Student journalists matter. It’s time Georgia passes the New Voices law that they deserve.

For decades, students have served as candid voices of change and advocacy intent on speaking up on the issues that matter to them. This is arguably most apparent in the field of student journalism, where students have the power to provide direct coverage on their own school and community events. With a unique perspective into local insights, a fresh outlook on ongoing events, and a strong pulse on the trends of the age, these young reporters are able to provide quality journalism unadulterated by the invisible corporate hand present in so many publications today.

In other words, we need student journalists now more than ever.

There’s just one problem. Under the United States Supreme Court ruling Hazelwood v. Kulhemeier from 1988, school administrators are given free license to censor any form of student speech that is “reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.” This gives them the power to restrict any form of school-bound student expression that they choose, including newspapers, yearbooks, extracurricular speech, and virtually anything else bound under an institution’s educational banner. As a result, students are often rendered unable to cover the topics that matter to them, which has led to countless crucial and newsworthy stories never seeing the light of day.

In Berywn, PA, the newspaper staff for The SPOKE at Conestega High School made the intrepid discovery that a district employee was charged with armed robbery and failed to report his felony to school officials, choosing to call in sick instead from his jail cell. Their story led to district officials attempting to pass a policy mandating prior administrative review of all student publications, but a strong grassroots movement led by the editors-in-chief was able to block the change before it was approved districtwide.

A similar incident occurred in Langhorne, PA when the editorial board for The Playwickian , Neshaminy High School’s newspaper, voted 14-7 to censure the slur “Redskin” from its publication. Students and parents were fiercely divided over the school’s mascot which depicted said Native American stereotype, and in light of the debate, the newspaper staff took a collective vote on how they would cover school affairs going forward, resulting in the ensuing ban of the term. Even after the paper published editorials for and against the change in order to fairly explain the decision, their stance was met by the principal invalidating the ban, suspending their adviser, and temporarily removing their editor-in-chief following the change.

Student newsrooms across Georgia often experience much of the same, with students facing censorship on a regular basis for covering topics like unfair grade inflation, dilapidated school infrastructure, racial inequality in schools, and other pertinent school and community issues. The existing climate of repression has led to many simply choosing to self-censor and restrict their writing to more superficial topics in fear of backlash, which is intensified by school and district-level policies that further regulate published content. Removing student journalists’ free speech protections threatens both their First Amendment rights and their ability to navigate an ever-changing sociopolitical world in the future.

While protecting the student press against censorship might seem an uphill battle in light of the Kuhlmeier decision, a series of legislation known as New Voices laws have the ability to alter the playing field for student journalists in K-12 public schools. With laws passed in 18 states and grassroots coalitions in many more, New Voices laws aim to ensure that the student press and their work is protected and championed.

Such a bill , if passed in Georgia, would prevent censorship by public school administrators unless the work is slanderous, unfairly violates privacy, or goes against federal or state law. New Voices laws also provide educators protection against punishment for supporting their students’ freedoms, as they ensure that no adviser can be retaliated against or fired for refusing to censor their students. Overall, the underlying intent of New Voices laws is to safeguard the intellectual and journalistic liberties of students who aim to serve their schools and communities through news reporting.

In fact, a 2021 law review article published by the First Amendment Clinic at the University of Georgia School of Law argued that New Voices statutes should be implemented in every state, using Georgia as a case study of why exactly such a law is necessary. Through several interviews of student journalists, researchers at the clinic found that conservative and religious students were often hesitant to write from their own perspectives in fear of potential backlash and alienation. By implementing New Voices in Georgia, the perspectives of all students regardless of belief and background will be protected against such pushback and restriction.

The student journalists of Georgia need a free press to engage with and report on the world around them. By raising awareness for student press freedom and championing New Voices legislation, Georgia can usher in a brighter era for journalism and young people’s First Amendment rights for years to come.

This story first appeared in the Georgia Recorder.

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