The Student Press Law Center is the nation’s only legal organization devoted exclusively to defending and advancing the free press rights of student journalists. For more than 50 years, we’ve helped students and their educators navigate the law, strengthen their reporting and stand up for press freedom.
What We Do
The Student Press Law Center equips students with the legal knowledge, tools and confidence to report powerful journalism and to stand up for their First Amendment rights.
- Legal Help: We provide student journalists and educators one-on-one support and legal expertise through our free hotline, prepublication review and Attorney Referral Network.
- Training and Education: We lead trainings, publish guides and offer tools to help students understand and assert their First Amendment and newsgathering rights.
- Advocacy: We advocate for stronger legal protections for student journalism, power the student-led New Voices movement and mobilize support when students’ rights are under attack.
- Public Awareness: We amplify student voices, raise the visibility of press freedom issues and build a community of support that celebrates and protects student journalism.
Who We Serve
We exist for student journalists and the educators who mentor and support them at high schools and colleges across the country. That includes not only reporters and editors but also photographers, yearbook staff and student TV and radio producers. We also support students involved in a range of reporting models, including traditional student media, class or internship programs, and innovative news-academic partnerships. Our community of students and educators represents diverse backgrounds, school settings and access to resources.
We support all students documenting the stories of their campuses, communities and states. Whether they’re covering student government or state elections, campus safety or city-wide protests, we back their right to report with integrity, curiosity and courage.
Why Our Work Matters
Student journalists are essential to democracy and community engagement. They fill critical gaps in local news by reporting stories that matter and holding the powerful accountable. However, student journalists are navigating an increasingly complex legal and political landscape, often without the protections or resources of professional newsrooms.
The Student Press Law Center ensures students have the legal support and tools to strengthen their reporting, navigate challenges and stand up for a free press.
The Impact of Our Work
The Student Press Law Center empowers student journalists to publish stories that make a difference in their communities. Our legal guidance helps students to know and assert their First Amendment rights, while our advocacy strengthens long-term legal protections for them across the country.
As a direct result of our work, more communities benefit from independent student journalism; more educators have the resources they need; and more students grow into independent, courageous thinkers and active participants in civic life.
- We respond to hundreds of requests for legal help each year, enabling students to publish powerful journalism and stand up against censorship and intimidation.
- We’ve helped pass New Voices laws in 18 states, protecting student journalists from censorship under state law.
- We train thousands of student journalists and educators in their First Amendment and newsgathering rights.
- Our legal resources and model policies are used in schools, universities and student newsrooms nationwide.
Learn more about our impact here.
Contact us
Student Press Law Center
1717 K Street NW, Suite 900
Washington, D.C. 20006
Phone: (202) 785-5450
Note: Email is the best way to reach us. Please see this page for our email addresses.
If you are a student journalist or educator with a legal concern, contact our Legal Hotline to ensure a prompt response.
Support student press freedom
To make a secure online contribution using a credit card, please click here. Your donation is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. SPLC is a nonprofit, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, D.C.
We also offer memberships for high school and college news organizations and state/regional journalism groups.