By Kelsea Schafer: article response to question: “If you were given unlimited funding and support how would you apply it to a current initiative you are working on, or a problem you wish to address in your community?”
Written April 2024
The first amendment of the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution is commonly known as the “Freedoms.” Freedom of speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Assembly, the right to petition the government, and another one that the Founding Fathers wanted to ensure was free. Yet, it is not. The Freedom of the Press is defined as a fundamental right given to newspapers, magazines, and media organizations to investigate, report, and publish without fear of censorship by the government. However, in 1988, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier that school administrators can censor student publications sponsored by the school when “reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.” This vague standard has been interpreted to mean just about anything, and for more than a generation, administrators have engaged in subjective and arbitrary censorship without an articulable “pedagogical concern.” Censored stories often address issues adults don’t want to discuss, are critical of the school administration, expose scandals in the school, or just make the school “look bad” (The Student Press Law Center). The United States Government has held an amendment for over two hundred years granting the right to free journalism, yet it stops at the school door.
If I had access to unlimited resources to support a cause I believe in, I would lobby state legislatures and governments to enact the New Voices Law, which protects student journalists and their sponsors from censorship, retaliation, and disciplinary action from any student newspaper, yearbook, or other media organization. However, only eighteen states out of the fifty have passed the New Voices law, while the remaining thirty-two, students and their advisors are susceptible to retaliation over what they publish. Across the country, universities and schools are punishing their students over what they publish. While defamation and slander are not excusatory, the Student Press Law Center identifies that the “New Voices laws ensure that student media can only be censored if that media is libelous or slanderous, contains an unwarranted invasion of privacy, violates state or federal law, or incites students to disrupt the orderly operation of a school” (Student Press Law Center). My efforts have remained constant as I have previously inquired with the governor of the state of Alabama, Kay Ivey, and reached out to U.S. Senators for their assistance in enacting the New Voices legislation. If I were to have unlimited funding and resources for an initiative, without a doubt I would work towards ensuring that every student journalist and their advisors at secondary and post-secondary schools are protected from disciplinary action or retaliation. When schools censor student journalists from publishing what is journalistic, it is censorship, and left unnoticed can exacerbate the issue to unknown depths. The New Voices laws need to be enacted to protect not only the future and foundation of journalism but also the new voices that aspire to become them. With that being said, my efforts remain unwavering and I intend to continue lobbying the government to enact the Laws. https://splc.org/new-voices-talking-points-2/