Producing a print newspaper instills best practices in journalism students
20.05.12
The lack of a decision by the Kern High School District regarding approval for school newspapers to maintain websites constitutes a disregard for the First Amendment. But that issue covers up one of a more serious nature.
That's the refusal to provide enough funding to pay for print newspapers produced by our local high schools, some of which have been a tradition for decades.
Students producing a print newspaper not only gain skills outlined in The Californian's Feb. 16 article "Student newspapers hit Web, raising concerns," but it also trains and educates on how to properly conduct journalism. This, in turn, protects one of our basic freedoms, that of the press, when those same students enter the professional world with necessary training.
Certainly, high schools should learn how to maintain an online publication, but producing a print product is the best way to teach journalism and ensure that the ethics of journalism will be followed in print and with the online product.
Source: Bakersfield Californian