After years of inaction on indecency complaints, the FCC lowered the boom on a Virginia TV station that unwittingly included a screen-capture of a sex act in a newscast video. The $325,000 fine is the maximum allowed by law and one of the few imposed since the FCC lost a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case questioning the constitutionality of federal indecency enforcement standards.
News
Student-produced magazine at U. of North Florida to take brunt of budget cuts
FLORIDA — The student-produced magazine at the University of North Florida is in jeopardy.
Budget cuts in the 2015-16 fiscal year are just part of a series of setbacks that has hit Spinnaker Magazine, the print product of Spinnaker Media, which also operates a radio station, a television station and a website.
When the university’s student government announced earlier this year it would have to cut Spinnaker’s budget, the print operation was hit the hardest.
California high school newspaper’s sex issue leads to sexual harassment complaint
After a group of four parents sent a complaint to the principal and the superintendent asking for the article to be removed from the NPHS website because it violated the state’s sex education law and the family and penal sections of the California education code, the Conejo Valley Unified School District addressed the controversy at its meeting Tuesday.
Appeal argues Georgia State U. misappropriated student fees in Georgia Public Broadcasting deal
Georgia State University administrators circumvented student fee policies when money for the student-produced radio station directly benefited Georgia Public Broadcasting, according to an appeal to the university system’s Board of Regents that aims to regain student control of the station.
Nudes you can use: What happens when college news organizations choose to bare it all?
Each school year, student newspaper staffs publish nude images. While some argue the images accurately convey a newsworthy event, others are published to be edgy, like at the University of Buffalo, where the student newspaper’s annual sex issue features articles about sexual health and related topics. Often accompanying the articles are sexually explicit images some people argue are unsettling to see in a newspaper.
Press-rights groups support Florida college journalists’demand for fraternity discipline records
The SPLC brief, filed with Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach, argues that the student privacy statute, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), cannot constitutionally be applied to obstruct compliance with state open-records laws.
Sunshine Week 2015: Auditing universities' Clery Act compliance
Under the Clery Act, all colleges that receive federal funding — both public and private — must maintain an updated crime log for immediate public inspection.
Photos of condom-wrapped banana, hookah prompt prior review debate at Michigan high school
Starting this semester, the principal at Rochester High School has enforced a prior review policy over The Talon after parents complained about the November issue. Now, members of the student newspaper staff are fighting back.
Ohio Supreme Court denies motion to dismiss private university police records suit
The state’s highest court denied the private university’s motion to dismiss the case, which was filed in February 2014 after the university police department denied Anna Schiffbauer’s public records request for 47 individuals’ criminal reports.
Cyberbullying bill in Ala. could criminalize students’ online speech
Sen. Arthur Orr introduced a bill on March 3 that would make it a crime if a student posts personal, private or sexual information on social media with the intent to “intimidate or torment” another student or school employee. The law would punish students for all statements — “whether true or false” — that are likely to provoke the stalking or harassment of a student or employee.