The Missouri House of Representatives will hold a hearing on the Cronkite New Voices Act this week. The act, which was originally proposed in 2016, would extend protection to student journalists at Missouri public high schools and state universities. Current law allows educators and schools to censor student journalists’ work without violating the First Amendment.
Representative Judy Morgan voted in favor of the bill last week. Morgan said there are some limitations with the bill. For example, students cannot publish stories that are libelous, provoke violence, or disrupt the educational environment. Morgan said, “The intent is to try to give students some chance to actually be journalists at their school.”
Missouri is home of the 1988 Hazelwood vs. Kuhlmeier case that gave educators and schools the power to edit and censor student work. Executive Director of the Missouri Press Association Mark Maassen says the students in this case were trying to publish stories about teen pregnancy and divorce, leading editors to say the stories could not be published. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of editors and schools, saying they could censor the speech if it related to legitimate education concerns.
“There were some editing practices that took place there that quite frankly don’t fall in line with what people think good journalism should be today,” Executive Director of the Missouri Press Association Mark Maassen said of the Hazelwood case. Maassen said the Missouri Press Association supports the bill because it believes free speech is the cornerstone of today’s society and student journalists should be able to report with First Amendment protection.
The original bill proposed last year included protections for elementary and middle school student journalists, but the new bill addresses only high school and college level student journalists.
Morgan says the hearing this week will determine whether or not the bill is passed to the speaker for consideration, which will decide if the bill comes up for debate on the House floor.