Scholastic Journalism 2013 Abstracts
Reviving High School Journalism in South Dakota: A Research-Based Approach • Jessica Jensen, South Dakota State University; Mary Arnold, South Dakota State University • This paper describes the Summit working to revive high school journalism in South Dakota and the research that inspired it. Over 90 percent of high schools in the state and nationwide offer some kind of journalism. This paper examines the reality masked by those numbers and makes recommendations for improving participation. It also discusses the Summit, a project to revive and update high school journalism statewide. These recommendations can be easily applied or adapted for use in other states.
Big Tweets on Campus: College Newspapers’ Use of Twitter • Kris Boyle, Creighton University; Carol Zuegner, Creighton University • The authors examined Twitter use among campus newspapers, analyzing a sample of Twitter pages from 25 award-winning campus publications and coding for the frequency, content, and interactivity of the tweets. This study revealed these newspapers were tweeting most often during daytime hours and most tweets were about campus-based news. Unlike mainstream newspapers, the publication frequency of these college newspapers and the number of users following their Twitter pages were tied to the newspapers’ tweet frequency.
Student News 2.0: An Ethnographic Examination • Meredith Clark, UNC-Chapel Hill • This ethnographic study goes inside the digital student newsroom to explore exactly how “the inmates run the asylum.” Using semi-structured interviews from 12 participants working on a mobile-optimized summer news project, the study provides insights on the work practices of the digital student newsroom. Validated through the use of textual analysis and member checks, the findings present five key concepts that are immediately applicable as part of a reflexive pedagogy in student digital media production.
Tipping Point: The impact of high school racial demographics on the presence of student newspapers in Georgia • Joseph Dennis, The University of Georgia; Carolyn Crist, The University of Georgia; Chloe Hargrave • This study examines Georgia high schools, applying sociological “tipping point” principles to determine if racial demographics of the school relate to the presence of student newspapers. The study yields significant results, showing that once school populations dip below 70% white, they are less likely to have a student newspaper. It also shows that highly segregated majority-white schools are more likely to have a student newspaper than highly segregated majority-nonwhite schools.
Survey of Campus Readership Habits: Are College Students Reading Newspapers for Community and Political News? • Jeffrey Hedrick, Jacksonville State University • Students at a midsize southern university (N=241) were surveyed for newspaper readership habits with emphasis on acquisition of political news. Student were asked their preference(s) for campus newspaper content, currently a weekly newspaper including little to no local or national news, while infrequently covering stories not related to the campus environment. Findings suggest students are not reading campus newspapers, and do not prefer local newspapers either, but have some interest in local community news.
The Effects of Public Opinion on Student Speech Policies • Karla Kennedy, University of Oregon • This research is concerned with how media coverage of the student speech Supreme Court case, Morse v. Frederick could potentially affect school districts’ student speech and student publication policies by producing frames. In particular, this study focuses on the framing of student speech, public opinion, and public policy. School districts student speech and student publications policies were content analyzed as a surrogate of public opinion. The study found that the media framed the case as more about illegal drug usage than student free expression, leading to very little change in the states’ policies.
A Preliminary Overview of the Early History of High School Journalism in the U.S.: ~1775-1925 • Bruce Konkle, University of South Carolina • Mainstream journalism has its synoptic history books, but to find a succinct history of high school journalism one must secure information from multiple sources: journal articles, theses and dissertations, scholastic journalism textbooks, state department of education curriculum archives and scholastic press association publications, among other resources. This project consolidates and updates fragmented information concerning the early years of scholastic journalism (~1775-1925) to begin creating a preliminary overview of student publications and journalism courses in America’s high schools, an initial step towards writing an in-depth history.
Texting, Tweeting and Blogging by the Book: A Qualitative Look at How Introductory Media Writing Textbooks Frame New Media Instruction • Jeffrey Riley, University of Florida • This was a qualitative content analysis, with some quantitative elements, that examined 11 different introductory journalism textbooks to see how the books addressed three different new media components – blogging, social media, and mobile media. The textbooks are the ones used by the top-10 journalism schools by enrollment. The study found that there are vast levels of inconsistency with introductory journalism texts. Some books integrated the three components throughout their entirety while some covered the components isolated in chapters about digital journalism. Some books framed the components as things to be feared, as frivolous toys of the digital age, while some framed the components as amazing ways to interact with a modern audience; some books contained instructional materials teaching budding journalists how to write well-made blogs, while some books simply discuss the components in passing. As the use of new media continues to grow year-to-year, it becomes increasingly important to understand the texts and tools being used to first introduce new journalists to the things they will need to know.
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