Tanvi Kumar, a former Wisconsin high school journalist who was censored for writing a story about rape culture, speaks out about fighting the censorship. A New Voices bill would protect journalists like Tanvi. Video: Brooke Bean. Music: Fall to pieces - Silence by mika (c) 2010. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0).
Just days after a New Voices bill passed the Missouri House floor, the Old Line State became the second state this week to see student press freedom legislation clear a major hurdle. On Friday, the Maryland Senate heard the third reading of the bill and voted 36-10 to pass the anti-censorship legislation, which would grant… Continue reading Maryland Senate passes student press freedom legislation
MISSOURI — Nearly 30 years ago, Missouri was the birthplace of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that decided student newspapers are subject to a lower level of First Amendment protection. On Tuesday, the Missouri House of Representatives gave overwhelming support to a bill that would eradicate that notion from schools in the state. Lawmakers… Continue reading Missouri House overwhelmingly passes student press freedom bill
Originally published in the Providence Journal A student at The Met High School is the driving force behind a student press-freedom bill that’s coming before a General Assembly committee right in the heart of Sunshine Week. “Educational institutions don’t make students stronger by preventing them from speaking their minds freely,” said Yanine Castedo, 16, of… Continue reading Edward Fitzpatrick: Student Teaches Sunshine Week Lesson On Press Freedom
Originally published in the The Peninsula College Buckaneer Washington State Senate bill 6233 of Jan. 13 is up for debate at the Washington State Legislature. Dubbed the “New Voices Act,” it would allow enhanced first amendment rights of free speech and press rights in school-sponsored media both at the high school level and at the… Continue reading New Voices Act champions freedom of speech at Washington State Legislature
This video explains why New Voices legislation is so important to protect student journalists' freedom of speech and of the press. Video by SPLC intern Brooke Bean. Music: Fall to pieces - Silence by mika (c) 2010, CC 3.0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8GmsIbkUpk
Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota took to the U.S. Senate floor Thursday to voice support for students’ free speech rights and to applaud her home state’s groundbreaking passage of New Voices legislation. Last April, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed into law the John Wall New Voices Act that protects students’ right to… Continue reading U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp speaks on the Senate floor in support of student free speech
Call it the journalistic equivalent of plastic surgery: Since the U.S. Supreme Court limited high school students’ free expression rights in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier in 1988, administrators have been requiring students to nip and tuck their stories to be more image-friendly and to toss more controversial articles on the back burner. Fortunately, these… Continue reading “We are giving youth the power to speak:” A high school senior calls for New Voices of Texas
Editorial originally published in The Baltimore Sun There's an urgent consensus that young people are entering the electorate under-prepared to take ownership of their democracy — and Maryland's legislature has a chance to enact a proven civics-education reform that costs zero dollars. The New Voices Act (SB 764 by Sen. Jamie Raskin) would add Maryland… Continue reading A toxic lesson of censorship
Do you remember the first time you were told that you couldn’t report on something? How your breath stopped short in your chest? The way the light drained from your eyes and anger sparked in your stomach and you knew your cheeks were on fire? The way your eyes never left the floor? The way… Continue reading “Censorship is the kind of thing you never forget:” A college journalist on the need for New Voices