The National Scholastic Press Association\nadvocates the adoption of New Voices legislation across the country as sound\neducational practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The association, with its partner organization\nAssociated Collegiate Press, represents thousands of high-school and collegiate\njournalists and their journalism teachers and advisers. Its prestigious\nPacemaker Awards honor the top student journalism in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those students, it is crucial to be\nchallenged to produce responsible journalism. New Voices legislation protects\ntheir rights, and it supports the advisers and teachers who train them,\ncritique them and challenge them to excel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our top student journalists gain invaluable\nskills. They research and report. They write and they edit. They create photos\nand illustrations. They produce audio and video. They learn about ethics and\nmedia law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They excel in academic environments that protect\ntheir First Amendment rights, as they are guided to report with accuracy,\nfairness and responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A growing number of state governments \u2014 now\n18 of them, across the country \u2014 have enacted New Voices legislation.\nThose laws expand rights and responsibilities provided by effective school\ndistricts that already engage their students to think, to edit and to discern\ninformation in all forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This educational process had been in place for\ndecades until it was upended with a 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hazelwood\nv. Kuhlmeier. That narrow decision gave administrators at public high schools\nthe authority to squelch student expression, restrain content and even censor\nit. It undercut the trained teachers and advisers who teach students to be\nresponsible. It has even been applied erroneously to some collegiate\njournalists, citizens of voting age, whose college administrations use\ndraconian measures to harm their own students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wise educators, administrators, school-board\nmembers and parents engage their students through freedom. Journalism is no\ndifferent from art, civics, debate, forensics, literature and theater. When\nstudents are given freedom in an environment of responsibility, they excel,\nfrom there into their post-secondary endeavors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students and educators not protected by such\nlegislation are not just restrained and censored, they are burdened with a\ncompetitive disadvantage as they prepare to become effective citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New Voices legislation is not a blank check for\nlibel, for student journalists to hurt other students, for unrestrained freedom\nto do harm. It supports trained journalism educators and administrators who\nteach, train and challenge students to be both engaged and responsible. It\nprotects student journalists to explore the issues of the day, to examine and\nreport on controversies, to seek solutions, to help fellow students navigate\nthe challenges of their school, their city, their state, their country and\ntheir world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The National Scholastic Press Association and Associated Collegiate Press join the students, educators and parents who support New Voices legislation across the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n