The Forum

Here is a question: Would you consider yourself to be someone who cares about freedom and the right to expression? If so, ask yourself some other questions, like why have so many student journalists in recent years been harassed, assaulted, detained, or even threatened with deportation? Why have so many student journalists been suspended or expelled from their educational institutions, maligned on social media and throughout their communities? Why are administrators at schools, colleges, and universities across the United States so adamant about keeping information from being reported by students who are tasked with doing exactly that?

Here's another question: Did you know that one of the most significant cases in setting the landscape around the rights of student journalists happened right here in the St. Louis region? Before that happened, the watershed case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District helped establish the right to free speech for students in public school settings.

It was 1965, and a small group of students at a junior high school in Des Moines, Iowa devised a plan to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam War and show their support for peace. School administrators learned of the students' plans, and they quickly, preemptively banned students at the school from wearing armbands. Undeterred, the students wore them anyway, and school district officials suspended them, only allowing them back after they agreed to remove their armbands. The students and their parents sued the school district for violating the student’s First Amendment rights.

By 1969, the litigation had wound its way to the Supreme Court on appeal. In a 7-2 decision, Justice Abe Fortas wrote for the majority, stating, "it can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate," ruling in the students’ favor. The decision granted students across the country legal precedent for freedom of speech. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District helped to set the national tone for students’ free speech for almost 20 years.

Then, in 1988, right here in North County, the case Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier would significantly move legal precedent backwards toward the other end of the spectrum. Student reporters at the Spectrum, the school-sponsored newspaper at Hazelwood East High School, were reporting issues that the school principal had deemed to be too sensitive. Because the students were reporting on the experiences of some of their peers in dealing with their parents’ divorces and teen pregnancy, the principal argued that the topics in the paper were not age appropriate for high school students. He also voiced concerns that the student subjects of the stories would suffer negative consequences at school. The student reporters disagreed, arguing that stories like theirs allowed for honest discussion about issues that affected many teens at Hazelwood East High School and beyond. The principal, Robert Reynolds, disagreed and removed the two articles on those topics from the school paper prior to publication, and the students and their parents sued the school district, citing the students’ First Amendment rights.

The Supreme Court ruled against the students, setting a new standard against student freedom of speech when publications are school-sponsored. The courts ruled that public schools are within their rights when they edit, restrict, or censor content published by schools so long as their actions are in line with sound educational purposes. The court’s decision in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier set student press rights back decades and has inspired a revolutionary movement that still thrives to this day throughout Missouri and across the United States.

New Voices is a campaign led by the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) that provides leadership and support for students and advocates working to pass legislation that turns back the precedent set by Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier.

The Student Press Law Center, founded in 1974 is an independent, not-for-profit organization that advocates for press freedom rights for students and their advisors in high schools, colleges, and universities. With headquarters based in Washington, DC, the SPLC provides education, develops programs, and staffs a legal hotline that provides a team of legal experts to help answer questions and concerns related to student media. With campaigns like New Voices, SPLC has helped to pass legislation in 18 states across the county, and advocates all over the United States are continuing to engage policy makers to adopt legislation that helps to protect student press freedoms and validates the hard work of student journalists.

In Missouri, we recently had SB 258, the Cronkite New Voices Act, which was sponsored by Democratic Senator Barbara Washington from Jackson County, Missouri. The bill, among other things, “provides that in both public high schools and public institutions of higher education, a student journalist, as defined in the act, has the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press in school-sponsored media.”

It continues to state, “Student journalists shall be responsible for determining the content of school-sponsored media, while student-media advisors are responsible for teaching and encouraging expression and the standards of English and journalism. No student-media advisor shall be subject to disciplinary actions described in the act for refusal to abridge or infringe upon freedom of expression.” The Cronkite New Voices Act, received endorsements from the ACLU of Missouri, the Missouri Press Association, Journalism St. Louis, and the Missouri National Education Association. The bill received a second read and was referred to the Education Committee, but it didn’t reach a final vote.

Student journalists’ perspectives are essential as they are those of global citizens who have consumed information and experienced the world through technology, which has been constantly evolving. For the most part, student journalists today have the opportunity for a wider-ranging understanding of their world than the student press of previous generations. Many young students of journalism began their foray into the profession already skillful and information-savvy, tending to be more engaged with current events, often in real-time using social media platforms like Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok. They provide a fresher, more innovative perspective on the issues, and can offer up unbiased observations, ask important questions, and challenge the status quo.

Since student reporters are generally new to the world of journalism and focus more on topics taking place in high schools, colleges, and universities, they are generally not as beholden to the outside— and often biased—interests of decision-makers above them. Members of the student press are most likely just learning to build those relationships, laying the beginnings of what will become the foundations of their individual process and style. When asked about the importance of student journalists, our student editor at The Forum, Vienna Austin, said, “Student journalists are often given great freedom by their sponsors and faculty advisors to report and write as they please, and their outlets typically receive regular funding from their respective institutions. There is no threat of being bought out by some billionaire who wants to use the news source as a toy to affect their own agenda, and there is constant stability and freedom to grow. I think the community and the readers like this, as it makes student media and student journalists feel like a constant pillar on campus that can be depended on.”

Austin makes very real and relevant points about billionaire corporate ownership of news outlets in the United States and across the globe. For the past few decades, a collection of ever-shifting multibillion-dollar media conglomerates, often called the “Big Six,” have taken control of roughly 90% of national and local news outlets, as well as many international outlets. They include Disney, Comcast, News Corp, National Amusements, Warner Media, and Verizon. It becomes difficult to imagine that the competition that student journalists have faced in reporting on relevant issues can be unaffected by the corporate ownership of news publications at the highest levels.

Some of the same media monopolies are also in control of most entertainment outlets such as cable news channels, television studios, film studios, online entertainment, and video game companies, including Marvel Studios, DreamWorks, MTV, DC Comics, HLN, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, the History Channel, ESPN, FanDuel, Showtime, and National Geographic.

Now, consider that many of the heads of these global media conglomerates, including Shari Redstone (National Amusements), Bob Iger (Disney), David Zaslav (Warner Bros. Universal), Brian L. Roberts (Comcast), and Rupert Murdoch (News-Corp) to name a few, are also very active in the national political process and continue to fund political action committees (PACs), political parties, and the campaigns of policy makers who create the legislation that can restrict—or expand—press freedom and free expression. Thus, it becomes impossible to see our news content as uninfluenced by corporate ownership.

While independent news outlets and entertainment still exist, there is no doubt that the vast majority of media content we consume is controlled by only a handful of corporate media monopolies. Organizations like the Student Press Law Center, though, help student journalists provide independent, grassroots news coverage. In these times, it becomes more important that student journalists are supported in their efforts to keep our communities informed regarding current events that are relevant to the lives of so many citizens across the country.

Note from the staff: The Forum recognizes the fundamental need for the public to have access to accurate and independent information. We look forward to continuing to deliver objective coverage on all things local and national, as our student journalists remain at the forefront of our reporting.