A promising start to the legislative session has turned sour for student press freedom advocates in Missouri.
HB 2918, a New Voices bill aimed at curbing arbitrary censorship of the state’s student journalists, was amended in March to include language that likely would lead to the opposite result. The amended bill awaits a full vote on the House floor, but advocates now hope it never receives one.
As introduced, HB 2918 would have secured the rights of student journalists at both the high school and collegiate levels and protected student media advisers from retaliation.
Students, educators and other advocates of student journalism — including Cathy Kuhlmeier and Jonathan Gaston-Falk, an attorney from the Student Press Law Center — testified in favor of the bill at a February hearing of the House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education. The bill received significant support, with 22 people testifying or writing in favor and only one person writing in against it.
Following that hearing, however, the committee substituted the bill’s language to include a new set of “journalistic standards” that a student publication must follow to receive the press freedom protections.
These standards, among other things, impose an “objectivity norm” and require that 51% of a “news source” must be “news,” while only 10% can be commentary or editorial content. It also suggests the fairness doctrine — which requires providing an opportunity for contrasting views on controversial topics — as “guidance” for upholding these standards.
None of the 18 states with existing New Voices laws impose any “journalistic standards.” Advocates and legal experts worry that such requirements would become a tool for administrators looking to quash reporting they don’t like.
“If this is enacted, it is just a matter of time before we will be assisting student journalists in suing school officials who try to use it to censor otherwise lawful student speech,” SPLC Senior Legal Counsel Mike Hiestand said. “The standards articulated may be fine for an internal newsroom policy, interpreted and enforced by editors, but it is antithetical to the First Amendment to have these standards enforced by the government.”
As part of the “objectivity norm,” the modified language of HB 2918 states that 51% of the content in a protected publication cannot include “hearsay or anonymous quotes.” While generally granted sparingly, confidentiality has long been an important means in journalism of allowing vulnerable yet integral sources to bring forward information that might otherwise remain hidden from the public.
For example, the Student Press Law Center’s April 2025 Student Media Alert explained how non-citizen student speakers, who have published legally protected speech, have been targeted by federal immigration enforcement actions. The alert encouraged student journalists to revisit their policies on anonymous sources in light of this reality.
Advocacy Associate Grayson Marlow said it is rare for the Student Press Law Center to withdraw its support of a New Voices bill.
“Even when Minnesota became the first state to exclude yearbooks in its New Voices law, we supported the bill to ensure all other forms of student media were protected,” Marlow said. “The damage that these provisions could do, however, far outweighs the protections they would afford, and the Student Press Law Center can no longer support HB 2918.”
But all is not lost for Missouri student journalists.
SB 1172, a companion bill that has not been amended with the new language, is currently in the Senate Committee on Education awaiting a hearing. Missouri supporters of this bill can find their senator’s contact information here.
The Missouri legislature is expected to end its 2026 session May 15. The New Voices coalition in Missouri plans to reassert the original language next legislative session.
About New Voices: New Voices is a student-led, nonpartisan movement working to end censorship of student media by passing state laws that protect students’ right to report freely. The Student Press Law Center powers this movement by convening coalitions, educating lawmakers, sharing model policies and equipping students with the training and confidence they need to stand up for press freedom.