What are the most important characteristics of a high school newspaper adviser?

Answer 1

A high school newspaper adviser has to be open to ideas presented by the student staff; (s)he must be supportive - sometimes even at the displeasure of school administrators - and there must be balance between the 'radical' ideas students want for the sake of sensationalism and 'sensitive' subjects the students seriously wish to explore.
As a former newspaper publisher, I can relate two incidents in my hometown area that had dramatic impact on two local student newspapers:
One just recently where the journalism adviser allowed her students to publish an article that advocated tolerance of homosexuals. It created a ruckus within the school administration, and the teacher was suspended after much negative publicity. I felt it was wrong, as did many others in our community. The students' article did not condone or condemn homosexuality; it only encouraged others to be more tolerant of such alternative lifestyles. Eventually, the teacher was reinstated, but assigned to a different school and is no longer allowed to be a journalism adviser, which I believe is coward-ism on the part of the school's administrators.
About seven years ago, one of my part-time employees at my community newspaper told me about an incident at his high school where tow girls were being bullied relentlessly by one intimidating, cruel classmate. When the bully was suspended from school, the local daily newspaper gave him front-page coverage, portraying him as a victim and characterizing his actions as harmless pranks; kind of a "boys will be boys" thing.
With the help of my young employee, I was able to get the girls' parents to agree to an in-depth interview, who detailed the mental and emotional trauma their daughters had been through. Because of the threats of law suits, etc., the high school journalism adviser refused to allow anything to be published in the student newspaper. I felt that, too, was an act of coward-ism and sent the wrong message to future journalists. Reporters, columnists, writers and editors cannot be intimidated by the threat of legal actions to the point where they don't cover important and newsworthy events.
Unfortunately, courageous and determined journalists are few and far between today, restricted by their publishers and editors...and that is also the case in many high school newspapers. Journalism advisers, who should be responsible for the nurturing, training and development of good future journalists, often 'wimp out' when push comes to shove. -RKO- 06/30/07

Answer 2

An open mind.

Answer 3

one that doesn't spew liberal propaganda and advocate sick, perverse lifestyles.