up working with former Iowa Public Radio host and reporter Clay Masters and recent SJMC grad CJ Younger (MMJ), both of whom now call MPR home. Check out all the gigs here.
Tame the Robots
The Chris Couplet—Professors Snider and Porter—want to help you with your Spring Break plans. The duo will be hosting their next Introduction to Generative AI Workshop on March 14 both on campus and virtually. You’ll learn about current generative AI tools and gain ideas of how those tools can be used—except to write that paper for your Poli-Sci class. We'll also discuss how they should not be used, terms of service, and ethical issues related to AI tools. You can sign up here.
Also, sign up for the pair’s newsletter, Innovation Profs, for the latest AI news.
Write On
Periphery will be hosting a Writer’s Night this Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Medbury Lounge. You can bring your latest work, perform it in front of fellow scribes, and maybe get some feedback on how damn excellent you are from the amassed crew. If you want more info contact Periphery EIC Atlas Desmond (atlas.desmond@drake.edu).
So Many Awards!
This was another banner week for Drake SJMC students. Fair warning: This is going to take a bit.
To start, “Outside the Box” by senior DMP majors Max Fouts, Chris Veninga, and Zoe Sadauskis (also MMJ), received a Broadcast Education Association Award of Excellence in the Micro-Documentary category, a first for Drake. Veninga, along with grad student Mithi Sivaprakash, also received a BEA Award of Excellence in the Narrative category for the short “Gun To The Head.” And senior DMP’er Michael Cummings’ work for Karl’s Kustoms scored him a 3rd Place finish in the Promotional category.
Next up: The Hearst Awards. Junior Lincoln Roch (MMJ) has been asked to compete in the Hearst National Writing Championship. It’s a five-day writing and reporting competition that pits finalists in each Hearst Journalism Awards category against each other for the title of journalist supreme. Roch’s Drake Mag story When the Cameras Leave scored 2nd place in the Feature Writing category in December.
Finally, the Iowa College Media Awards. There’s so many it’s just easier to list everything:
Best News Reporting
1st Place: Drake Mag, When the Cameras Leave, Lincoln Roch
3rd Place: Urban Plains, Dirty Dodge Gets a Facelift, Grace Altenhofen
Best Written Feature Reporting
1st Place: Urban Plains, The Last Gay Bar in Lincoln, Sydney Hamilton
2nd Place: Drake Mag, The State of Hate, Nate Eisenmann
Best Sports Feature Reporting
1st Place: Urban Plains, For the Dogs, CJ Younger
Best Headline Writing
3rd Place: The Times-Delphic, I'm for you! (the fetus, I mean, not the mother), written by Colin Frier for Caroline Siebels-Lindquist’s article
Best Opinion Writing
Hon. Mention: The Times-Delphic, Gone But Not Forgotten: A Eulogy to the Living, Maria Heath
Best Review
2nd Place: The Times-Delphic, "RRR": A Really Rave Review, Lily Wasserman and Divyanshi Srivastava
Best Staff Editorial
2nd Place: The Times-Delphic, We Amplify Others' Voices, But Ours Go Unheard, Editorial Staff
Best Print Design
2nd Place: Drake Mag, Taco Time, Annie Peterson
Best Magazine/Special Section Cover
Hon. Mention: Drake Mag, Spring ‘23, Annie Peterson
Best Graphic or Illustration
2nd Place: Drake Mag, The State of Hate, Princess Hart
Best Media Website
1st Place: Urban Plains, CJ Younger, EIC
Best Use of Social Media
Hon. Mention: Urban Plains Instagram, Hannah Gromen, Kendra Curry, Kathryn Pagel, and Nora Felder
Best Podcast Series
3rd Place: Urban Plains, Cuisine Crossover, Lauren Igbanugo and Nora Felder
Best Video Entertainment Package
1st Place: Urban Plains, Exploring Skateland, Hannah Gromen
Best Long Form Documentary
3rd Place: Urban Plains, Font and Color: A Documentary on Helvetikah Blak, Natalie Novak and Kathryn Pagel
Want to Spread Word with JMM?
Do you have some essential info or maybe you’ve taken a new gig as a senior editor for wellness powerhouse Pillar4Media like Megan Mowery (Mags, ’19)? If you do, send them on over to jeff.inman@drake.edu. JMM will treat it like this recent grad Mathany Ahmed’s first story for the Des Moines Business Record and share it with everyone.
Finally, it’s time to level up your Nerf game.