As thousands of students across the country walked out of school in January and February to protest the killing of two Minneapolis residents by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, many student journalists were prevented from covering one of the biggest stories of the year. It was the single largest subject of censorship reported to SPLC's Legal Hotline this school year.
Texas student journalists cover their district's response to book bans and share why student journalists must report on censorship issues.
Leila Saidane from The Daily Texan shares how she used her role as a researcher on the student paper to find new and interesting stories.
The Student Press Law Center is republishing this censored editorial in full after Texas High School removed it.
🧵High school students in Texas are fighting back against censorship of an editorial critiquing the school searching students' cars for drugs. SPLC attorneys say the story was well written and legally clean.
The New Voices movement has made significant strides in 2019, with a record number of state bills (11) introduced, and two measures adopted in Arkansas to strengthen protections for student journalists. New Voices is a student-powered nonpartisan grassroots movement of state-based advocates who seek to protect student press freedom with state laws. These laws counteract… Continue reading New Voices bills see success and defeat in 2019 state legislative sessions
UPDATE: A Texas New Voices bill timed out in session and will have to be reintroduced in 2021. HB2244 passed out of the House Public Education Committee, but died in the calendars committee, which schedules floor hearings. The legislative session ended May 27. An identical bill in the Senate, SB514, was heard in the Senate… Continue reading Texas New Voices bill times out, will be reintroduced in 2021
TEXAS — An adviser at a high school in suburban Houston has left her job after the principal pulled stories, yearbook spreads and repeatedly questioned her judgment. Katie Moreno, the media adviser at Seven Lakes High School in Katy, Texas, decided to turn in her resignation after detailing months of censorship and after what her… Continue reading Award-winning media adviser resigns after censorship, conflict with school principal
Cory Dawson: Since 1988, student reporters have lived under a Supreme Court ruling that gives school administrators vast control over what goes into their school’s newspapers. Since then, students, advocates and media advisers have worked to put press freedoms for student journalists into law by passing New Voices laws in 14 states. These laws protect… Continue reading PODCAST: New Voices advocates talk struggles and successes
TEXAS - Nearly every copy of The Hilltop Views, the student newspaper of St. Edward’s University in Austin, was stolen last month after the paper ran a front-page story about a former professor accused by the Catholic Church of sexual abuse in the 1980s. The paper lost about 2,000 copies, and believe the front-page story… Continue reading Newspapers stolen after story about former Catholic university professor accused of child abuse by diocese
