As political division and polarization continually increases in the United States, civic knowledge faces decline. Journalism education provides a potential remedy for these democracy-endangering harms by imparting valuable instruction regarding civics and the role of the media in society. However, with no standardization in the country, individual…

Risks to journalists are rising with disasters, epidemics, physical, mental and digital harassment all increasing globally. Some 1382 journalists have been killed since 1992 and 246 are imprisoned. However, the threat type has been changing, with the majority of journalists killed annually being ones working in their own country, often who are…

A confluence of forces has brought journalism and journalism education to a precipice. The rise of fascism, the advance of digital technology, and the erosion of the economic foundation of news media are disrupting journalism and mass communication (JMC) around the world. Combined with the increasingly globalized nature of journalism and media,…

A Pennsylvania high school newspaper published an editorial in Fall 2013 announcing its decision to cease using the name of the school's sports teams, Redskins. That decision prompted the local school board to institute a policy giving administrators more editorial control over the newspaper. The controversy resonated with U.S. professional…

For more than 30 years, student journalists' freedom of expression has been in flux. Freedom of expression is central to journalism education. Without this freedom, teaching students the courage and truth telling central to the profession becomes impossible. To reinstate compromised freedoms, North Dakota student journalists created The John Wall…

The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) has developed twelve professional values and competencies that all students in accredited programs must demonstrate before graduation. This study asked Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC) program administrators which competencies…

The accrediting body for media education, the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC), has established twelve professional values and competencies that all students must demonstrate before graduating from accredited journalism and mass communication programs. A close reading suggests that these twelve…

This article describes a lesson in which students will examine several views expressed by the founders to understand the context for including freedom of the press in the First Amendment. Students will be asked to think about the role that the news media and the need to be an informed citizen continue to play in our democracy. Students will…

Reports on continuing efforts to block free access to the Internet, and describes how several national organizations have formed an alliance to support free speech on the Internet. Includes the Internet Free Expression Alliance's mission statement and URLs for seven organizations that provide information on this issue. (SR)

In many countries, reporters and editors face criminal prosecution, censorship, self-censorship, exile, tax audits, loss of broadcast and publication licenses, loss of jobs, assault, and even assassination based on how they practice their profession. Press rights and human rights advocacy groups try to draw media and official attention to those…

The author opposes any Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) overseeing the work of journalism professors and journalism students in any academic institution. He argues that the tendency for IRBs to require anonymity for persons interviewed immediately reduces the credibility of any journalistic story. The composition of an IRB is questioned on…

Describes the highlights of the 1976 convention of the Association for Education in Journalism. (KS)

An exercise requiring students in an introductory mass communications course to comment on issues in a freedom of speech case revealed that students may be more supportive of freedom of speech than is sometimes thought. (RL)

In response to an award by the American Society of Journalism School Administrators for William O. Douglas' service in defense of freedom of information, the author spoke of Douglas' legal philosophy at the award ceremony. (RL)

Discusses three Supreme Court decisions which offer journalism and mass media educators good case studies for teaching students to distinguish between decisions that threaten the workings of a free press and decisions that properly hold media responsible for abusing their liberties. (SR)