Amelia Hollis, "Freedom of the Press," Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 5, 2009.
Freedom of the Press
by Amelia Hollis—April 5, 2009
She fears her article won't make it into the next issue.
She worries school administrators will censor her story, make big changes or just ban it from publication.
Many student journalists at high schools throughout the Clark County School District have the same troubles.
"Ever since my administration was not completely satisfied with the issue about when Barack Obama visited my school, they have censored our newspaper at Bonanza," an editor at Bonanza High School said.
Administrators at Bonanza declined to comment.
Many Las Vegas Valley schools require students to submit newspapers for review prior to publication. Entire articles have been removed and certain topics banned.
The U.S. Constitution doesn't protect high school journalists' freedom of the press, according to a key Supreme Court case.
"Basically, schools have the right to censor official school newspapers, the ones they pay for, if they have valid educational reasons," said Stephen Bates, a UNLV journalism professor who specializes in media law.
The 1988 Supreme Court case of Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier allowed for stronger administrative control of student publications. According to the Student Press Law Center, however, "the ruling doesn't apply to publications that have been opened as public forums for student expression."
"If a school traditionally let students handle the newspaper without interference, though, the First Amendment might apply more fully, and the school may not be able to interfere unless it can show that the publication will significantly disrupt school activities," Bates said.
The problem for many Clark County school newspapers is most traditionally have not been left to the students. Therefore, administrations can legally and completely censor their school's media.
Administrators try to make sure that order is maintained in the school, within their rights defined by the Supreme Court's ruling.
"If the school newspaper was being used as a tool to simply create controversy and cause an unsafe environment, then, yes, I would definitely want to review it prior to publication," said Jacqueline Carducci, a vice principal at Green Valley High School, who previously worked as adviser to the school newspaper.
Many staffs must submit their entire paper to the administration before publication.
"We have to submit Eye of the Tiger 24 to 48 hours before printing," the Bonanza editor said.
"Yes, our newspaper is censored," said a student editor at Coronado High School. "Not only does it go through staff editing at least four times before publishing, but our supervising dean must also check if all of the stories are 'up to snuff.' "
Not all students have to submit to prior review.
"It's not required," said Cait Belcher, the editor-in-chief at Foothill High School. "Our adviser looks it over, and usually it goes to the press after that."
Belcher said her newspaper has never been "banned" from addressing any topics.
"We've had to watch our wording with touchy subjects like drug abuse and teen pregnancy, and some had to be cleared by the administration," she said. "But, they've all been printed."
At Basic High School, censorship has not been a part of its tradition.
"As far as I know, our newspaper has never been censored, and we currently aren't," journalism adviser Toni Gasbarrino said.
Many high school journalism students feel they are able to distinguish what is acceptable for publication and what is not.
"My journalism students are very sensitive to what is appropriate or not appropriate to print," Gasbarrino said.
Part of journalism education is teaching what is and isn't ethical, and students must be able to make those distinctions on their own.
"Students don't cover many issues that need to be censored anyway," Belcher said. "I believe if the kids at school are already talking about it, or if the (Las Vegas) Valley media is already covering it, it's fair game."
Editor in chief of the Lone Wolf newspaper (Basic HS, Henderson, NV)
