Quote me on that!

Handling student media and the law: a primer for community college

administrators and faculty.

Mercer County Community College- IPIC PresentationProf. Holly Johnson &Prof. Diane Rizzo

Should I talk to student reporters?

YES? NO?

Should I talk to student reporters?

Here’s how many in academia see it:YES NO

I don’t want to draw attention to myself.

I may say something true but that I wasn’t supposed to

reveal!

They may misquote me! Besides, I don’t have time.

I am an educator and I want to provide

knowledge.

I want to be helpful.

What prevents people from talking to reporters?

FEAR of the Consequences

I just don’t have time.

This will put me

behind in my work.

I’ll jeopardize my job or

my relationshi

p with colleagues.

They’ll get it wrong

and I’ll be blamed!

I’ll look like I’m

drawing attention to myself.

What about the law? Could I be breaking the law?

These Things are Always Legal• Giving your OPINION on any matter• Asking to receive a copy ahead of time of the questions the reporter

plans to ask• Asking the reporter to read a quote you’ve given back to you so you can

make sure they got it right• Giving student reporters copies of any memo or document or

information that is available to them under OPRA • Providing facts that are accurate to the best of your knowledge• Asking to be an anonymous source if the information you are giving puts

you in danger.

Illegal• Deliberately misinforming reporters • Covering up or obscuring illegal actions • Removing newspapers from bins on campus so people won’t read them• Cutting off funding or firing staffers (or the advisor) in retaliation for a

story that was unflattering• Demanding to approve a story prior to it being printed• Making up a policy that would otherwise break the law (e.g. you can’t

create a policy that students can’t take your picture when you’re in public on campus as this violates other state, federal and local laws).

What is OPRA?OPRA is the state level Open Public Records Act (sunshine law) of New Jersey which provides governmental transparency and

accountability.

Under OPRA, public

agencies, including

community colleges, must make available

to the press and the public any “physical record that

has a government purpose.”

A physical record

includes: any paper, written

or printed book,

document, drawing, map,

plan, photograph, micro-film,

data-processed or

image-processed

document, and information

stored or maintained

electronically or by sound recording.

A record is considered to

have a government

purpose when it has been

“made, maintained,

kept on file or been received in the course

of official business.”

Documents available under OPRA include,

but are not limited to:

institutional data, meeting

minutes, policies and handbooks,

official memos, salary

information, contracts,

attendance sheets, crime

logs and statistics (must

be made available under the Clery Act).

Got an OPRA question? Call

the Government

Records Council (GRC) toll free at: 1-866-850-0511.

What about FERPA?The Federal Education Records Privacy Act*

protects individual student records.Student Reporter Rights

and Responsibilities under FERPA

Students have to know and explain what records they are requesting and the laws that

pertain to their requests.

Students can pursue a waiver from the person whose records they want. If the

student(s) provide written permission, there is no FERPA issue. End of story.

Students may request a redacted version that provides statistics but is purged of names and

other identifiers.

Faculty, admin and staff responsibilities under

FERPA

The burden is on the school to provide legal justification for denial of a records request.

The school cannot be sued by an individual student for wrongful disclosure under FERPA, only the US Dept. of Ed can penalize and then only for the lack of an effective policy not for

one particular disclosure.

Since congress passed FERPA in 1974, the US Dept. of Ed has not penalized a single school

for violating FERPA.

*Information on this slide comes from text by Frank LoMonte, Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center as presented in Sept/Oct 2009 article “FERPA Foibles” by Michelle Rydell in Quill the magazine of the Society of Professional Journalists.

What can I do to support students but protect myself?

Give student reporters time but set appropriate limits, particularly if they seem insufficiently

professional or prepared. If you want a clearer sense of what the reporter is coming to speak to you about or you are not sure you are the right person for them to talk to, ask to receive the questions ahead of time, but resist the urge to let them do

the interview via email.

If you are not the right person to talk to, try to direct the student reporter to the person who is, but avoid the urge to pass students on when you do

actually know something about their topic.

If you think a student reporter may not have gotten your quote or facts right, ask them to repeat back to you what you said so you can clarify in

the moment. If you realize after the interview that you may have said something inaccurate contact the Editor in Chief to clarify.

When students get things wrong, respect them enough to hold them accountable by notifying the Editor in Chief of the need to print a

correction. Consider writing a letter to the editor.

Other questions:

• Frequently we assign multiple junior staffers to cover the same topic but only print the best reported version. This means students have to compete, as they would in the real world.

• We recommend you give all students at least a little time, but cut the meeting short for all but the best prepared reporters.

Why did three students come to talk to me about the same

topic? Do I have to talk to ALL of them?

• The student may have gotten a stronger quote from a different source (particularly if you recommended they speak to someone else)

• The student or editor may not have been certain the quote was accurate and was unable to verify it with you, so it got pulled.

I was interviewed on an important topic, but my quote didn’t appear in the article.

What gives?

• Most likely the editor in chief pulled the article because it was underreported or biased or had not been sufficiently fact checked.

• The article may not have run because it is being saved for a later edition or because the student requested not to have it published.

I was interviewed but no article ever came

out on the topic I talked about. What

happened?

Should I talk to student reporters?

YES NO

I know what to

do if something

goes wrong.

I know what to

do to help the

student get the

story right.

I am an

educator and I

can provide

information safely.

I’m afraid

because I am

unprepared to

address the media.

How do I learn more about MCCC College VOICE policies?Who do I talk to for more help?

http://www.mcccvoice.org

Find the VOICE current issue, archives and

policy manual online.Also find links to the Student Press Law Center and other

resources.

Got a story you think is newsworthy? Got a correction you need addressed? Want to

submit a letter to the editor?

Contact the Editor in Chief,

Laura Pollack at:Pollack.laura@gmail.com

Unsure? Confused? Need to vent?

Contact the advisor, Prof. Holly Johnson at:

ext. 3594johnsonh@mccc.edu

Additional Resources Student Press Law Center

VOICE online

Voice Policy Manual Online

OPRA and the Government Records Council

FERPA information

ENDProf. Holly Johnson