Free student press leads to tomorrow's professional journalists

By Gerry Appel
J-Ideas Education Specialist

Feb. 15, 2007

When our Founding Fathers were establishing this country, they were sure to grant Freedom of the Press, knowing that the government would need a watchdog.  While student journalists are certainly different from their professional counterparts, they share at least one thing in common—both have First Amendment rights, despite what some may claim.  And these rights would be secured in House Bill 1307, sponsored by Dave Upthegrove.

Elizabeth Hovde’s column from Feb. 1 in the Columbian did make some valid points, but I believe she has missed the bigger picture.  When utilizing First Amendment rights, students not only become betters journalists, but better citizens as well.

Students learn about the First Amendment through their civics classes—but how seriously will students take the Bill of Rights if they are not allowed to practice their freedoms?  Are high school students really not old enough to responsibly write stories about their schools?  With knowledgeable journalism teachers in place, students can learn responsible reporting, which benefits the school as a whole.

This is also a time when students need all the help they can get when it comes to the First Amendment.  According to a study released by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, our students are leaving the First Amendment behind. Nearly 75 percent of students surveyed do not know how they feel about the First Amendment, or they take it for granted, and more than a third think the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees.  And the frights don’t stop there—49 percent of students do not think the professional press should be able to publish freely.  If we censor our student publications, how will this attitude possibly change?

Hovde also overlooked what can happen to journalism programs when the threat of censorship looms overhead.  How can a journalism teacher confidently lead students programs when a “mistake” can cost a teaching job?  Students will also display less confidence in their reporting when principals can tower over them, threatening censorship.

Students’ rights apply further than expressing themselves through blogs and underground publications, as Hovde suggests.  To imply that the effort and careful planning students put into newspapers does not give them ownership over their work is insulting.  Mike Hiestand, a legal consultant for the Student Press Law Center, explains, that unless students are being paid by the school, they retain all intellectual property rights.
Hiestand also commented that while school officials are often referred to as “publishers,” professional newspaper publishers are private owners, not government officials, which principals and superintendents clearly are.

The student journalists of today are also the professional journalists of tomorrow.  With strong First Amendment protections in schools, students will have the confidence and the freedom to craft better pieces of journalism.  This early experience will no doubt pay off as students enter college, and then take up the role of professional journalists later on.  The Columbian would directly benefit from a student free expression law that would create better journalists who could take up the reins at this newspaper.

Better journalists, and better citizens—that’s what we will see if this bill becomes law.

(Gerry Appel is education specialist of J-Ideas, a national journalism institute based at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. J-Ideas encourages excellence in student journalism and First Amendment awareness.)

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