Student reporters in Missouri are treated as second-class journalists, according to some who offered testimony Monday to a House committee about a bill that would prevent schools from censoring student-produced media.
Ten witnesses testified to the Emerging Issues committee on the Cronkite New Voices Act, including Tim Tai, an MU journalism student who garnered national attention after university employees refused to allow him to photograph campus protests in November. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield.
If passed, the bill would protect student journalists from censorship, even if the content they produce is for a school-funded publication or uses facilities owned by the school. The bill dictates schools may only exercise censorship if content is libelous, illegal or an invasion of privacy.
The act would override a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Hazlewood v. Kuhlmeier. In the case, the Supreme Court ruled St. Louis high school students' freedom of speech rights were not violated when the school's principal prohibited two articles, one about teenage pregnancy, from being published in the school newspaper.
Thomas Hanrahan, a former adviser at Missouri Southern State University and Missouri Western State University, said student journalists are no different from professionals.
"These aren't student journalists. They're journalists who happen to be students," he said. "Some of the most important journalism we're seeing today, because of resources and other industry challenges, is not coming from our great papers. It's not coming from our great networks. It's coming out of our high schools and our colleges."
Tai said student journalists contribute as much to national news coverage as professionals.
"For years, student reporters have been treated as second-class journalists, and that's a shame, because they are often the only ones tackling crucial issues in schools and on campuses."
He cited a New York Times article about the resignation of UM System President Tim Wofle as an example of student contributions to large news events. The first sentence of the article includes a link to a timeline of events published in the Maneater, the MU student newspaper.
"Because these two newspapers had been on the ground reporting for weeks before national news outlets arrived in Columbia, they were able to produce some of the most comprehensive and informative pieces of journalism about the historic series of events at the university," he said.
The Hazlewood case has prompted numerous examples of unnecessary journalistic censorship in schools, he said.
"These cases show how easily a student publication can cease to be an education platform for young journalists and instead be the school's de facto public relations arm," he said.
Several who testified emphasized the freedom of student journalists is necessary to teach them about the importance of real-world events that take place outside of school.
Mitch Eden, the president of the Missouri Journalism Education Association and an adviser at Kirkwood High School, said many St. Louis schools did not allow student reporters to cover unrest in Ferguson.
"Can you imagine that? Don't cover something as important as Ferguson? This kind of censorship by administrators undermines critical thinking and destroys the quality of student media," he said. "Kirkwood student journalists are modeling civics in action."
Deborah Garner, a retired high school journalism teacher, said her students learned vital skills, not only about accurate reporting, but about the importance of community issues, through high school journalism.
"They learned that issues impacting people need to be covered, and truth is essential," she said. "These are critical skills - higher level learning - that we would like all students to learn, to aid people in every career path and for good citizens in general."
The meeting ended with the testimony from Doug Crews, the executive director of the Missouri Press Association, who said the New Voices act is essential to protect future journalism.
"We think (the bill) would right a terrible wrong in scholastic journalism in Missouri," he said.