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Texas media adviser faces convergence, First Amendment challenges

Most journalism educators will tell you that advising a high school Newspaper is no small feat. It could be said advising a high school television newscast takes quite a bit of effort as well. Tammy Austin runs both the student newspaper and television newscast at Boswell High School in Ft. Worth, Texas.

The South Bend, Ind. native brings a professional radio background and an Indiana University degree to her school. Austin sat down to answer some questions for J-Ideas. Austin touches upon what it's like to incorporate convergence into a student staff.

What methods of convergence occur at your school?

The newspaper staff here is also the BosTV staff, so we strike a balance of choosing a main topic and covering them both as completely as possible in as many different ways as we can.  We have done everything possible to cover things without much overlap.

How do you produce a newspaper with a small staff?

I often ask that question of myself.  I currently have a staff of ten, only six of which work on the paper at a time.  Two of the other four are BosTV and the other two are editors, one for BosTV, one for both.  One of the six is in charge of the staff editorial for the paper and does all lay-out.  I have students on a strict schedule of deadlines; if they miss a deadline it is an automatic 25 points off the assignment.

Each reporter is in charge of their own pictures and providing information for graphics, both of which also follow a strict deadline.  We are currently publishing an eight page paper each month, but are close to getting one published each three weeks. I am strict in the guidelines I set and how they are followed and because of that I am getting a much more thorough article from a student.

Do your students have an understanding of the First Amendment?

Students' understanding of the First Amendment differs. If they are on the newspaper staff and did not take my journalism class, they have a different understanding.  They are all about the idea that there should be no restrictions - write what you want when you want and forget the other side - it's all about what you believe. The kids who went through my class are into the fairness and ethics of reporting.  They see the difference between an opinion piece and piece of news and realize the ethics behind the choices they make as writers is what gives the First Amendment its power.

How do you incorporate First Amendment issues into your curriculum?

Most of my discussion and work with the First Amendment comes with the journalism staff.  We research constitutional decisions, we work with the principal and what he does in regards to prior review, and we look at many newspaper stories for controversial topics and how they are dealt with.

As a relatively new journalism teacher, what challenges do you face?

I think the biggest challenge I face is the same many teachers face, and that is motivation.  It is hard to keep students excited and involved all year when they see many things as repeat.  Because of the production schedule, I am forced to work to deadline, another challenge any person faces. I always find a student who is extremely organized to work as managing editor to help out with that.

What is your proudest moment as an adviser?

Having the superintendent ask for copies of our paper the day it is published so he knows what the students and parents are reading; this showed me we had struck a cord with individuals.

This all stemmed from two separate editorials, one an editorial my staff wrote on Watson, the alternative school in our district where students go to earn credits they have not been able to earn in the traditional school environment. We wrote a scathing report of their acceptance policy, something that has gotten stricter since then as a direct result of the practices being revealed. Other policies (or lack thereof) have been reviewed and many times changed based on interest generated by the school paper. 

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