Tag: Fall 2008

Inside, American flags will drape over the walls while balloons float to the floor below. Music will keep the mood light and delegates on their feet. Outside, protesters will rattle chain-link fences and scream insults as riot police stand ready to squash violent protests.

It might be impossible to predict just how the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates would act as commander in chief, but looking at what Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama have done in their careers could give potential voters a clue.

Proposed changes to the regulations governing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act could result in denying access to information that would be crucial to keep schools accountable, some First Amendment advocates say.

High school journalism depends on minors consenting to interviews. In Claremont, Calif., a high school junior told the student newspaper she supported a new law banning cell phones while driving. A freshman at a Jewish day school in Rockville, Md., discussed morality and capital punishment with her student publication. And in Palo Alto, Calif., a student newspaper quoted a high school junior on his feelings about the constitutionality of same-sex marriage.

Courts in two recent cases have reaffirmed that university professors and administrators are public figures who face heavy burdens when trying to claim they were harmed by information published or circulated about them.

A tenured law professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock believes his students caused substantial and irreparable injury to his reputation. So he is taking them to court.

When student editors decide to go it alone, the road can be a rocky one. At Quinnipiac University, Jason Braff looks at his online publication's bank account. It's empty. Meanwhile, Aaron Montoya of Colorado State University wrangles with the Internal Revenue Service as Bobby Melok of Montclair State University sits with his lawyer drafting paperwork.

The relentless news of layoffs and falling earnings at media companies may make skeptics question the value of journalism education. Two recent studies make a persuasive case for why scholastic journalism still makes a difference.

Kalyn Feigenbaum was sitting in the DJ's chair at Pennsylvania State University's WKPS radio when it happened. Through the driving bass line and shattering cymbal crashes, she heard it come over the airwaves as though it was a hand slapping her in the face.

Public-records laws can open up a world of discoveries, rewarding persistent journalists like those in Marcy Burstiner's reporting class at California's Humboldt State University.