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The Journalism Advisor’s Role

Drew Digby, (draft 12.3.2005; revised 1.16.2006)

The role of being the faculty advisor to the student newspaper is a rewarding if complicated and sometimes frustrating role. Few people outside of journalism faculty, even other journalists, understand the legal, ethical, and policy restrictions on what we do or can say. In general, we are not the editor of the student newspaper, nor are we the coach. I must refrain under almost all circumstances from telling the student newspaper what to do. Nevertheless, I must still give students as much professional advice possible. This short article is an attempt to explain what a journalism advisor can and cannot do and why.

The advisor’s role is very limited in order to allow the students their legal rights to a free press. U.S. Courts and journalism ethicists have repeatedly said that prior review (the reading of content before it is published) is a violation of the freedom of the press. Even in decisions fairly hostile to a free collegiate press, most U.S. Courts have said that if the student press is a “public forum,” then school administrators and faculty must give the students nearly complete freedom to make decisions about the content of newspapers and other media. There is more on the ethics and legal issues at the end of this statement.

On a practical level, I meet with the students running the newspaper several times during an average week and spend time in the newspaper’s offices almost every day. During the early stages of a new staff’s tenure, I will frequently stay past midnight to provide advice and help.

I never look at a story unless the students ask me to review it. And when they ask me to look at it, I need to refrain from suggesting specific changes. When asked, I will point out problems, ethical issues, sometimes even spelling errors. Sometimes, students will come to me repeatedly with questions about stories and I will see a story several times before it is published. Any reporter or editor can bring me something to review at any point during the process.

When I do get a chance to review something, I try as best as possible to avoid inserting my own personal (as separate from professional) opinion about an issue. If I have any kind of conflict of interest (for example, I’m friends with one of the subjects of an article), I point it out to the reporter so they can determine whether I have any bias in my suggestions and comments. I am particularly careful about editorials or opinion articles, trying never to suggest specific topics (other than the need of UMD students to do more practical jokes and the food court to have a salad bar; neither of which, to my personal dismay, have ever made it into an editorial).

As a practical matter, I don’t see most stories until after they are published, and wish more reporters, especially junior ones, would come to me when they are unclear about how to proceed.

I do review the newspaper after it is published and provide to the editor, and sometimes the whole staff, a verbal or written critique of the newspaper. If something needs to be talked about, I bring up the issue. I don’t, however, make the critiques public

When others have criticisms of the newspaper, I tell them of my role and try to encourage them to express those criticisms directly to the staff. I try never to be the conduit for criticisms from the outside. I will listen to those who have a comment or criticism, and may include it in what I say to the editors, but I prefer that critics deal directly with the newspaper. If a critic has a concern about going directly to the students, I will help them as much as possible.

The reasons for a journalism advisor’s role being different than, say a football coach, or a theater director, relate directly to the freedom of the press. Most journalists, and U.S. Courts have concurred, believe that any kind of outside review has a “chilling effect” on the freedom of the press. And since journalism faculty are paid by the university, they are technically agents of the university. In return, the courts have granted universities immunity from most forms of liability when student newspapers do things if the universities have given those papers “public forum” status in which the students make all of the decisions.

Most, but not all, journalism educators agree that this is the best set up.

College Media Advisors, a professional association, even includes these points in their Code of Ethics. The UMD Board of Publications has approved the Code of Ethics as an official policy to govern the behavior of journalism advisors.

Here is the relevant except on freedom of the press:

“Faculty, staff and other non-students who assume advisory roles with student media must remain aware of their obligation to defend and teach without censoring, editing, directing or producing. It should not be the media adviser's role to modify student writing or broadcasts, for it robs student journalists of educational opportunity and could severely damage their rights to free expression. Advisers to student media must demonstrate a firm dedication to accuracy, fairness, facts and honesty in all content of the medium.

“Since there is no clear line between student media content and student media operations, ethical prohibitions against interference in content also apply to interference in student media operations in areas such as story assignments, decisions on inclusion or exclusion of content, staff selection, source selection, news and advertising acceptability standards, and most budgetary decisions. Using arbitrary policies, production guidelines or financial constraints to limit student decision making is no more ethical than rewriting or changing editorial content or influencing the physical appearance of media.

“Advisers should be keenly aware of the potential for conflict of interest between their teaching/advising duties and their roles as university staff members and private citizens. It is vital that they avoid not only actual but apparent conflicts of interest. The publicity interests of the university and the news goals of the student media are often incompatible. Advisers should be aware of becoming the publicity focus of organizations to which they belong or for activities in which they are participating.”

The full code of ethics is available on the CMA website.

U.S. Courts have not ruled decisively on some technical issues. One case, Hosty v. Carter, is currently being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Different U.S. Appeals Courts are not conclusive to whether college student newspapers are automatically “public forums” or whether a college or university has to designate it one. If they are not public forums, however, the college or university bears substantial liability for mistakes the student newspaper might make.

Send any comments you might have about this statement to
ddigby@d.umn.edu