PHOENIX — A Senate panel voted Thursday to give student newspapers new freedom from censorship by school administrators.
SB 1384 specifically declares that student editors — and not administrators — “are responsible for determining the content of school-sponsored media.” More to the point, the legislation would prevent administrators from censoring publications and preventing publication except under four narrow circumstances.
The unanimous approval by the Education Committee came after a parade of student editors and advisers told lawmakers of situations where administrators had stepped in to block stories or cartoons.
Peggy Gregory of Greenway High School in Phoenix, who said she has taught journalism and advised students papers for 36 years, told lawmakers student press freedom was the law of the land following a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring that it was protected by the First Amendment. But nearly 20 years later the same court partly reversed itself, declaring that student newspapers do not have the same constitutional rights as other publications.
After that second ruling, Gregory said, everything changed.
For example, she said students were working on a news story on what she said was a testing program the district liked. That article quoted a teacher who was critical of that testing.
Gregory said the school superintendent instructed the principal to tell her to kill the story or lose her job.
“If they’re only allowed to publish puff pieces, how will they ever learn the power of the press to bring about change, to challenge ideas, to take the responsibility for their words, and to take up the mantle of the great journalists who have preceded them?” she asked.
The shield against prior restraint in SB 1384 is not absolute. The legislation spells out that it does not authorized content that is libelous, an “unwarranted invasion of privacy,” violates federal or state law, or creates “an imminent danger of inciting student to to violate the law or district regulations or materially and substantially disrupts the orderly operation of the public school.”
Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, questioned whether that goes far enough. He envisioned situations where students might use words or publish cartoons that are inappropriate.
But Sen. Kimberly Yee, R-Phoenix, the sponsor of the legislation, said she anticipates those kinds of issues can be handled by the teachers who advise the newspapers. Yee said, though, she might add some language about material being “age appropriate” when the measure goes to the full Senate.
