Why this bill matters
Role of Student Press: What's at Stake
Educating Future Leaders & Active Citizens of Democracy
Student journalism is a unique educational opportunity through which students understand, on a deeper level, what it means to be active citizens and leaders in our American democracy. Engaging in the complex processes of publishing, from formulating researched and nuanced angles to conducting interview conversations with different individuals, students are able to transform their critical-thinking and communication skills. All the while, the concept of an independent news media as a vital public service and core tenet of a free society — the power and importance of constructive discourse, accountability, transparency — becomes ingrained in student journalists and their peers alike. A study by the University of Kansas found that students who are in the supportive environment of a journalism classroom feel a greater sense of civic efficacy.
Committing to Education Justice
Student journalism represents a critical component of educational equity: centering the voices of students as the primary stakeholders in schools. To address the systemic issues plaguing our schools, each and every student needs to be seen — with dignity, respect and potential. That means empowering student voices, especially when it comes to matters which impact their education and thereby their futures. School publications serve as accessible and inclusive outlets which students can lean on to make their voice count, shed light on their first-hand experiences, and ensure accountability for the better of their learning environments.
Combatting Spread of Misinformation
With Gen-Z growing up in the digital age, students are naturally heavy users of social media, where misinformation runs rampant. School publications carry positive influence on students by not only engaging them in the consumption of credible media but also serving as a point of truth and clarification on matters concerning the school and beyond. Student journalists help facilitate the flow of reliable, accurate information reaching young people through an effective peer-to-peer dynamic.
Filling Gaps of Local Journalism
School publications are devoted to chronicling aspects and affairs pertaining to the student demographic which are otherwise likely to go unreported; According to a 2009 Brookings Institution survey, education news makes up just 1.4% of mainstream media. Student journalists have a particularly unique vantage point, as they are peers of the audience, personally invested and directly immersed in the affairs which they cover, with far deeper insight than any professional journalist when it comes to a school community. Additionally, in many cases, school publications have been filling gaps of local journalism, known as news deserts resulting from the commercial industry’s economic decline; In 2019, The New York Times reported, the University of Michigan’s campus newspaper became a crucial source of news for the Ann Arbor community at-large amid significant cutbacks on local news operations. As such, many student journalists take on the front lines of journalism’s critical service, ensuring not only their campus communities but also their broader local communities are well-informed, represented and chronicled. We believe student journalists are real journalists.
Strengthening School Climate
The work of student journalists is a force for unity and inclusivity within schools. Publications seek to bring together a myriad of stories that span across the whole student body, highlighting and celebrating all kinds of different individuals and facets of their identities—whether teachers, students, parents, alumni, club leaders, athletes, and further. Particularly in this regard, student publications proved to be more vital than ever during the pandemic, accomplishing a sense of normalcy and togetherness within their school communities as they grappled with the uncertainty and extreme disconnect of virtual learning.
Supporting Changemakers
Generation Z is known to be highly socially conscious, questioning the status quo in ways it hasn’t been and mobilizing unprecedented political power around issues largely neglected by generations before us. While society does not always take young people seriously, student publications offer productive spaces where Gen-Z can wholeheartedly channel its social conscience and passion for activism. It is important to have such forums where students can unpack, contextualize and take action on what transpires in the world around us, regardless of age or experience. Through journalism, students develop a strong sense of agency to share their views, spread awareness and spark conversations around issues that matter to them and their communities.
“Journalism is about civics in action... It’s about, how do you make things happen? How do you take issues and address them in your communities? How do you make people care about issues?”
Peter Bobkowski, University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Unwarranted Censorship and the Outcome
What is censorship?
Broadly conceived, censorship is the supervision and suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. In the context of student media, censorship revolves around student journalists being hindered from sharing their work by an employee of the governing educational institution. This can take many different forms, from intimidation to retaliation, including:
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Requiring prior review
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Imposing prior restraint
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Blocking website access
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Confiscating copies of publications
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Removing objectionable material
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Limiting circulation
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Suspending editors
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Withdrawing or reducing financial support
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Firing advisors
What is cause for censorship?
There are various reasons behind such measures. Situations which warrant censorship arise when a publication contains unlawful content (libel, obscenity, etc.) and/or its distribution carries the risk of severely disrupting school. However, in other cases, censorship and administrative encroachment may be rather trivial, to do with personal gain and values. For example, an admin may censor stories solely for touching on sensitive or controversial topics, despite the work upholding the highest professional and ethical standards.
The detriment of unwarranted censorship
Unwarranted censorship is an injustice to student journalists and their communities alike, enforcing an environment of fear and superficiality. After experiencing a censorship conflict, student journalists may internalize a sense of powerlessness and worthlessness. To avoid future conflicts, they also may turn to self-censorship, over the pursuit of truth and creative exploration of the world. Student journalists want to tell the stories that impact their community, both on and off campus. In an age when unchecked social media is rampant, student journalists want to ensure a thoughtful and thorough pursuit of the truths that matter to them and their peers. Yet as we lecture students in class on how to be civic-minded critical thinkers, thirty years of Hazelwood has bred curiosity and confidence out of our students. Today’s new voices are tomorrow’s media leaders and citizens; we cannot afford to stifle them. Censorship silences student voices, squashes creativity and shuts down student-led efforts to identify and solve problems in their community. Our constitution relies on an informed public to keep the government in check. Punishing today’s new voices for their journalism teaches them that censorship, often arbitrary and without limits, is acceptable in our democracy.
"The all too common experience of censorship teaches these student journalists not to challenge authority, not to cover stories that may offend, and worse of all, it has taught them to self-censor their thoughts and ideas. Nothing is more debilitating and harmful than discouraging the civic engagement of our youngest citizens. "
Jane Briggs-Bunting, Former President of Michigan Coalition for Open Government
STUDENTS CAN TALK ABOUT DEPRESSION,
JUST NOT WHERE IT WOULD BE MOST EFFECTIVE
Administrators at an Ann Arbor high school effectively signaled to students that they should keep their depression to themselves when a thoughtful discussion of mental-health issues was blocked from their student newspaper in 2014.
Several students at Community High School had agreed, with written parental permission, to be named in a story confronting the stigma surrounding mental illness that can, with tragic consequences, deter people struggling with depression from seeking professional help.
“Our intentions were to try and get the word out and say, ‘If you have mental illness, there’s no shame in that, and you can talk about it and we can be here for each other,'” editor Madeline Halpert told NPR.
When the school blocked that conversation, Halpert and Eva Rosenfield had to settle publishing their story in The New York Times instead.
Despite the students journalists’ diligence, the school cited concerns about privacy as why they stopped its publication. Administrators told NPR that they supported bringing awareness to mental health issues but just not in the student newspaper.
If a newspaper is not the place for young people to discuss pressing social issues of life-and-death importance, then where is the right place? And who better to encourage struggling students to seek help than their own classmates who have been in their shoes?
Students are talking about serious issues like depression. These conversations can happen in the balanced, accountable, adult-advised pages of a student publication — or they can happen underground, outside of adult earshot. Where adults can’t intervene and help.
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Read Halpert and Rosenfield’s New York Times op-ed to see for yourself how capable these young women are of handling such a sensitive topic
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Hear the editors on NPR’s Weekend Edition explain why they thought this was so important to write about