Yeah, yeah, yeah -

[kyburg]

I was the editor of my high school newspaper. And I've been reading the outrage over the latest poll about teenies wanting the Big Bad Government to censor everything - EVERYTHING.

Chill.

I was the editor of my high school newspaper.

Nothing's changed much since the '70's. The truth is, the age group still thinks the government has any authority in the media. The exact opposite is actually correct.

Public opinion and dollars drive the decisions these days, folks.

Any channel would kill to have the market shares they used to have between the three networks in the 70's.

But we're not dealing with the airwaves, which are public property. We are dealing in the world of sattelite and cable - which is not public property, and is not covered by the FCC/public trust/whatever.

THEY decide what you see. They check everything before it is published...yadda ya.

You wish it was something democratically elected. Folkies - you bought what censors the media today.

Spend your pennies wisely.

Meanwhile, I fwump. I tired. Half my department was out sick today, and so help me, I'd better not be next.

Comments

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

Get tea into you! Rest! Pet a cat... (seeing as you have 2... *g*)

I don't know. *g*

I still need to introduce you and unclejimbo to the folks running AnimeLA (http://www.anime-la.org)...

They're crazy, but they all love anime, so I'm guessing you can't go wrong there. =-)

Stay well!

C.

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, and one more thing...

http://www.livejournal.com/community/metaquotes/2475149.html

Rules for the Cute and Fuzzy... *g*

C.

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

Another thing I was thinking about the teen survey results: At that age, teens are still used to somebody in authority (the principal, the school newspaper advisor, etc.) reading over the school paper before it gets printed. To them, that's just the way it is. So they can't conceive that real-world newspapers could get printed without the imprimateur of analogous authority figures. *sigh*

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Exactly - not too many school papers are written without significant oversight by reasonable authority.

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Nope. Not chillin'. In fact, our paper is doing a big editorial spread, not just on the poll. We've seen polls like this before. But when they're actually starting to implement some of those controls, it gets scary. Newspapers are scared.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Polls shouldn't surprise anyone - consider the source, after all.

Implementing controls? Well, they are school papers after all.

In my experience, my high school had not even seen the need for a student expression such as the newspaper. They had cut the class, the advisor and the room for it.

Me, and another student wanted the paper - and our principal agreed that the school needed the experience it would provide - and sanctioned it.

We did it without an advisor, and we had to share space with the yearbook staff and do it on our lunch time. And we paid for it with advertising - and had it printed in the "student" printshop at the local junior college to maximize the dollars.

People who use poll results like these to institute policy - or even to justify it - need to get slapped upside the head. A learning environment is different from the Real World and all of its adult parameters.

But in the end, a student paper is only as "free" as the school allows it to be.

Jeez, I know there is a ton of recent legislation on it too - there were some significant precedents set in college paper presses on libel and slander law. Do you remember what they were?

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Hon, I'm not talking about restrictions on school papers. That's an ongoing and certainly disturbing trend. But with the upsurge in federal judges going for prior restraint against "real" newspapers, with the unheard-of restrictions on coverage of protests or anything anywhere within sight of the president... there's more, but I'd have to hyperventilate. No, it's scary because if the kids don't think it's wrong, they'll have no problem with electing people who don't think it's wrong, and we're already on the fast slope to hell.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

And again, I say to you - don't look to the kids. There's nothing new there. Nothing has changed.

I'd have to say it has much more to do with a lack of basic civics education - but really, I don't think it has anything new to offer towards the future. Kids still look for safety, and vote liberal. They do. It confounds everyone.

Currently, we adults have to address the prior restraint issues. We do this once we leave school and find that the reasonable authorities we knew growing up no longer exist.

We're the authority now.

I doubt seriously anyone polled knew what "prior restraint" even means.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Also - did you see this?:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/cyclometh/153256.html

wondering...

[tomlemos.livejournal.com]

if you heard about the story about the kids who got censored for not obtaining parental permission for writing up their fellow high schoolers in a story.

turns out, they outed the kids WITH the permission of the kids involved, but they forgot to get the permission of the parents.

Re: wondering...

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

I remember getting a story (and staff) booted because they criticized the college president and financial controller over funding issues - and they went to press without checking with the advisor first.

Reasonable authority, folks. Yes, you can get in trouble with them if you tell everyone stuff they want control of without checking with them first.

It's that old "your freedom ends where mine begins" rule.

Outing kids without parental permission...well, that's a pretty pickle. Until 18...well, I can understand how so many end up homeless, y'know? Runaway from home - if some kind of reasonable acceptance can't be had there.

Permission - hmm. Notification, I can understand. If the parents were completely out of the loop on the whole matter, I can understand their ire.

[browren.livejournal.com]

Yep, that article was pretty much BS, though making kids more aware of the Bill of Rights (in general) certainly couldn't be a bad thing.

The sidebar data was funny. I thought it was pretty amusing how 99% of school principals think that newspaper articles shouldn't need government approval, but only 25% think that high school newspaper articles shouldn't need administration approval... ;)

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Well, getting "government" approval (who the heck would that BE, anyway?) is one thing - administration approval is a given. (They'd answer to the cops if they printed porn with their knowledge, for example.)

School papers have advisors/teachers - for that reason.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

I think if that poll had been given when I was in high school, the results would not be that much different. And the general reaction then would have been "what are we teaching the kids," not "oh, shit, the Bill of Rights is dead."