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Riding public transport armed with a wobbly TV-shaped cardboard frame and loud voices, a group of youngVenezuelanactivists have found a novel way to transmitnews, in a country where space has shrunk for stories about hardship and protests.

Traditional media have become more cautious in covering Venezuela's political crisis, and half the population have limited or no access to the internet.

So in early May, Claudia Lizardo, a 29-year-old creative director, decided to spread the word about what was happening in her country in a very direct manner.

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Realizing that other passengers on thebusesshe travels on were ill-informed about subjects she considers important, Lizardo and four friends began boarding the vehicles and readingnews bulletins, their faces framed by a mockup of a TV screen.

Despite participating in protests against President Nicolas Maduro's government, Lizardo's team says the goal of the project dubbed "BusTV" is to produce fact-basednewscasts toreachpeople tired of the high-pitched biases in other media.

"We want this to survive, that's why we have a respectful approach that doesn't look for confrontation with anybody," said Laura Castillo, one of the team "broadcasting" twice a week onbuses.

Members of the team must not wear political slogans on their clothes, respond to comments from their audience, or attribute blame to either side for the violence that has so far killed 68 people in the protests since April.

Focusing on routes that wind through the poorest neighborhoods in Caracas, Lizardo's crew talk about the protests and shortages but also report Maduro's views, along with sports successes and recipes for meals that can be made with cheap, available ingredients.

"The reaction is overwhelmingly positive," Lizardo said before one such ride. "For a long time in Venezuela, we have not had exposure to simple, honest information."

Members of an artistic group perform a "TV news show" on a public transportation bus in Caracas, Venezuela, June 10, 2017. The cutout reads "The Bus TV". Ivan Alvarado/Reuters

The model, which harks back to the "town-criers" roots ofnews broadcasts, is a world away from 21st century digital social media, but its directness may have struck a chord in Venezuela.

Another group ofjournalistshas replicated the initiative in the states of Carabobo and Anzoategui, in the center and east of the country, and BusTV, as Lizardo's group is known, says groups in other regions are planning to follow their lead.

"It is a way of opening people's eyes," said Rosalba Paredes, 66, a housewife listening to the BusTV crew in Caracas.

According to a study by media freedom group Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, between 2005 and 2015 more than 100 media organizations were taken off the air or censured in Venezuela.

The government says all the sanctions against the media have been because of violations to media regulation rules such as those prohibiting the incorrect use of violent images.

And private media have a history of hostility towards the ruling "Chavista" movement, including open support for a short-lived 2002 coup against Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez.

"Clearly, the government has the upper hand in communication, it has the power, money and capacity to inform," added Castillo, 41. "(BusTV) is a microscopic activity, but everything big starts tiny."

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Bus TV is Venezuelan Journalists' New Weapon Against Media Censorship - Newsweek

After a drive to the Berkeley Carteret, Collin and Deanna get settled in before the dinner and dancing start. Deanna Carraher, who has Down Syndrome and is going to her Freehold Twp. prom with Collin Bitsko, a former football and lacrosse standout who now plays lacrosse in college. (Photo: Peter Ackerman)Buy Photo

It's been hot hot hot this week, so here aresome of the hottest trending school stories around the Jersey Shore.

Censorship of a pro-Trump T-shirt?

The lesson in Wall High School is that if you don't like a political statement in a student's yearbook photo, don't Photoshop it away. Now a teacher is suspended and school administrators are seeking answers.

Don't miss this story, which went viral on Monday after news organizations across the nation picked it up and ran with it.

A prom story for a girl with Down syndrome

Freehold Township senior Deanna Carraher has Down syndrome and needed a prom date. Collin Bitsko is a lacrosse star who fulfilled her wishes. For theinclusive millennial generation, their pairing is natural.

"People now are willing to go the extra mile to make everyone feel included, and thats great," said a friend of Deanna's.

A Trenton intervention

The state Assembly passed a bill that wouldgive the Monmouth County superintendent of schools the power to make the Colts Neck school district, rather than the Tinton Falls schooldistrict, responsible for educating about 60 children of military familieswho live at Earle.

