Know Your Rights as a Student Journalist

Julia Landy

Florida Student Journalist of the Year

Eagle Eye News Editor-in-Chief

Quill & Scroll President

First Things First:

The First Amendment

Five Freedoms:

Religion

Speech

Press

Assembly

Petition

Freedom of Speech:

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• You are entitled to unpopular speech– including opinions some may disagree with or that speaks out against authorities, so long as it is truthful.

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• Ideas that are unpopular are not necessarily bad, and therefore can be expressed.

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• The government may not censor your speech

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Nine exceptions:

Earlier, we mentioned that you are entitled to express unpopular opinions as long as they are truthful. This means, that untruthful speech, also known as slander/libel, is NOT covered under free speech.

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However, slander and libel are NOT THE ONLY exceptions to free speech….

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When it comes to the legality of journalistic free speech, libel and slander are considered defamation. There are eight other exceptions to free speech.

Nine exceptions:

The other exceptions are…

• Obscenity – sexually explicit material that fit the following three criteria: material is unwholesome, sexually offensive and serves no scientific or artistic purpose.
• Fighting words – Words that inflict a violent or dangerous response, such as shouting “FIRE!” in a crowded theater.
• Child Pornography – sexually explicit content depicting minors.
• Perjury – lying under oath.
• Blackmail – threat to reveal harmful information if a demand is not met.
• Incitement of lawless action – words that promote or insight criminal activity, such as asking constituents to storm the Capitol.
• True Threats – making a threat to someone’s safety.
• Solicitations – requesting someone to engage in criminal conduct.

Limitations

Earlier, we mentioned that the GOVERNMENT cannot censor your speech. However, as student journalists, the school or school district, depending on where you live, is able to.

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The majority of schools go by one of two standards: The Hazelwood standard or the Tinker standard.

Tinker

The 1969 case, Tinker v. Des Moines dealt with student suspension for wearing armbands in protest of the Vietnam war.

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Decision: Students hold the right to free speech within schools so long as they do not cause a substantial disruption or infringe on the rights others.

Hazelwood

The 1988 case, Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier dealt with a case of a school censoring a student newspaper for publishing sensitive topics, such as teen pregnancy.

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Decision: If a school board deems that information posted by a source of student media sets a “valid educational concern,” they are permitted to censor it.

So where does BCPS stand?

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While BCPS technically operates under the Hazelwood precedent, meaning the school board and school administration hold the right to prior review every piece of media we publish, we operate under Tinker by practice, meaning that we are not required to show them our materials.

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What does this mean for you as a journalist?

We, as a publication must do our best to uphold journalistic standards and ethics to avoid prior review.

What is Prior Review?

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Prior Review is when the administration requires we show them everything we create before it is published.

Dangers of Prior Review

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• At Eagle Eye News, we publish dozens of stories weekly. When we write news, we make sure it is timely, meaning that it is published around the time of the event.
• If we wait for administration to review each piece, we are no longer timely, and therefore no longer competitive and therefore no longer news.

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Dangers of Prior Review

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Additionally, prior review almost always leads to prior restraint, which is when administrations tells a staff that they are not permitted to publish a piece of information.

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This is a form of censorship!

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Avoiding Prior Review

In order to avoid prior review, we must….

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• Make sure to follow journalistic ethics, meaning that we DO NOT post anything that is an exception to freedom of speech
• Spell check and fact check each story. Poor spelling/grammar is a basis for censorship under BCPS and the Hazelwood standard.
• We NEVER make up fake facts, stories or quotes.
• When we work on sensitive stories, we keep administration in the loop in order to maintain good favor.
• We NEVER allow anyone who is not on staff to see a story before we publish it. To ensure accuracy, you may share used quotes with the source, but nothing more.

Avoiding Censorship

At Eagle Eye News…

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• We are very fortunate to have a principal who wholeheartedly supports student journalism and the four journalistic programs offered at MSD.

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• Mrs. Falkowski is opposed to student censorship, but at the end of the day, she is an employee of the school and cannot prevent the school or district from censoring you.

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• It is your responsibility to ensure that every piece you create is in line with journalistic standards and ethics in order to avoid censorship and promote news literacy.