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ARKANSAS
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PRESS
Publisher Weekly
Save the Date for the 2019 APA Advertising Conference
Vol. 13 | No. 49 | Thursday, December 6, 2018
ASSOCIATION
Serving Press and State Since 1873
Springdale Har-Ber High School paper controversy puts spotlight on state law
After a public outcry and demands from journalism organizations across the country, the Springdale School District this week reversed course on its decision to censor articles written by student journalists at Har-Ber High School. The controversy, first reported by BuzzFeed News, involved the HarBer Herald’s investigation into football players transferring from Har-Ber to rival Springdale. The lead article about the transfers was referred to as “extremely divisive and disruptive” by the school’s superintendent, Dr. Jim Rollins.
While that may have been the case, the Har-Ber Herald should still have been allowed to publish the article, said John Robert Schirmer, publisher of two southwest Arkansas papers and former publications adviser at Nashville High School. “I believe that the Arkansas Student Publications Act allows the Har-Ber students to do exactly what they’ve done, even if their stories cause some to feel
uncomfortable,” Schirmer said. “They are acting within the provisions of Arkansas law.”
Schirmer was part of a working group of student publications advisors and others in the industry who came together in 1994 to help draft the Arkansas Student Publications Act. The law, enacted in 1995, specifically permits school papers to freely exercise their rights to expression, with very few exceptions. Among the exceptions are obscenity, libel or slander,
an unwarranted invasion of privacy, or publications that incite students to break the law or school rules. At the time, Arkansas was one of only
six states to have enacted such a law. Currently, there are 14 states that have student publications protections, according to the Student Press Law Center. The impetus for the Arkansas Student Publications Act was the censorship of several student papers across the state in the early 1990s, Schirmer said. He mentioned one Little Rock school’s student newspaper was yanked out of the distribution racks by administrators. Bill Downs, who was chairman of the Ouachita Baptist University journalism department, Dr. Bruce Plopper of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Schirmer and others were in the group that drafted the proposed legislation. Then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker signed the bill into law the following year. “It is important for student journalists to have the right to deal with controversial subjects as they report the news in their schools,” Schirmer said. “At the time we worked on the law, Downs was also the executive director of the Arkansas
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Baxter Bulletin announces promotions on advertising staff The advertising manager for the Baxter Bulletin in Mountain Home has been promoted to a regional sales director position for Gannett and one of the newspaper’s account executives will now fill the ad manager role, the publication recently announced.
for the Gannett properties in Jackson, Hattiesburg and Mountain Home.
Adrianne Dunn, who was ad manager for the paper for five years, will now work from the organization’s Jackson, Mississippi, office where she will oversee sales
In an article published in the Baxter Bulletin, Wooten was quoted as saying: “I am excited to take the reins from Adrianne and lead the team. With our LOCALiQ
Amanda Wooten, a Baxter Bulletin account executive since 2007, has taken over as new ad manager in Mountain Home.
rebrand, we are more sophisticated than ever, and no one can match our capabilities and expertise. I look forward to continuing to grow our team to help create successful marketing campaigns for our clients, as well as build more relationships throughout the community. It is also exciting to continue working with Adrianne. She will still be heavily involved with the Baxter Bulletin, and that is a huge asset to us.” Continued on Page 2