In far too many schools, education in civic values is being undermined by censorship of the student press. While some student publications struggle valiantly against curbs on their freedom of expression and do exemplary work, far too many are intimidated into silence by skittish school administrators in a nervous political climate.

This stands in pale contrast with independent youth media and its lively coverage of issues and uncensored youth expression. Although youth media groups have their own struggles balancing youth voice, adult input and organizational mission, young people have more freedom to express their views on a variety of issues that the school-based press—or principals acting as publishers—may deem too controversial. With their responsibility to instill democratic values in our youngest citizens, schools are failing, driven by their need for control over what students write, read and express.

Student's free speech is restricted every day, as these recent news items from the Student Press Law Center chronicle: a school in South Carolina stopped distribution of a middle school newspaper because it had accepted political ads; a Georgia superintendent is accused of confiscating copies of a high school newspaper that included disparaging remarks on his record and new school policies; the principal suspended a high school editor in Florida after the student placed an ad for his personal web site in the school paper - the site contained a story on the arrest of an unnamed special education teacher for battery and domestic assault.

Trend Towards More Censoring

Mark Goodman, Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center, says the Center fielded 1,260 calls for legal advice from the high school press last year. "What we hear from student journalists, their teachers and advisers is that the problems are growing, that there are more demands by school officials to review stories and entire issues of publications before it goes to press."

This pervasive climate of censorship can be traced to the 1988 Supreme Court decision in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier. In this decision, the Court gave school officials extremely broad authority to censor all forms of student expression if they show that the censorship has a "reasonable" educational justification. The decision had an immediate impact at Homestead High School in Cupertino, California, where a principal pulled an article about AIDS from the student paper only hours after the court's decision was announced. That was only the beginning.

As a reaction to the Hazlewood case, several states have enacted "Student Free Expression" laws that provide for greater freedom. But even this law may not deter school authorities from acting as censors. Libby Hartigan, Managing Editor of LA Youth, noted that "if a publication steps too far out of line the adviser is asked to leave or often the principal finds a way to stop its publication before it even comes out."

Goodman feels that "Having a state law is not a panacea…but when students and their advisers do fight censorship in those states where there are laws, they are typically successful in overcoming that censorship." Although they have the law on their side, "It's very hard for advisers to resist that pressure," Hartigan says. "If a situation is extreme enough, the ACLU may step in to defend a student but often it's subtler and the people involved are not angry enough to feel like it's worth the hassle. So freedom of the press gets slowly chipped away."

The stakes are high, according to Goodman: "We are preparing citizens for a life in this democratic society where free expression and press freedom are values we hold dear. Young people are not going to grasp those values if we don't teach them by example - as well as by lesson."

And censoring doesn't make for good journalism training, either. In their dissent to the Hazlewood ruling, Justices Brennan, Marshall and Blackman wrote that censorship "in no way furthers the curricular purposes of a student newspaper, unless one believes that the purpose of the school newspaper is to teach students that the press ought never report bad news, express unpopular views, or print a thought that might upset its sponsors."

Controversy & Criticism

The hot button stories that attract censorship seem to be those with the "wrong" political slant. "Schools are a microcosm for disagreements that exist in the community at large," Goodman says. Marjorie Heins, Director of the Free Expression Policy Project agrees: "Sexuality, gay rights and hate speech are probably the most censored topic areas." Hartigan knows this all too well: "A lot of Catholic schools have dropped LA Youth because we write about homosexuality, abortion, birth control... if it's a public school, we'll have our lawyer call there and say that, if teachers feel the material has educational value then they are allowed to get it. And we've been able to get back into schools that way."

Administrators may defend their decisions by using the Court's standard of deeming topics "inappropriate for immature audiences". While granting them the benefit of the doubt on some issues, decisions seem blatantly political when it comes to the most censored topic: criticism of school officials themselves.

Goodman points out "The single most frequently censored subject matter is material that is perceived as critical of school policies or officials. It goes to the very heart of what the First Amendment is all about - protecting the public's right to criticize and question the government."

