1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

New Jersey may ban all photos of kids - goodbye art for preps pages

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Small Town Guy, May 9, 2011.

  1. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Semi-topic related, but I have absolutely no idea why, if the school doesn't have all its ducks in a row, it's suddenly your problem. Have a vice-principal at the stage door, forms ready to be signed, if necessary, but this sounds like their problem, not yours.
     
  2. fossywriter8

    fossywriter8 Well-Known Member

    We have a couple elementary schools in our coverage area with similar policies and we try to adhere to them, but in reality, it's not a law and we're not bound to it.
    Sure, the school could ask us to leave and not come back, but then they're out coverage of an event.
    Like I said, our schools with this are elementary schools, so we work with them.
    Never had a high school around here try it, though, but good luck to the high school -- especially a public one -- that tries it.
    Good luck trying to win a PR battle or a court case against a newspaper for telling them who can and cannot be photographed in a public venue.
     
  3. GidalKaiser

    GidalKaiser Member

    Glorious counterpoint.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  4. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    That's the difference, elementary schools. We had the same thing with permisson slips when I worked in Arizona with the school district. One or two are inevitably slip in accidentally, and sometimes we'd catch hell, but what are you going to do? Since I'm not involved with schools coverage here, except for greeting the principal when I see him/her at a game, not sure if that's what the situatiion is here.
     
  5. crusoes

    crusoes Active Member

    We had a cheer coach who objected to every picture we ran in the paper, but complained about lack of coverage, including photos. Somehow, all photos of the girls jumping were somehow exploitative. Not to mention the photos of girls jumping with their legs spread.

    Last year, we solved the problem by not covering cheer at all. Not worth it.
     
  6. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    At all of our schools we do a parent consent form for media pictures. It is tagged to the end of the Code of Conduct and requires its own separate signature.

    Inside of a school, any school, I can see where a person would expect privacy. I have no problem with a parent saying no to the media there.

    Now out on a public playing field, anyone should consider themselves fair game to a camera. And that is any camera. From John Q Public to the NY Post, what is happening on the field is a public event. If anyone can buy a ticket and watch it, then what is happening on the field is fair game for the lens. Don't like it? Don't play.
     
  7. printdust

    printdust New Member

    The fact you covered cheer in the first place is a tragic statement for sports journalism. The only damn cheer coverage should be a calendar.
     
  8. crusoes

    crusoes Active Member

    It was back in the days when we thought it was a reasonable thing to do.
     
  9. Brad Guire

    Brad Guire Member

    So, here's something I don't understand. If a parent has an agreement that the kid can't be photographed while playing a sport, and the agreement is with the school ... uh, how is this the newspaper's problem? There's no agreement between the paper and the parent, right? How does the school enforce this? Does the principal review all the photographer's work before publishing? How does this hold up in court if the parent sues the paper? There's no agreement between paper and parent.

    I do see a situation where a parent gets upset, threatens to sue and the school bans the media ... but this is getting crazy.

    Guess I'm not following because such crazy, overbearing parent antics are actually uncommon where I'm at.
     
  10. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    The photo consent form does not apply to events outside of the school day.

    A sporting event is a public event, just like a School Board meeting or a parade.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page