In the three years that I’ve been a student journalist, every text, conversation or interview I’ve had with a fellow teen reporter has dealt with a common thread: censorship.
A principal stifled a story about a cafeteria that had never met fire regulations. A school newspaper was barred from writing about recent book bans. Student journalists were told they could not interview teachers at their school without explicit permission from the district communications director.
In New York and across the country, adults are censoring or stifling the voices of student journalists based on local politics or fear of tarnishing a school’s image. This is a dangerous trend — and a common one in our current national discourse. It comes at a time when college campuses across the country are similarly engulfed in debates over free speech. We see this status quo infecting school boards and state legislatures, and we see it in the way professional reporters are treated.
Tolerance and respect for differing views on race, sexual orientation and political parties are needed now more than ever to ease drastic polarization and division across our nation. But how can teens learn to value others’ perspectives when student journalists are barred from reporting on sensitive topics in their own communities?
Censorship for the purpose of image upkeep is antithetical to good journalism education and, more broadly, to democracy.
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Student journalists could be part of the solution, which is why my peers throughout New York State and I stand behind a bill designed to protect the First Amendment rights of those not yet eligible to vote.
The bill, sponsored by New York democrats Assemblymember Donna Lupardo and Senator Brian Kavanagh, clearly defines unprotected speech, protects student newspaper and yearbook advisers from retribution by administrators and shields schools from liability for expression in student media, distinctly separating such expression from school policy.
Similar legislation is already helping student journalists in 18 other states (including Minnesota as of May 19). These laws, known nationally as New Voices, counteract the vague censorship guidelines established by the Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier.
Without New Voices laws, students are taught to accept favorable narratives blindly, instead of seeking the truth. And their readers develop a false sense of what is news, especially at publications in schools where the administration prefers to showcase positivity rather than sincerity. When students are taught to ignore stories that are based on facts, they won’t be as prepared for the rigors of critical thinking in college.
Students at Binghamton High School are fighting to establish the right to focus on facts at their school newspaper, Polaris Press. They have requested that it be recognized by the administration as a “public forum for student expression,” wording that aligns with the Hazelwood ruling. If granted, the change would appear to give the paper stronger first amendment protections locally, so that it can operate with editorial independence (and the guidance of their adviser) — and clearly reflect the views and interests of the schools’ students.
The staff want to write about climate change, gun violence in nearby districts and issues surrounding immigration. Yet, currently, all of their work is subject to prepublication review by their administration before their reporting can be printed.
This review process led to indirect censorship last fall when the September issue wasn’t approved until mid-October. Students say the administrators took issue with wording in the publication’s founding statement, which highlighted the Polaris staff’s aims to provide “wholly truthful” content to their peers. The editors eventually changed the wording, but the hold-up made what was once newsworthy irrelevant for a print-only publication — a five-week delay, for example, of coverage of gunshots heard at a varsity away game in early September.
In my view, prioritizing positivity over tackling controversial topics turns student journalists into public relations specialists.
Related: The magic pebble and a lazy bull: The book ban movement has a long timeline
My high school’s yearbook in Corning, New York, for which I am currently a reference section staffer, is free from prior review and censorship. Both our superintendent, Michelle Caulfield, and executive principal, Robin Sheehan, enthusiastically support our freedom and the New Voices legislation, as does my yearbook adviser, Michael Simons, a key leader in New Voices New York since 2017.
As a student media publication, our yearbook is considered part of our school’s scholastic journalism program. My fellow student journalists and I have covered depression, sexual health, school safety and the dress code, along with hunting and gun ownership. And our award-winning yearbook is widely regarded as one of the best in the country.
New York City high schools provide other examples of accountability/investigative journalism. The Spectator at Stuyvesant High School reported on climate change, the overturning of affirmative action and the impact of co-ed swim gym on Muslim girls. The Classic, the newspaper at Townsend Harris High School in Queens, reported on the national blood shortage and on sexual health programs in New York City schools.
The rules that student journalists operate under in New York State vary by district — the threat of censorship is often based on the sensitivities of school administrators, the power of the superintendent and the seniority of the school’s journalism adviser.
Freedom of speech cannot be so subjective. Restricting student press freedom is the first step toward limiting journalist inquiry and will erode our democracy.
Nationally, the New Voices’ bills will strengthen our schools and empower student journalists by providing them with adequate protections to speak truth and to think for themselves.
Call your legislators and urge them to pass the Student Journalist Free Speech Act. Free speech must continue to flourish in and outside the classroom walls.
Adelaide Barlow is a student journalist on the Tesserae Yearbook staff at Corning-Painted Post High School in Corning, New York, and a New Voices New York advocate.
This story about student newspaper censorship was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up forHechinger’s newsletter.
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In the three years that I’ve been a student journalist, every text, conversation or interview I’ve had with a fellow teen reporter has dealt with a common thread: censorship. A principal stifled a story about a cafeteria that had never met fire regulations. A school newspaper was barred from writing about recent book bans. Student
The post STUDENT VOICE: Adults must stop censoring student newspapers. New York has a bill that would stop this dangerous practice appeared first on The Hechinger Report. Opinion, Student Voices, high school, Law and policy, teachers The Hechinger Report
