Chances are that you, or a journalist you know, once worked for a high school newspaper or morning show.
Consider how that experience would have been affected if everything you wrote and everything you wanted to say was read by the principal first and subject to censorship.
That's what happens in many schools today. Bills guaranteeing press rights to student journalists have failed in 25 states, from New Jersey to Illinois, Arizona and Hawaii.
But not in six states: California, Colorado, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and Massachusetts. They have laws to protect First Amendment rights for student journalists. Washington might soon be added to that list.
A bill moving through Washington state's legislature would make students responsible for content in school-sponsored student publications in high schools and colleges. The bill passed through the Judiciary Committee at the end of January and the Rules Committee on Friday. It will now move to the full House for consideration.
The bill would make newspaper advisers responsible for teaching journalism, style and grammar, but even they would not be responsible for content. Nor could they be disciplined or fired for something that appeared in print.
If problems arise, or if the journalism adviser lacks the training to help student editors make appropriate decisions, the principal could still exercise prior review -- just not censorship, Washington Rep. Dave Upthegrove, who sponsored the bill, said in a phone interview.
"You could involve the student's parents if something is just tacky or inappropriate and unprofessional," he said.
As long as content isn't libelous, obscene or otherwise not protected speech, under this bill the principal couldn't force the student to change it.
JOURNALISTS' RIGHTS TRACKER
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The real issue for principals isn't quality, Upthegrove said. It's control.
"This is about principals who don't want stories reported because they don't like controversy," he said.
Most censored articles brought to the attention of the Student Press Law Center contain criticism of school officials or policies. "Far and away that is our largest category of material that's subject to censorship," Mark Goodman, executive director of the SPLC, said in a phone interview.
If the Washington bill passes, the momentum could spark interest in bills in other states, said Warren Watson, director of
J-Ideas, a Knight-funded resource for student journalists at
Ball State University in Indiana. Eleven bills promoting student press rights have failed in the decade since Arkansas became the last state to pass such a law in 1995.
A number of groups, including Poynter, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, SPLC and the Journalism Education Association, have written to support the bill. USA Today endorsed it and ran a column from a principal with an opposing view.
Upthegrove
said the media have covered this bill more than any of the other seven
pieces of legislation he's sponsoring this session.
Most of that press has been supportive, but not all.
WENDY'S TAKE
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From Wendy Wallace:
Professional journalists can see the state of the scholastic press for themselves. When is the last time you visited a journalism classroom?
Your insights and experience would be welcome in almost any high school. Students need help figuring out how to write about their lives in interesting, inclusive ways. You know how to do that. Show them.
And who knows. You might just be reminded of their own high school experience, 10, 20 or 30 years ago. |
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Washington's largest newspaper,
The Seattle Times,
ran an editorial against the bill. The
Times feared the bill would cut educators out of the process and leave students without adequate instruction in "journalistic intangibles such as editorial judgment." The editorial sought a compromise that would give the newspaper adviser the final say before going to press. Goodman
responded to the Times with a column calling it a "mind-bogglingly naive editorial."
In Spokane last week,
The Spokesman-Review endorsed the bill. "Student journalism is an arena where young people can and should learn the value of bold public discourse," the paper argued. In Seattle, the
Post-Intelligencer carried a column from Kenneth F. Bunting, the associate publisher, who wondered if legislators would be "courageous enough" to pass the bill. The state's second-largest daily,
The News Tribune of Tacoma,
also wrote in support of the bill.
Somewhere in the middle of the argument is Walla Walla, Wash., where
Union-Bulletin editor Rick Doyle
argued in his column that the school plays the role of publisher or owner for school media. He said the bill would, in effect, strip control over content from the owner of a newspaper. So although he said he supports student press rights, he urged the legislature not to "ram through" this bill.
Almost in earshot of the Washington bill debate,
Oregon legislators are working on a similar bill.
Vermont and Michigan have been considering similar legislation as well.
The
Kansas legislature is considering a bill that could weaken that state's protection of student press rights.
The bill proposes a three-person committee -- a school board member, a parent and the superintendent -- that would review student publications before they're published. The student editor would get the final say on content, but only after hearing any objections from the three adults.
Consider this perspective on the Washington bill debate, from Margie Boulé of
The Oregonian, who writes of her experience as editor of her California high school newspaper during the height of the Vietnam War. Boulé wrote a column criticizing her high-school marching band for forming a cross to open its halftime show, then playing military themes while an announcer talked of God and country. The column caused an uproar, and the principal won the right to read future issues before publication. Boulé kept her job as editor, but learned a lesson about the fragility of her First Amendment rights.
Upthegrove said he understands that fragility.
"I'm worried young people are growing up without an appreciation for the First Amendment and all their constitutional rights," he said in Boulé's column. "I'm worried about what that means for the next generation."
Boulé's experience decades ago turned out to be prescient. Principals are looking over more and more student journalists' shoulders. More than 500 cases of censorship in the U.S. were brought to the attention of the Student Press Law Center in 2003.
"The numbers have only gone up since then," Goodman said.
The bill could face a "big, ugly" battle on the Washington House floor and an even tougher fight in the Senate, Upthegrove said. Opposition has come from House Republicans, who tried to amend the bill in committee to limit it to college publications.
Upthegrove said he fears such an amendment again. He would oppose that change, saying that students' appreciation and understanding of the First Amendment should begin in high school.
Note to readers:Tell us about your experiences in high school media or as a professional visiting a journalism class.
Share your perspective on the Washington legislation.
Make that connection between the journalist today and the teen writer or editor that perhaps you once were.
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