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The Tower Pulse - Sept. 10, 2018At the end of my junior year, I was selected to represent Michigan at the Al Neuharth Free Spirit Journalism Conference in Washington DC. It was a valuable experience that allowed me to learn so much about journalism in our nation's capital, especially in today's political environment. A major focus of the program was on the First Amendment and freedom of the press. Along with meeting with professional journalists, we learned more about what it means to be a professional journalist. We had the opportunity to tour the Capitol as journalists, to dive into the history of the media's relationship with the government and the way it works today. We spent a day in a real courtroom: we worked with real lawyers, learned about how the judicial system works and how journalists play a role in that system. Free Spirit not only taught me more about journalism and the First Amendment, but taught me to appreciate, utilize and understand my role in protecting those rights for myself and my country.
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Vol. 90 Issue 7 - Oct. 25, 2017As a journalist, I think it's incredibly important to educate readers about the first amendment rights we share as American citizens. I am proud of my school for taking the initiative to educate not only journalism students, but a larger portion of the student body, as Government is a required course. Covering this topic is important to me because it shows readers and administration how important these classes are.
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Anonymous Online CommentsRecently, an in-depth feature and editorial about issues in our district with the school board, administration and and district officials was published by The Tower. Obviously, posting these pieces online and sharing them on Facebook opened them up to a lot of responses from the community. Due to the sensitivity of the articles, many of the comments were submitted anonymously and contained potentially libelous statements. As the web Editor in Chief, I was the one reviewing each comment. I feel that online comments are like informal letters to the editor, and that if someone has something to say, we should be able to contact them. Adding a rule about anonymity to our guidelines sets clear guidelines for our editors and readers as well.
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