Email Article

Printable Page

SPECIAL REPORT: Journalists Battle Requirements That Outsiders Review Stories Before Publication

By Daarel Burnette II
Black College Wire

With this article, the Black College Wire begins a series on First Amendment issues at historically black colleges and universities.

Maybe it was to make sure that all the facts were accurate or to make sure they were quoted correctly. But when Florida A&M University journalism professor Gerald Grow heard that there was a prior-review policy for articles written about an annual health conference hosted by the pharmacy school, the censorship alarms went off.

Gerald Grow

It seems to happening more and more: sources asking student journalists to glance over stories before they are turned in for publication. The sources' reasons vary: to make sure that they weren’t misquoted, to make sure the story is accurate, or simply to check for grammatical errors.

However, prior review can be a violation of First Amendment rights, according to Mark Goodman, the executive director of the Student Press Law Center, an Arlington, Va.-based organization that champions the First Amendment rights of high school and college students.

In FAMU’s case, Grow said he thinks that the pharmacy school might have wanted to make sure that the students who were writing the story for the quarterly school magazine Journey would transmit all the medical information accurately.

“They probably just weren’t used to how things work in journalism,” he said. “It was more of a misunderstanding. I don’t think they were out to control the world.”

Sometimes, the sources’ agendas are not so pure. They might be more interested in making sure the story doesn’t shine a negative light on them or their organization.

“A lot of people aren’t used to how things work in journalism,” Grow said. “A lot of times, they are thinking in terms of PR.”

Goodman said that prior review can be seen as unethical and can make readers question the motivation behind the articles. Furthermore, the practice runs contrary to the real world of journalism, where prior review by sources is virtually unheard of.

“There is a problem if journalism is not being determined by the news but, instead, the subject of the story is being twisted,” Goodman said.

At Tennessee State University, the adviser to The Meter, the student newspaper, has repeatedly been asked to review the paper before it is published, according to the Student Press Law Center Web site.

Mark Goodman

According to the law center, when an administrator at Southern Colorado State College imposed a rule for the student newspaper staff to allow prior review before publication, a higher court found in 1971 that the administrator, who in this case was the newspaper's adviser, violated the First Amendment.

In Illinois, Governor State University is battling it out in court with two students who said the school violated their rights when they stopped the presses because students wouldn’t allow the school to review publications.

Although prior review policies are illegal at public universities, where school papers are virtually owned by the state government, private-school student newspapers that are not independently run are not subject to these rules.

Still, Goodman said, administrators at private universities should be encouraged to write policies that prohibit prior review, to prevent liability if the content in a publication is challenged.

To ensure accuracy, Goodman suggested that students verify quotes and check all the facts in an article with sources.

“You always want to make sure the information is accurate when the story is about a complex issue,” Goodman said. “But in the end, the writer should shape the story, not the source.”

Daarel Burnette II is a student at Hampton University.

Posted Sept. 21, 2004