Category: Media
How much freedom do students have on social media?
Kirkwood High School in suburban St. Louis is the latest public school to get caught in the uncertainties about how much free speech students have on social media.
The Kirkwood Call, the school’s top-notch student paper, reported (story) this week that a student was suspended for three days for a Tweet cursing a teacher. The student, Josh Spiller, sent the Tweet early this month after the teacher sent him to the office for refusing to surrender his cell phone. Spiller admitted his Tweet was wrong, but he still thought his rights were violated.
Principal Michael Havener explained that the high school considered tweets to be the equivalent of face-to-face communication. “…vulgar language toward a staff member or threats is just like saying it to the staff member,” he said in the Call story. “When you use it in a negative way toward staff members, it’s just like you’re saying it in the classroom.”
Are media overhyping Lin?
Is it possible to be a victim of too much media coverage? Ask New York Knicks rookie phenom Jeremy Lin–he’ll say Absolutely.
Over the past month, “Lin-Sanity” has swept the nation, mainly through ESPN’s most-watched program SportsCenter. Deadspin.com reported that any form of “Lin” or even “Super-Lin-Tendo” was dropped around 350 times last week, topping LeBron James, Tiger Woods, and even All-Star teammate Carmelo Anthony.
Two coaches in trouble, different media coverage
University of Illinois men’s basketball coach Bruce Weber is under fire. The Illinois coach with a record of 209-96, two Big Ten titles and one trip to the NCAA national championship game, is under intense scrutiny from local and national media concerning the direction his program is headed.
Weber has a losing record in Big Ten play since the 2006 season, the year after former coach Bill Self’s players departed. Fans have criticized him for years and with a new athletic director and a season rapidly spinning out of control, this likely is Weber’s last season as Illinois men’s basketball coach.
Televising court proceedings may not be all it’s cracked up to be
The press generally applauded this month when the Senate Judiciary
Committee voted to require the U. S. Supreme Court to televise
proceedings. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., was one of the big
proponents.
As a card-carrying member of the press, I have reservations.