The Student Press Law Center has a strong history of defending and advancing the free press rights of student journalists and their educators. For 50 years, SPLC has been where high school and college student journalists turn for help standing up to censorship, obtaining public records, reporting on their communities and advocating for their own rights. We’ve always got their back.
Learn more in our 2024-2025 annual report.
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Supporting Student Journalists on the Front Lines of Press Freedom in 2024-2025
The stakes are high. Student journalists and their educators have been under siege. Last school year, the free press rights for these determined truthtellers was challenged in ways no one expected. But the Student Press Law Center was there to defend and advance student press freedom at a critical moment for democracy.
Our free Legal Hotline continues to be the core of our services, enabling student journalists to speak directly with expert attorneys who answer their media law questions, conduct pre-publication reviews and provide support when confronted by censorship. Requests to our hotline have increased by 42% over the last two academic years, demonstrating the growing and urgent need for student journalists to have free access to our experts.
Our attorneys also offer practical, accessible guidance that equip student journalists to navigate the law, report with confidence and stand up for press freedom. Through the creation of new legal guides and resources on issues like covering immigration, to educating thousands of students and educators through more than 177 in-person and virtual trainings, workshops and institutes, our team has provided essential knowledge to thousands of student journalists year-round.
We also marked the 10th anniversary of the modern New Voices movement, which enshrines student press freedom into state laws across the country. This legislative session, our team worked with student coalitions in Arizona, Connecticut, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas to advance efforts for future legislation, and in Illinois to strengthen their existing free press laws. We continue to see a growing momentum in additional states to form coalitions that we will build on in the coming year.
To ensure each New Voices law is implemented and honored, we proactively inform school and district administrators about the requirements of newly adopted laws, and we are educating students about their rights in every New Voices state. This year, we partnered with West Virginia University to create an innovative internship-classroom experience for two students to learn the fundamentals of the law passed there in 2023 and how to implement it. This partnership has resulted in three school districts passing new policies that ensure front-line administrators know their obligations to protect student voices.
This only scratches the surface of what we’ve accomplished during the 2024-2025 year. To read more about how we’ve evolved this year and to get a sense of what’s to come, read our full 2024-2025 annual report: