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Students' rights |
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The censorship of student media in the United States is the suppression of student-run news operations' free speech by school administrative bodies, typically state schools. This consists of schools using their authority to control the funding and distribution of publications, taking down articles, and preventing distribution. Some forms of student media censorship extend to expression not funded by or under the official auspices of the school system or college (for example, confiscating independently produced underground publications or imposing discipline for material posted on off-campus websites).
Current legal precedent implies that pupils are not responsible enough to be trusted with constitutional rights and school faculty are allowed to suppress student speech that is deemed to provoke controversy or disrupt learning. Scholars maintain that this type of censorship violates the constitutional right of free speech that young people are afforded under the First Amendment. [1] Opponents of this legal censorship, such as the Student Press Law Center, a non-profit that tracks and provides pro-bono legal aid to student-run media organizations in the U.S, point to the civic and educational value in student expression that is used to organize reform movements and develop political opinions as reasons to encourage unimpeded student journalism. [2]
In 1988, the Supreme Court declared 5-3 that student newspapers do not have the same freedoms and safeguards as professional media. The case was the result of the school administration of Hazelwood East High School in Missouri forbidding the publication of two newspaper stories regarding abortion and divorce in 1983. Cathy Kuhlmeier, a student reporter, claimed that the move violated her First Amendment rights. The Court decided that student newspapers were never meant to be public forums and as a result, administrators began to regulate high school and college periodicals. [3]
In response to the Supreme Court's decision on the Hazelwood, several states have enacted legislation to counteract the ruling and protect school publications from interference. [4] The Student Press Law Center started worked with student journalists to lobby state legislatures to adopt New Voices, a law intended to fortify student journalists' right to free expression. By 2013, the states of Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, and Oregon had all passed the legislation. [5]
Notable cases in the United States include:
The First Amendment protects the people to exercise their rights of free speech as well as the freedom of the press in journalistic practice. [12] Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, schools been allowed to censor speech in student media for “legitimate pedagogical concern”. [1] Because pedagogical concern lacked a clear definition, it was interpreted differently by different people. Some states have passed legislation that strengthens the free speech rights of student journalists by clearly defining when and where school administration can censor student media and protecting school employees from retribution for supporting the free speech rights of student journalists. [13]
Based on interview and survey data, student media topics that are censored include sexual assault, politics, athletics, women’s reproductive rights, and the #MeToo movement. [12] In 2021, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education found that 60% of student newspapers at four-year public institutions faced some form of censorship. [14]
Work such as student activism and protests are heavily obstructed by the censorship of school newspapers. Often when student media, news, or other outlets are challenged or removed without cause other than to censor, the student body suffers a lack of cohesion as the sharing of opinions and information is attacked. This delegitimizes democracy by way of removing the belief that the government, or the school in this case, is responsive to their wishes. [12]
As of 2022, sixteen states have passed New Voices legislation in order to provide some protection of the First Amendment rights of student journalists. [28]
Student Press Freedom day is a national day of student journalists and their contributions celebrated annually since 2020. [29] [14] It has been endorsed by the following organizations: [30]