New Voices Endorsements/Resources

  • The National Council of Teachers of English Resolution on Legislation to Protect the Rights of Student Journalists, ratified February 2017, urging state legislators to pass laws protecting the rights of students in their exercise of freedom of speech and press.
  • American Society of News Editors Resolution in Support of Legal Protection for Student Journalists and Advisers, adopted Aug. 10, 2016, commending states for enacting New Voices laws and calling on ASNE member editors to support similar laws nationwide.
  • Society of Professional Journalists Resolution 9, adopted Sept. 20, 2015, urges SPJ members to support legislation based on the New Voices of North Dakota Act protecting the editorial independence of the student media.
  • Society of Professional Journalists Resolution 4, adopted Aug. 26, 2013, declares that the level of institutional control legalized by the Supreme Court in Hazelwood “impedes an educator’s ability to adequately instruct and train students in professional journalistic values and practices, including the right to question authority and investigate performances of governance.”
  • Resolution One of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC), enacted April 2, 2013, declares that “no legitimate pedagogical purpose is served by the censorship of student journalism even if it reflects unflatteringly on school policies and programs, candidly discusses sensitive social and political issues, or voices opinions challenging to majority views on matters of public concern.”
  • “Hazelwood at 25,” published Feb. 6, 2013, in Education Week, a reflection on a generation of institutionalized censorship: “It’s time to acknowledge that Hazelwood is a failed experiment on America’s young people and to recognize that public schools are a forum where the discussion of diverging views on political and social issues is not merely to be tolerated, but welcomed.”
  • A 2015 survey of 900+ high school journalists by the University of Kansas confirms a link between working in a supportive environment respectful of First Amendment values and an increased sense of civic efficacy (the ability to use media to advocate for change). Read the study at civicsandjournalists.org.
  • North Dakota Superintendent Kirsten Baesler says New Voices is working well in her state. Read her account of how the New Voices Act is helping administrators and teachers provide a better learning experience for North Dakota students.
  • The National Council of Teachers of English endorsed New Voices legislation to give students First Amendment protection.