Ultimately, controlling the means of distribution is the most effective way of quelling free speech. LA Youth ran a story about a prominent censorship case at a high school about two years ago and, perhaps not coincidentally, that issue of the paper disappeared from that particular school.

Conversely, a healthy dose of journalism training is an effective alternative to outright censorship. This is the prescription that Kathryn Montgomery, Director of the Center for Media Education offers: "It's important to teach the ethics and the responsibilities that are associated with being a journalist. The people who are teaching our young people how to be communicators and participants in the democracy need to instill in them an appreciation for the First Amendment and the need to fight for that."

On a practical level the student press has the unique opportunity to act as watchdog, independent of the administration's politics or teacher's unions. Throughout the country student journalists are uncovering health problems, exposing abusive disciplinary policy, and reporting on misappropriated school funds.

Youth Media as a Needed Alternative

The most censored topics in the student press are also the most popular topics covered by independent youth media - sexuality, gay rights, violence, and criticism of the educational system. Young people in a freer environment clearly want to address issues that are relevant to them and discuss solutions to the problems they encounter every day.

"Nonprofit media groups have more freedom to operate than the student press," Free Expression Policy Project's Heins says. For example, "Sex education continues to be a big problem, particularly with the emphasis on abstinence education," she notes. "But there's a lot of youth media such as Sex Etc., which give teenagers an opportunity to share reliable information about sexuality that they're not getting in school."

Though youth media is freer from constraint, the forum doesn't provide for an "anything goes" editorial environment. At LA Youth, Hartigan says they work as a team to find the proper mix of "youth voice" and professional standards: "We're not censored or pressured to the degree that student publications are. We always wonder, 'Are we being tasteful, is it something that's going to offend our readers?'"

Additionally, non-school based media isn't beyond the reach of censors. Goodman notes "Increasingly, schools are also trying to censor or silence students who express themselves in non-school-sponsored ways." In one day last month, decisions were handed down in two state courts that ruled when a student communicates something deemed materially disruptive to the school, even if it was created at home, the student can be subject to school punishment. Goodman adds, "That's something we hear all the time - students are told 'You'd better not be writing this story even if it's for that outside publication.'"

Both Are Essential

In addition to being a complement to school media, Goodman feels that youth media helps improve it: "In communities where there is an independent outside publication, as well as school sponsored media, both end up being better as a result - especially the school sponsored. It's really a challenge to them to live up to the expectations that are created by the independent publication." Additionally, many youth media groups have gained some of their best young journalists who are turned off from their censored school press.

Both types of youth media are vital. Young people spend the majority of their time at school and the functioning of a vibrant school press can be an essential component in developing civic responsibility, respect for diversity of opinion, critical thinking and allowing for important dialogue between the student body and school officials.

But school journalism can only go so far. This is why youth media is so critically important to our society in giving young people a powerful, uncensored voice to participate in the national debate on youth issues, to act as a vehicle for exploring and understanding controversial and very personal topics, and for providing the tools, training and education for our next generations of journalists, policy makers, leaders and citizens.

Goodman agrees: "There are so many folks who graduated from high school believing that the First Amendment is nothing more than a hypocritical notion that really means those in power have the ability to control what others read and say. We want to prepare the next generation of journalists who understand the values of journalism and their obligation to be a watchdog of the government and a voice for the voiceless, to be the eyes and ears of their community and provide people with the facts they need to make their lives better. Student media is crucially important."

"Such unthinking contempt for individual rights is intolerable from any state official. It is particularly insidious from one to whom the public entrusts the task of inculcating in its youth an appreciation for the cherished democratic liberties that our Constitution guarantees."
- Supreme Court Justice Brennan, in his dissent in the Hazlewood case

Related Links:

SPLC
www.splc.org

LA Youth
www.layouth.com

FEPP
www.fepproject.org

CME
www.cme.org