Principal Kim Martin, Woodrow Wilson High School, D.C. Public Schools
Chancellor Kaya Henderson, Area Instructional Superintendent Daniel Shea
CC: Beacon co-Editors-in-Chief Erin Doherty and Helen Malhotra
Dear Principal Martin, Chancellor Henderson and Superintendent Shea:
The board of directors of the D.C. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has read with dismay recent articles in The Washington Post about prior review of student journalism at Wilson High School (http://wpo.st/rWcY0 and http://wpo.st/iacY0). We believe that any form of prior review of any news content by school administrators is a policy mistake and respectfully request that The Wilson Beacon never be subject to prior review.
As the local chapter of one of the U.S.’s largest and oldest journalism associations (https://www.spj.org/spjinfo.asp), we strongly believe that student journalists are entitled to the same rights – and obligations – of professional journalists. These rights include being free of any review by non-editorial staffers of any content. When the administration disagrees with a news story or editorial in the Beacon, as some have suggested, it can submit an op-ed commentary to run in that publication.
Many of us fondly recall our past volunteer efforts at middle and high school as well as at college newspapers, and SPJ devotes extensive effort to work with student journalists on ethics, First Amendment and other issues (https://www.spj.org/students.asp). We would be happy to assist Wilson and any other DCPS institution with help in drafting best journalism practices that deal with ethics and prior review, among other issues. We stand ready to help Principal Martin, Wilson and all of DCPS enact more sensible policies than those we have recently read about.
All stakeholders would benefit from a clean break with anything even remotely associated with prior review of student journalism. We look forward to hearing from you about how the policies will change, and about any clarifications to what has been reported. We were advised today that Wilson students will be proposing new policies tomorrow, so we also look forward to learning more about it.
If policy change does not occur, we may collaborate with other journalism associations with which we often ally to further press for change at DCPS generally and at Wilson in particular.
Thank you for your time.
Jonathan Make, SPJ DC director at large, on behalf of the board of directors