Tinton Falls Board of Education President Peter Karavites said the currentarrangement no longer works because their schools have become overcrowded while Colts Neck's have not.

"Blackface" photo creates stir in Brick

A middle school student covered his face in athletic eye black during a celebration, and whileteachers did not react, one parent did.

"I dont think he knew what he was doing," said Brick momAimee VanDuyne, who is white and has three children who are black.

The incident has spurred hard conversations about racism and racial sensitivity in the school district.

In other news:

APP business writer Michael Diamond tells us what we should have learned in college, but probably didn't.

Some Jersey Shore student writers won big at the APP Student Voices awards. "Student Voices is our opportunity to celebrate the academic achievements of young students," said Hollis R. Towns, Gannett New Jersey Regional Editor & Vice President/News. "We often celebrate sports and music but its rare that we invest as much as we should in academics, so Im extremely proud of this program."

State Sen. Jennifer Beck in an APP op-ed tells us to keep a close eye on school funding talks. "Over the next several weeks, a new plan for school funding will be debated in Trenton," she writes.

One lucky Toms River high school student won a car in the district's second annualDriven to Excellence program, a character-building effort. Here's how it works.

That's all for this week. Have a wonderful weekend.

Amanda Oglesby: 732-557-5701; aoglesby@GannettNJ.com

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School Scoop: Trump, censorship and race in schools - Asbury Park Press

Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Tri-Cities, and as a news reporter here in North Carolina, I thought I would "listen" to the scanner I use as the normal course of work I am engaged in. I was surprised when I had programmed the channels publicly available into my scanner corresponding to those "licensed" by the Federal Communications Commission to Sullivan County, Tennessee, and I heard NOTHING!

I saw emergency vehicles in the normal course of daily activities but heard NO calls from either a "dispatch" center or an individual vehicle. I saw an ambulance running emergency traffic, and I saw a Johnson City Police car stopped with another vehicle in an apparent traffic stop. On Friday, I spoke with an official at Washington County Emergency Services, who told me that he knew all local emergency communications in Sullivan County were "encrypted" or "blocked" which is overreach of local officials and bothers me as someone who lives by the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment including free speech!

I understand this newspaper published a news story about six months ago concerning this issue. Folks, this is plain censorship of the public airways! It should NOT be tolerated!

I am surprised at the folks who feel they can do this and somehow show their face to the public or work for better relations between the police and the public!

Sullivan County, you have a lot going for you. Don't continue to mess it up with overreach and excessive control of the "public" airways. Fix this censorship immediately!

The government belongs to ALL people, NOT a few employed by the government!

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LETTER: An unseen kind of censorship - Bristol Herald Courier (press release) (blog)

By Fred Mazelis 14 June 2017

The corporate and right-wing attacks on the production of Julius Caesar by the Public Theater, part of the annual free Shakespeare in the Park season in New York Citys Central Park, illustrate the danger of artistic censorship and more generally that of authoritarianism posed by the Trump administration.

Directed by Oskar Eustis, who is also the artistic director of the Public Theater, this Julius Caesaris staged with unmistakable allusions to the current occupant of the White House. Caesar (Gregg Henry) is portrayed as an egomaniac who needs constant adulation. This Caesar has a love of glitz, including a gold bathtub. He is dressed in a blue suit and has a shock of blond hair and the trademark Trump comb-over. His wife Calpurnia (Tina Benko) has a Slavic accent and the style and appearance of Melania Trump. His son Octavius (Robert Gilbert) is portrayed as a callow Jared Kushner-type figure.

The Trumpian depiction of Caesar, combined with a graphic, bloody scene of his assassination, has provoked outrage among Trumps ultra-right supporters. Breitbart News and the Fox and Friends television show have focused on it. Donald Trump, Jr. tweeted, I wonder how much of this art is funded by taxpayers.

The reaction was almost immediate. The Public Theater in fact receives most of its funding from giant corporate sponsors, not from public sources. A number of the most prominent funders issued statements disavowing the production, although none of them had uttered a word of complaint, through its weeks of previews, until the right-media campaign began.

