Campus Journalism

and
School Paper Management

TODAY
 On a 4” x 6” sheet of paper, Samuel Fickle
Fox penned the first issue of The Students
Gazette on July 11, 1777 at the William Penn
Charter School in Philadelphia, USA. Published
continuously until August 1778, when the
British soldiers closed the school, The
Gazette is recognized as the first student
publication in the English-speaking world.
 In the Philippines, The University of the
Philippines started publishing its magazine
College Folio in October 1910 and printed
the works of the first promising writers in
English. In 1912 the graduates of Manila High
School published their English writings in The
Coconut. In the same year, the Philippine
Normal School introduced its publication, The
TORCH.
 The UP Writers Club which was organized in
1927 had its literary organ, The Literary
Apprentice which became the most
prestigious college literary publication in the
country. At about this time UST’s Varsitarian
began to see publication.
The Bill of Rights of the Philippine Constitution

Article 3, Section 4:
No law shall be passed abridging the
freedom of speech, of expression, or of the
press, or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble and petition the government
for redress of grievances.
 Thee constitutional provision prevents
censorship and prior restraint.

 Limitations – injurious to reputation and

privacy of persons, public order and national
security, public morals, the integrity and
efficiency of public bodies, such as Congress
and the courts.
 Campus Journalism Act of 1991

 “AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND

PROMOTION OF CAMPUS JOURNALISM AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES “
 Sec 2 Declaration of Policy:

“…to uphold and protect the freedom of the

press even at the campus level and to
promote the development and growth of
campus journalism as a means of
strengthening ethical values, encouraging
critical and creative thinking, and
developing moral character and personal
discipline of the Filipino youth.”
 Libel and obscenity laws
 Copyright and intellectual property
rights
 Invasion of privacy
 A public and malicious imputation of a crime,
or a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any
act, omission, condition, status, or
circumstances tending to cause dishonor,
discredit, or contempt of a natural or judical
person, or to blacken the memory of one who
is dead.
 is printed communication – words,
photographs, or artwork – that
exposes a person to shame, public
hatred, ridicule, or disgrace, damages
a person’s reputation in the
community, or injures the person’s
livelihood.
 For libel to occur, four conditions must exist:

1. defamatory imputation

2. malice, either in law or in fact

3. publication of the imputation

4. identity and certainty of the person libelled

 Probable truth is the best and only absolute
defense against libel. Even if damage has
occurred, if the communication is provably
true, no libel would exist.

 A publication is legally responsible for any

libelous communication it publishes, even in
third-party letters to the editor,
advertisements, and quotes from sources.
 Privilege is the second defense against libel.
Reporters can publish fair and accurate
accounts of official proceedings and reports.

 The public official, public figure rule is the

third defense against libel. If a person is
designated as a public official or public
figure, actual malice in publishing a story
would have to be proved.
 “Fair comment” rule is the fourth defense
against libel suit. A reporter and others in
journalism are allowed to express an opinion
about a matter of public interest.
a. Reviews of television, movies, music, plays,
concerts, restaurants, athletic contests, and the
performance of elected officials.
b. There must be real public interest in the matter.
c. The comment must be a matter of opinion, not an
allegation of fact.
 “Fair comment” rule

d. The opinion must be based on certain facts that

must be stated.
e. Satire generally is not libelous providing it is clear
to the audience that it is a satire and should not be
understood as serious fact.

Students under the age of 18 may be sued for libel.

The reporter, photographer, or artist may be sued,
as well as the editor for approving the work.
 All material is automatically copyrighted once
it is produced, even without a formal
registration of the copyright.
 Almost all creative work can be copyrighted,
including newspapers, yearbooks, magazines,
photographs, ads, plays, and sound
recordings.
 News or facts cannot be copyrighted, but the
collection of those facts into a news story can
be copyrighted.
 Part of a copyrighted work may be
reproduced without permission under the fair
use law
 the use is for a nonprofit educational purpose
it doesn’t affect the potential sales market
it doesn’t reproduce a substantial portion of the
work
 Writers can use experts from books, plays,
columns, music, or similar works to review
the work or use as supporting material in an
editorial or story.
 The right to be left alone is not absolute.
Public figures have limited right of privacy.
 One form of invasion of privacy is intrusion
into a person’s solitude or into his or her
private area activities.
 Publication of private facts about a person
that would be offensive to a reasonable
person and of no legitimate concern of the
public.
 Misappropriation is the use of a person’s
name, likeness, or endorsement without the
person’s consent – often to sell a product.
 A school paper, like all newspapers, should
observe accuracy, fairness, and good taste in
reporting events.

 No story should be based on rumor, gossip,

or unattributed opinion.

 Obscenity should be absolutely tabooed from

the school paper.
 All forms of biases should be avoided: race,
color, religious beliefs, class, sexual
orientation.

 Innocent persons should not be portrayed

falsely or exposed to ridicule.

 Printed pictures should not offend the

sensibility of readers.
 Accuracy, truthfulness, objectivity

 Professional secrecy

 Fairness and honesty in gathering the news

 Protecting juveniles and women involved in

sex offenses
 Respect for privacy or for private reputation

 Decency, courtesy, and good taste

 Honorable and honest means of livelihood

 Personal behavior, manners

 Also called a style guide or style sheet

 Set of rules mainly in punctuation,

abbreviation, syllabication, use of figures,
capitalization, and spelling

 Used for the sake of consistency, personality,

and professionalism
 Internal rules and policies of the newspaper

 The school paper’s implementing rules and

guidelines

 Set of principles consistently pursued and

regularly reviewed by every batch
 The Internet began to be developed in the
1960s as scientists started using independent
computer networks that could convey
information in the event of a nuclear
holocaust.
 The Net became popular in the early 1990s
when commercial services such as
CompuServe, Prodigy, and America Online
made access to it available to anyone with a
computer and modem.
 The development of hypertext links, or easy
ways to make connections from one article to
another, allows access to newspapers,
magazines, government reports, census data,
and other information – millions and millions
of words, pictures, and sounds about
everything under the sun.
 The Internet has changed the way s news is
presented and read.

 Space is no longer a problem, making news

longer, and even trivial.
 News stories used to be simply linear – read
from beginning to end.

 Today, readers may continue until they find a

link that interest them, at which point they
leave the original story and go surfing for
related information.
 Online publications offer links to restaurant
reviews, travel tips, e-mail addresses of
columnists and editorial writers so readers
can provide feedback, and even community
forums where readers can debate and discuss
ideas – such as the pork barrel scandal.
 Databases all over the world are accessible to
wired journalists, provided by private sources
and governments.

 Listservs bring people together who are

interested in the same subject, including
many high school and college journalists.

 With all the information accessible, the trick

is making sure it’s true.
 It’s not clear whether newspapers’ future lies
in providing information online.

 Newspapers online are having difficulty

turning a profit.

 The online publication is just a start.

 More and more Netizens are being born
everyday!