The Student Press Law Center asked New Voices advocates to reflect on their accomplishments and lessons learned during the 2024 legislative season. Other posts in this series can be found here.
Ben Shapiro is a rising freshman at Northwestern University. In high school, he served as the editor-in-chief of The Spoke, Conestoga High School’s student newspaper, and worked closely with SPLC throughout his tenure. Shapiro is an active lobbyist with Pennsylvania’s New Voices movement and is an advocacy intern with SPLC.
Pennsylvania New Voices advocates reached a new milestone in the state’s grassroots efforts in the 2024 legislative session. Although Pennsylvania’s legislature has not yet passed the proposed Student Journalism Protection Act, advocates testified before the House Education Committee to support the legislation in late April, bringing more attention and visibility to the movement. The hearing was the first time New Voices advocates and the Pennsylvania legislature spoke publicly about the bill.
Rep. Melissa Shusterman and Sen. Carolyn Comitta sponsored HB 1309 and SB 622, respectively, at the beginning of the legislative session; both bills moved to the education committees soon after their introduction.
The House Education Committee invited me as well as current and former adviser advocates Aaron Fitzpatrick and Cyndi Hyatt to answer questions about the legislation during a committee meeting in Harrisburg. The committee also invited the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, which did not send a representative.
At the April 29 hearing, some committee members asked why the Student Journalism Protection Act is important and how it changes current law in the state. Rep. Regina Young and other committee members indicated that they wanted to hear from school administrators and lawyers to better understand the bill’s impact. No one testified in opposition to the bill.
I spoke about my experiences as a student journalist who has faced censorship in the newsroom and explained how explicit legal protections are necessary for students to report the news in their schools and communities. I fielded questions about current law and what the implementation of the Student Journalism Protection Act would mean for students and advisers in high schools and colleges.
Fitzpatrick and Hyatt both spoke about the importance of the bill to not only shield against censorship but to ensure that faculty advisers like themselves do not face disciplinary action for refusing to censor their students.
Along with the verbal testimony, other New Voices advocates submitted written testimony to the House Education Committee. The Student Press Law Center, Pennsylvania State Education Association, Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association and other stakeholders joined in submitting written testimony before the hearing as well.
The House Education Committee has not yet taken a vote to move the Student Journalism Protection Act onto the floor of the House. And while New Voices advocates hope the bill moves before the session ends in November, we are also happy knowing that our testimony helped the state’s efforts reach a milestone.
Supporters of the legislation can contact Pennsylvania’s New Voices coalition at panewvoices@gmail.com or through SPLC at newvoices@splc.org. Additionally, New Voices advocates are encouraged to contact their representatives in support of the act. The more support the Student Journalism Protection Act has, the more likely Pennsylvania student journalists and advisers will see stronger protections in the near future.
Learn more about New Voices here.