Raising Up New Voices

• Author: David L. Hudson Jr.
• Pages: 64-66

64 || ABA JOURNAL MARCH 2018

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Raising Up New Voices

The ABA supports greater freedom of expression for student journalists

By David L. Hudson Jr.

The New Voices movement,

which seeks the passage of state laws

providing greater free-expression

protections for student journalists

at both the high school and college

levels, now has the support of the

American Bar Association.

In August, the ABA House of

Delegates endorsed a resolution

that “urges all state, local, territorial

and tribal legislative bodies to enact

statutes and school districts to adopt”

policies that safeguard student jour-

nalists from censorship.

The resolution also would protect

school advisers from retaliation for

defending student journalists. It

emphasizes that “criticism of gov-

ernment policies or programs, or

the discussion of issues of social or

political controversy, is protected

speech in journalist media, regardless

of the medium’s school a liation or

sponsorship.”

“It seemed a natural fi t to ask

the American Bar Association to

take a stand in support of this basic

constitutional freedom and the edu-

cational value to students that goes

with it,” says Stephen Wermiel,

co-chair of the First Amendment

Committee in the ABA’s Section

of Civil Rights and Social Justice

and a constitutional law professor

at American University’s Washington

College of Law.

“The validation of the ABA is

incredibly meaningful because

it broadens the coalition coming

together to say that protecting

journalism in schools is a matter

of civic urgency,” says Frank

LoMonte, director of the Brechner

Center for Freedom of Information

at the University of Florida.

“We’ve already had enthusiastic

buy-in from the Society of Profes-

sional Journalists, the American

Society of News Editors and others

knowledgeable about the teaching

and ethical practice of journalism,”

LoMonte says.

“To have the most authoritative

voice of America’s legal community

joining that chorus makes it clear

that censorship is not a ‘journalism

problem’ but a fundamental con-

cern for all those who care about

human rights and informed civic

participation.”

HAZ ELWOO D’S SHADOW

The New Voices movement

started as a brainchild of LoMonte’s

during his time as executive director

of the Washington, D.C.-based

Student Press Law Center, where

he worked from 2008 to 2017. New

Voices emphasizes the need for such

statutory protections in light of the

U.S. Supreme Court’s 30-year-old

decision in Hazelwood School District

v. Kuhlmeier.

The 1988 case gave high school

principals strong authority to censor

school-sponsored student speech. In

Hazelwood, the court reasoned that