Twits and Tweets

How will Twitter change if Musk is in charge?

Much of last week’s non-war news focused on the $44 billion offer Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk made to purchase Twitter, vaguely promising to remove the guard rails that have existed over the last year when Twitter starting flagging and deleting propaganda, conspiracy theories and other misinformation that could harm its users.

Liberals, fearing a takeover by conspiracy theorists on the right, have already started deleting their accounts.

Musk and others all across the political spectrum have criticized Twitter over the past few years for “censoring” content, no matter how outlandish or untruthful they may be. The argument goes that in a “marketplace of ideas,” the answer to bad speech is more good speech, not banning the irresponsible or outlandish.

In principle, that’s a good argument, though private companies are incapable of censorship. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution covers only  government actors who wish to silence voices. In the private sector, it’s called “editing” or “moderating,” whether you agree with the practice or how it’s applied.

In practice, a wide-open marketplace of words, images and ideas can turn toxic and even illegal if it features child pornography, for example, or other unprotected speech. Of course, most student-journalists are more aware of these distinctions than some politicians.

Here’s what you can do:

No matter the future of Twitter, if you choose to keep your account there and you use other social media, keep in mind these best practices for all social media, which should be meaningful to all your audiences:

1. Create professional profiles across platforms.
2. Be grateful — Thank sources, congratulate other journalists.
3. Avoid “Hot Takes” just to fan flames or create controversy.
4. Ask your followers to fact-check your work.
5. Use threads to create story.
6. Ask your audiences for story ideas.
7. Promote your own work and the work of others you deem valuable.
8. Create transparency: Explain some of the difficult decisions you make as journalists and content creators.
9. Show behind the scenes of how the yearbook, your broadcast program or your news staff does their work.
10. Call to action: Give people something actionable, such as “click on this link,” “go to this place.”
11. Have fun.

Union Time?

Classified staff at Kansas high school seek better pay and working conditions in attempt to unionize

If you attend a public school in the U.S. or Canada, chances are your teachers are unionized, and their wages and working conditions are the product of a negotiated agreement between the district and union representatives. Even teachers who don’t join the union in those schools benefit from the negotiated agreement.

At Lawrence High School in Kansas, journalists at The Budget wrote this week about an attempt by the school’s classified staff to seek better pay (they currently earn between $11 and $13 per hour) and better working conditions (time to sit down for lunch, for example).

Here’s what you can do:

The story in the LHS Budget is a great example of how students can localize a national story, in this case the trend of lower-paid workers in the U.S. to discuss unionization, spurred by the April news of an Amazon warehouse in New York City successfully unionizing for better pay and working conditions.

LHS journalists Cuyler Dunn and Arien Roman Rojas, assisted by adviser Barbara Tholen, a former Quill and Scroll scholarship winner, open with a compelling anecdote from a para-educator and then transition into a really effective nut graph:

Recently PAL-CWA has been in negotiations with the district over a wide array of proposals regarding working conditions and recent negotiations have prompted increased concerns from classified workers. Due to the multi-million dollar budget deficit facing Lawrence Public Schools, the future of their jobs, and the future of education as a whole in Lawrence Public Schools has come into question.

The story also includes a bevy of official sources, affected workers and data from the district’s budget and negotiation documents.

How much do the classified staff in your school or district make? Is their pay a livable wage? Or is it more in the $11 to $13/hour range? How do classified staff wages compare to teacher pay? How does classified pay compare to other professions that require similar education and responsibility? How can a person get by on a single full-time job that may pay only $20,000 per year?

The NYT Corps

The Times creates a “talent-pipeline program” for student-journalists from underrepresented groups

Student-journalists at two- and four-year colleges are getting even more access to mentors from The New York Times in a new program the NYT announced Thursday. The Times is specifically setting up journalists from underrepresented groups with mentors in the NYT newsroom.

“Access to quality career guidance is one of the biggest challenges facing students seeking to be journalists. This program is an effort to address that,” Career Programs Director Theodore Kim said in Thursday’s news release.

Any college student-journalist, starting with the class of 2023, may apply if they meet certain criteria defining “underrepresented”: students of color and/or those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Here’s what you can do:

If you’re a senior in high school, and if you plan to major in journalism and/or participate in student media at your college or university, APPLY! Students scheduled to graduate college in 2026 are eligible. And if you don’t make it in this first cycle, try again next spring. The deadline for applications is June 15.