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Students who live in states without laws to protect them say they face censorship from their school administrations, newspaper advisers, and communities.
From book bans to anti-critical race theory laws adopted by 28 states, youth censorship is increasingly becoming an issue in U.S. high schools, especially for young journalists. Students say school newspapers are one of the few outlets high schoolers have to report on their communities and that limiting what they can write about directly immobilizes their voices.
“[Administrative censorship] firmly says that youth expression should only be at the discretion of the adults in their environment,” said McGlauthon Fleming IV, a high school student from Midlothian, Texas.
Despite Tinker v. Des Moines, the historic 1969 SCOTUS ruling that states neither students nor teachers “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” student censorship finds a loophole in the precedent set by Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier case. In 1983, high school student Cathy Kuhlmeier sued her school district for infringing on her First Amendment right to free speech after her school principal removed articles about teen pregnancy and divorce from her school newspaper. The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 in favor of the school in 1988. Through Hazelwood, school administrators could censor student speech if it was inconsistent with their “basic educational mission.” Anti-censorship activists have long debated the subjectiveness of the ruling.
“Public schools are meant to be the ‘nurseries of democracy,’ as the Supreme Court has said,” said Grayson Marlow and Josh Moore, spokespeople for the Student Press Law Center (SPLC). “The First Amendment prepares [students] to be critical thinkers and active participants in civic life … The Hazelwood decision dramatically changed the balance of rights for student journalists, giving administrators leeway to censor student voices for almost any reason in school-sponsored media. This approach treats the First Amendment in schools as a mere platitude. It also robs students of the opportunity to learn critical thinking, civic responsibility and media literacy, as well as how to use their voice while navigating a community where others may disagree.”
Students who live in states without laws to protect them now say they face censorship from their school administration, newspaper advisers, and sometimes even their communities. Students from small towns told Prism that school newspapers often feel like they are controlled by the political opinions of their area, and writing about social issues from the opposing stance is out of the question.
Fleming told Prism his school administration shut down his efforts to survey students about a mass school shooting that happened early last year.
“The principal emailed me directly and said, ‘You can’t run that survey. Honestly, I would prefer it if you didn’t run the story at all,’” Fleming said, explaining how articles addressing “controversial” issues were scrapped by his adviser for fear of losing her job and backlash from his conservative town.
“The administration doesn’t even have to tell [my adviser] they don’t want us to run certain things. She’s like, the town wouldn’t want us to run this, and the principal would tell me no, so I’m going to tell you no up front,” he added.
Administrations often discourage certain topics as a way to coerce students into self-censoring their reporting. Myesha Phukan, a high school journalist from Mountain View, California, said she has faced intimidation from her school administration after attempting to run a story on alleged perpetrators of sexual harassment on her campus.
“[The principal] came into the classroom and started talking about how schools don’t have journalism programs anymore, and we’re really lucky that we have one. To me and the rest of the team, it felt like a threat … We felt pressure to write the article a certain way,” Phukan said. “We removed specific instances of harassment as well as obscured details about when they had occurred … If we aren’t able to express our voices, then honestly, there’s no point.”
Student censorship goes beyond vague reporting and left-out narratives; for students, it’s becoming a tool to demoralize them from pursuing careers in journalism.
“You’re telling them [students], “Don’t push any boundaries. Don’t try to make any changes. Don’t say anything that could get you in trouble.’ You’re not preparing them for the real world,” explained Christopher Denkovich, a high school student from Pittsburgh.
“Many people like to point fingers at journalists for being ‘corrupt,’ but when news organizations themselves are corrupt, and journalists need to be employed, what can they even do?” said Ishrat Madiha, a high school student from Lake Ridge High School in Mansfield, Texas. “Tackling the issue at a school level, before these journalists join big corporations, will help students learn what ethical, honest journalism is.”
For journalism advisers, opposing administrative censorship could result in the administration disciplining them or ending school journalism programs completely.
“As it stands, newspapers are a class that can be eliminated from the curriculum,” Fleming said. “It’s seen as a school organization. We receive funding, so it can be scrubbed as a program.”
As a result of Hazelwood and the momentum against other forms of youth suppression in recent years, high school students across the country are fighting back against censorship. The Student Press Law Center, which has been organizing for the last 50 years and which advocates for “New Voices” laws in state legislatures, is at the forefront of the anti-censorship movement. While individual states have different stipulations for New Voices legislation, students strive for one goal: student autonomy over student newsrooms. As previously reported by Prism, 17 states have enacted New Voices laws to protect students’ press freedom and block administrations from arbitrarily censoring student newspapers.
“New Voices laws restore the balance of First Amendment rights in place before the problematic Hazelwood decision. In a state with a New Voices law, student editors decide the content of school-sponsored student media, with some limited, well-defined exceptions,” said Marlow and Moore from SPLC. “SPLC is the go-to legal resource for student journalists and their educators … Our legal hotline gives students free access to attorneys who exclusively work on student media issues. We also provide legal training, guides, and other resources to help students understand the law and why a free press is so important.”
From speaking up about their experiences to educating young journalists about their rights and writing to state representatives and school board members, the most significant way students are combatting censorship is by bringing awareness to their experiences. Students working with the SPLC have testified against censorship in front of committees that enact student press freedom laws.
Last summer, students from Freedom Area High School, Conestoga High School, and State College Area High School in Pennsylvania lobbied at their state capitol for New Voices laws. They met with 70 legislators in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to push a bill that ends prior review and prior restraint against student journalists.
“We went to our state representative, state Sen. [Elder] Vogel, and had a meeting with him about New Voices … He said that he would support us if it got to a floor vote,” Denkovich said.
While students have succeeded in their efforts, including passing legislation in several states, the biggest achievement against censorship has been the number of students stepping up.
“Our greatest wins are when students report an important story about their community, or when they have the knowledge and confidence to advocate for their own and others’ First Amendment rights,” said Marlow and Moore.
Student newsrooms deserve the same rights as any other outlet or media, but the current treatment of school newspapers makes it impossible for students to keep their First Amendment rights. Student suppression has been the norm for far too long, and students across the country understand the time to fight against censorship is now.
“The opinions of youth are important because we are the future of this country,” Phukan said.