Clinic article cited in op-ed calling for “New Voices” law

High school journalists across the country have long provided news reporting, political and social commentary, and valuable perspective on issues of public concern to their readership. In an age of dwindling commercial print media, student journalists also serve as an important source of local news, not only for their classmates but for their surrounding community.

Yet, student journalists operate with varying degrees of speech and press freedom depending on whether their state has enacted legislation safeguarding free expression in school-sponsored media. This patchwork of state protections is a direct result of the Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, which gives school administrators broad discretion to censor school journalists’ speech, while other forms of student speech remain more highly protected.

Georgia high school journalists Sudarshan Prasanna and Ciarra Whimbush have published an editorial calling for a state bill to “safeguard the intellectual and journalistic liberties of students who aim to serve their schools and communities through news reporting.” The op-ed cites a 2021 law review article published by the First Amendment Clinic at the University of Georgia School of Law that explains “why exactly such a law is necessary. Through several interviews of student journalists, researchers at the clinic found that conservative and religious students were often hesitant to write from their own perspectives in fear of potential backlash and alienation. By implementing New Voices in Georgia, the perspectives of all students regardless of belief and background will be protected,” write Prasanna and Whimbush.

Prasanna and Whimbush are respectively president and vice-president of “New Voices 4 Youth Georgia”, a youth-focused organization that works in conjunction with the Student Press Law Center and other groups to advocate for protective legislation and support students that face censorship.