Delta Airlines announced that the production does not reflect Delta Airlines values and that the artistic and creative direction crossed the line on standards of good taste. Bank of America, the lead corporate sponsor for the past 11 years, declared that the production had been designed to provoke and offend and, had this intention been made known to us, we would have decided not to sponsor.

American Express joined the chorus, explaining, We would like to clarify that our sponsorship of the Public Theater does not fund the production of Shakespeare in the Park, nor do we condone the interpretation of the Julius Caesar play.

As Deltas employees and passengers know full well, the airlines values have nothing to do with anything but the ruthless drive for profit. The company would prefer to stay off Trumps enemies list. The reactions of financial and corporate management are a direct reflection of the atmosphere being whipped up under this administration.

Even more ominous than the actions of the corporate sponsors was the reaction of the National Endowment for the Arts, the federal agency that funds arts institutions large and small around the US. Trumps budget proposes to eliminate funding for the NEA entirely. The agency issued a brief statement on its website two days ago stating, No taxpayer dollars support Shakespeare in the Parks production of Julius Caesar.

The implication could hardly be clearer. If Congress sees its way to continuing the funding of the NEA, the agencys leadership will ensure that nothing is done to offend the neo-fascistic billionaire in the White House.

As many critics and Shakespeare scholars have pointed out, Julius Caesar does not in fact present the assassination of the Roman tyrant in a favorable light. Harvard professor Stephen Greenblatt explained that a major theme of the play was that the elimination of a dictator could bring an end to the very republic youre trying to save.

In a statement posted on its website, the Public Theater announced that it stands completely behind our production of JULIUS CAESAR. Our production of JULIUS CAESAR in no way advocates violence towards anyone. Shakespeare's play, and our production, make the opposite point: those who attempt to defend democracy by undemocratic means pay a terrible price and destroy the very thing they are fighting to save. For over 400 years, Shakespeares play has told this story and we are proud to be telling it again in Central Park.

This is hardly the first time that Julius Caesar and other Shakespearean tragedies and history plays have been presented in topical or contemporary guise. The famous 1937 production of Julius Caesar directed by the 22-year-old Orson Welles featured a Caesar modeled on Benito Mussolini. Shakespeare himself wrote plays that were unmistakable in their contemporary political references, although these were never expressed directly. Julius Caesar was written in the final years of the reign of Elizabeth I, and Shakespeares career was bound up with the social and political conflicts that would erupt several decades later in the English civil war.

James Shapiro in 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, as we have noted on the WSWS, draws a connection between intense political repression under the aging queen and the writing of Julius Caesar, about which he asserts, ironically in light of the present controversy, No play by Shakespeare explores censorship and silencing so deeply as the one he was writing during these months in 1599.

Topical interpretations such as the Public Theaters run the risk of obviousness, of course. Although there is a satirical element in the Central Park production, there is also something too easy and limited in the allusions to Trump.

Needless to say, however, the Public Theaters right-wing critics are not in the least concerned with the productions artistic qualities. The purpose of their campaign is intimidation, and such behavior has been directed not only at the theater. For Breitbart and similar sources, moreover, there is no contradiction between making free speech claims when protests against provocateurs like Milo Yiannopoulos occur, and then demanding clampdowns in the case of such events as the production of Julius Caesar.

The current controversy also calls attention to American capitalisms scandalous treatment of the arts. Public spending and subsidies, never generous, have been continuously cut and now face the threat of complete elimination. Over the last several decades theater, art, music and dance have become increasingly dependent upon the largesse of multimillionaire donors and corporate philanthropy. The Julius Caesar production shows how rapidly corporate donations can evaporate, and the implications of reliance on such sources of funding.

