Teaching press law another way

by Deb Buttleman Malcolm MJE

How much power does a five foot ten inch mouse who can’t say a word have to energize students t6 take control over their knowledge of the First Amendment? If the mouse is Chuck E Cheese the force is with him.

Cheese the Celebrity (Public Figure) Mouse owner of Pizza Restaurants that cater to kids throughout the Midwest was a special guest at Davenport Central (Iowa) Sixth Annual Journalism All Cultural Achievement Academy (ACAP) to help introduce a new press rights curriculum to elementary and middle school students. He did it with an interview that wasn’t.

“ As part of Chuck’s copyright he can’t talk,” Renetra Muskeyvalley a six year counselor who is a journalism major at University of Minnesota said. Muskeyvalley arranged for Cheese’s visit through her father who is a manager with the chain. “The students were really excited about the visit and as good journalist prepared lots of questions,” she said.

Students were to do an on the spot writing based on interview that could be a news, feature or personality profile. The catch was that everything in the story had to be true, include direct and indirect quotes. The scenario played as counselor Lindsey Tinnell who will enter the University of Iowa this fall, answered questions for Cheese who didn’t say a word.

Enter Lyonal Legal, the First Amendment Super Hero, invented by journalism students for Scholastic Journalism Week. “Hold the Presses,” shouted Legal played by Steve Detlefs, a soon to be senior at Central, as he demanded to know just what was going on with this unusual interview and just who Tinnell was to be answering for a Mouse she didn’t know.

Editor in Chief Jim Crossen quickly came on the scene to help Legal explain rights, responsibility, ethics privacy, libel, and checking sources. After all, the only one who really knew Cheese was Muskeyvalley and she wasn’t being asked anything.

Crossen's job was to reinforce by repeating Legal’s answers, and question if some of things said by Tinnell could be used including information about Cheese’s female friends who sometimes appear at the restaurant . When Muskeyvalley was later interviewed, Crossen reinforced the difference in statements with emphasis on libel and hearsay of second hand information. With that, students were sent to computer and within 30 minutes copy was due.

“ It was easy to see how much students learned about rights and responsibilities by reading their copy,” Crossen said. “They (the students) did really well, I wish it was this easy to make first year j-write students understand what they should be doing to check a story.”

While press law units are the norm in scholastic journalism high school curriculum perhaps there is a better way to get the point of Freedom of Expression and First Amendment Rights across than tough tests and research papers.

Make your own Dr Seus characters and rhymes. During Scholastic Journalism Week Central super heroes such as Legal, Timmy Tinker, Trina Truth, Emily Evidence , Peter Zenger and Ken the Copy Right Knight took on arch villains Arnold Authority, Laura Libel, Cindy Censorhip, Peter Plagiarism and Hazel Wood to save Phillis Focus, Mr Lead and his copy and Penny Press. All in full costume for the day the first year journalists not only entertained elementary students at Dr Seus’s Birthday Party with there lessons in rhyme they had a fund raiser. At lunch they became living statues who were required to perform every time another student put a quarter in the cup in from of them. Crowds gathered around the students who were spread out across the cafeteria.

“It was amazing to see students who often could care less about class paying to learn about First Amendment and press law issues,” Joe Thomas, Business Manager of the BlackhawK, said.

It’s never too soon or too teach the basics of freedom of expression and First Amendment Rights and responsibilities in regard to Civil Liberties to any student and costuming for a creative session is readily available. The Yankee Doodle Newspaper Hats were used to talk about Free Speech and Rights, but also areas of unprotected speech and laws.

When journalism students taught special needs students to make the hats that were later offered to all students to help Celebrate Scholastic Journalism Week some teachers objected saying a rule is a rule and the school had a no hat rule.