Now more than ever, student journalists are at the forefront of reporting on today’s most consequential stories. On Feb. 27, the eighth annual Student Press Freedom Day will gather student journalists and their supporters across the United States to spend the day raising awareness about their challenges, celebrating their contributions to their schools and communities and taking actions to protect and restore their First Amendment freedoms.
Ways to get involved
- Explore these 50 ways you can celebrate Student Press Freedom Day, with ideas for anyone no matter how you’re connected to student journalists.
- Join us Feb. 25 for “Fighting for Our Rights: The Threats of AI & School Monitoring Software.” You’ll hear from Natasha Torkzaban, Morgan Salisbury and Jack Tell, who as high school seniors in Lawrence, Kansas, realized their school’s new AI-powered monitoring tool could put their reporting materials — including confidential sources and stories in progress — in the hands of administrators. Learn how they successfully stood up for their press freedom rights and how you can too.
- Catch up on the recordings of our other events leading up to the day: The State of College Press Freedom (featuring three student editors discussing the biggest challenges), Op-Ed Boot Camp (learn to write advocacy), Student Press Freedom 101 (learn the law).
- Invite a government official, school administrator or your peers into your newsroom! Many people don’t know what a student newsroom does or how it operates, and it could go a long way toward building trust to invite them in to see you work! Use our new toolkit to get started.
Student Press Freedom Day 2025 is coordinated by the Student Press Law Center and sponsored by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, Davis Wright Tremaine, Journalism Education Association of Northern California, Poynter Institute, SNO Sites, University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism and University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.
Why it matters
Student Press Freedom Day is an empowering day for student journalists and a chance to educate peers and adults alike about their value both within and outside their school communities. They are at the forefront of improving media literacy, filling the gap in news deserts and combating challenges to press freedom.
The public’s trust and appreciation for journalists is at a record low, including among younger generations. In fact, 45% of teens say journalists do more to harm democracy than protect it, according to a 2024 survey conducted by the News Literacy Project. One Gen Z journalist recently wrote that the issue goes beyond mistrust — many young people don’t even know what a journalist is. Student journalism offers an important opportunity to learn these media literacy skills and have a voice in the community.
Further, there is much developing anecdotal and empirical evidence linking participation in student journalism and civic engagement in adulthood. As former SPLC Executive Director Frank LoMonte wrote for the American Bar Association in 2017, “Meaningful civic education requires that students feel safe and empowered to discuss issues of social and political concern in the responsible, accountable forum of journalistic media.”
Student journalists also serve as a valuable additional news resource to supplement the struggles that commercial news organizations are increasingly facing. In some communities, students are the only ones consistently covering local news.
For all these reasons and more, student journalists are more important than ever. But they and their educators also face intense pressure, including censorship and administrative reprisals, community pushback, funding cuts and more.
That’s why, this Student Press Freedom Day and every day, we must stand up to say that student journalists matter, and they must be given the rights to report freely. Join us in standing up for student press freedom.
The Student Press Law Center (splc.org) is a nonpartisan nonprofit that promotes, supports and defends the free press rights of student journalists and their advisers. SPLC provides information, training and legal assistance at no charge to high school and college student journalists and the educators who work with them.