Tweet6: Blueprint provides outline for passing free-expression laws
Eight states have passed laws to provide Hazelwood immunity. Could you protect yourselves? #25HZLWD http://jeasprc.org/tweet6-blueprint-provides-outline-for-passing-free-expression-laws
It’s obvious, by the frequent reports of administrative prior review and restraint across the country, that there is a lack of clarity about the law and the First Amendment rights of students.
The waters, muddied by the 1988 Hazelwood Supreme Court decision, are much more clear now in eight states where anti-Hazelwood legislation has passed: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Oregon and North Dakota.
For the student press in all other states, there is a constant tug of war between student journalists and their administrators over what is allowed: Under what circumstances is administrative control over content justified? What recourse do students have when their rights have been infringed upon? What is the role of the adviser? Who is liable when unprotected speech slips through and is published?
It has become clear that, in the states where legislation has passed, these questions now have answers; in the states where there is no clarifying law, the answers to these questions are ill defined. There are no winners in the resulting tug-of-war between school administrators, their districts, and the student press.
in March 2012, a team of SPRC Commission members poured over archives documenting successes and failures in passing legislation, and created a downloadable “Promoting Scholastic Press Rights Legislation: A Blueprint for Success.” This document was updated in February 2016.
This guide is not a guarantee of success, but the SPRC hopes that it will offer insights into the challenges, and will be a practical reference for those who choose to navigate the unpredictable waters of the legislative process. The information will also be available on our homepage, in the menu section, on the right.
To help provide background information about the Hazelwood decision, download this legal research by the First Amendment Center:
http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/resources/handout1a.aspx?id=13970
Additional resources:
- Information about states that have passed state legislation OK
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/statelegislation.asp
- Model Policies, Legislation and Regulation
http://www.splc.org/page/model
- California Leonard Law
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/law_library.asp?id=13
- Press freedom at a public junior and senior high school
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/legalresearch.asp?subcat=1
- About our legal system
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/legalresearch.asp?id=1
- Cure Hazelwood
http://www.splc.org/section/cure-hazelwood
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And the number keeps growing
As much as we don’t want to see it or accept it, the number of student media being restrained grows rapidly.
For instance:
• In Boonville, Mo, the superintendent stopped distribution of The Pirate Press reportedly because the paper had not been reviewed as it was supposed to be. Coverage in the local paper did not report reasons for the stoppage in its first article. Look for an update soon.
• In Arizona, former student journalists are pursuing legal action in an attempt to continue fighting censorship of their high school’s newspaper.
• In Oregon, an student editorial on a community project so angered a former school board member he threatened the adviser and administrators now require all articles, including editorials, to be bylined.
If you are aware of more instance like these, please let us know using this blog’s comments or contact the SPLC or JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission.
The more we know about censorship and its ally prior review, the more we help each other to fight them.
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