What’s in a Name? Journalistic Boundary Work and a High School Newspaper’s Effort to Ban “Redskin”

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 co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journalism & mass communication educator 2018-12, Vol.73 (4), p.454-468
Main Authors: Hendricks, Marina A., Thomas, Ryan J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Administrator Role
Boards of Education
Decision Making
Editing
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of the press
High school sports
High School Students
Journalism
Journalism Education
Mascots
News Reporting
Professionalism
School Newspapers
Secondary school students
Student Attitudes
Student Rights
Team Sports
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1077-6958
2161-4326
DOI:10.1177/1077695817736688