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Attempt at censorship in reaction to New York's Public Theater production of Julius Caesar - World Socialist Web Site

USA Today Network Mike Davis, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press Published 9:31 p.m. ET June 12, 2017 | Updated 23 hours ago

Grant Berardo, a Wall High School junior, saw his image digitally altered with a plain black T-shirt in his yearbook. Mike Davis

Wall Township High School junior Grant Berardo's T-shirt was digitally altered in the school's yearbook. He wore a Donald Trump campaign shirt for his portrait.(Photo: Courtesy of Joseph Berardo, Jr.)

WALL, N.J. The Wall High School teacher and adviser of the yearbook club has been suspended due to alleged censorship of images and quotes by students supporting President Trump.

Superintendent Cheryl Dyer said Monday that the teacher, who she declined to name, was suspended "pending further disciplinary action" from the school board.

On the high school's website, the yearbook club's adviser is listed as Susan Parsons. According to public records, she collected an$87,950 salary last year.

"I don't have definitive answers to all of my questions yet, but I knew enough at this point to get board approval to take that action," Dyer said.

Related:

Teen's Trump T-shirt censored in yearbook photo

Fact check: No, Neil Gorsuch didnt start a fascism club in high school

Dyer declined to identify what disciplinary action could be taken. Termination would require the board to file tenure charges against her.

According to her LinkedIn page, Parsons has worked in the district for 15 years.

On her yearbook class's website within the district homepage, Parsonsincludes "photo editing" as one of the "real world skills" that students learn during yearbook production.

She did not return a call to her home seeking comment.In an interview with the New York Post, she said we have never made any action against any political party.

But when asked if she knew who altered the photos, Parsons simply said, Im going to hang up.

Wall Township High School junior Grant Berardo's T-shirt was digitally altered in the school's yearbook. He wore a Donald Trump campaign shirt for his portrait.(Photo: Courtesy of Joseph Berardo, Jr.)

There have been three reported instances of censorship in the yearbook, all revolving around students supporting Trump.

Grant Berardo, a junior at the school, took his school pictures wearing a navy blue "Make America Great Again" shirt from the campaign. But in the yearbook, his photo had been digitally altered so it resembled a nondescript black T-shirt, which you can see in the video at top of the story.

It was Photoshopped," Grant said in an interview on Friday. "I sent it to my mom and dad, just like You wont believe this. I was just overall disappointed.

"I like Trump, but its history too. Wearing that shirt memorializes the time," he said.

According to CNN, a brother and sister at the school also alleged censorship. Wyatt Debrovich-Fago wore a sweater vest in his picture with a Trump campaign logo, but it was seemingly cropped out of the photo.

His sister, Montana, served as president of the school's freshman class. That role usually comes with a quote next to a picture, and Montana selected: "I like thinking big. If you are going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big."

"I want to know who thought it was OK to do this," Janet Dobrovich-Fago, the teens' mother, told CNN. "I want the school to seek disciplinary action and to be held accountable."

In a statement released Sunday night, Wall school board President Allison Connolly said the board "found the allegations of wrongdoing disturbing and take the charge that students have had their free speech rights infringed upon very seriously."

Wall High School(Photo: File photo)

In a previous interview, Dyer saidthe only reason a student's image would be altered isif itwasin violation of the dress code clothing referencingdrugs, alcohol or violence. Political messages are "absolutely not" a violation, she said.

A spokesman for Jostens, the companythat takes the photographs and prints the yearbooks, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

It's not immediately clear whether the change was made by someone from the school district or photography company.

In an interview, Joseph BerardoJr. Grant's father called for the school to recall the yearbooks and reissue new ones with the unaltered photo. He said he would consider legal action if that doesnt happen.

From my perspective, I dont understand the censorship, Berardo said.I think it was probably politically motivated. It was inherently offensive to somebody and they made a decision to Photoshop it and without discussion, which is the worst part."

The problem would be "equally" as egregious if images of clothing supporting Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton also had been altered, Berardo said.

What are you doing? Dont you go to school to debate this stuff at the collegiate level, at the high school level, asked Berardo. Whats frustrating to me is that this was the first election he took interest in, but what message did the school send?

Follow Mike Davis on Twitter:@byMikeDavis

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NJ teacher suspended over Trump yearbook censorship - USA TODAY