Provoking thought... our daily responsibility

My buddy Mark Newton passed on this link today, which is related to the Tucson shootings but focuses on one of the very bedrock principles of free expression. The writer's argument defending free speech, while challenging those who exercise free speech to stand by what they express, is an essential part of journalism education. We need to push our students to carefully consider their views before they publish, and then to stand strongly behind their considered views.

In class, we might discuss the difference between a rapidly constructed tweet and a reasoned blog entry. One is the equivalent of an off-the-cuff comment in the lunchroom, while the other is one of the treasured outcomes of true education. Which of those forms of expression are we more likely to stand behind when confronted with opposition? We need to share these sorts of opinion pieces with our students, not to pressure them to believe some point of view in particular, but to get them to value good writing and how it can be achieved. It is important, of course, to find balance in these examples, so you might add in this link to the discussion, which comments on the Tucson shootings and Sarah Palin but from a different direction.

The key question is always: "How did the writer use language to make her point?"