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Abstract
A Pennsylvania high school newspaper published an editorial in Fall 2013 announcing its decision to cease using the name of the school’s sports teams, Redskins. That decision prompted the local school board to institute a policy giving administrators more editorial control over the newspaper. The controversy resonated with U.S. professional journalists, who followed it as it developed. Using the theoretical framework of journalistic boundary work, this qualitative textual analysis of 94 news articles identifies three main responses: references to professionalism, praise for sound practices, and highlighting the students’ free press rights.
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Author Biographies
Marina A. Hendricks is an instructor in the Journalism and Mass Communication Department at South Dakota State University. Her research focuses on the socialization of journalism students and journalists’ use of social media. Her work has been published in Digital Journalism.
Ryan J. Thomas is an assistant professor of journalism studies at the Missouri School of Journalism. His research on the cultural construction of journalism and the relationship between journalism ethics and processes of change has been published in Journalism Studies, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism Practice, Journal of Media Ethics, and Digital Journalism.
