New public policy alliance to work on many fronts

By Warren Watson
Director J-ideas

Muncie, Indiana, and Olympia, Washington, are separated by 1,914 miles of prairie grass, tall peaks and raging rivers.

But they are connected today in a most special way – fused by interests which share a mutual desire to promote our democracy through civics education and student journalism.

Ball State’s J-Ideas program, through a new, unique public policy alliance, is shining a light on an energetic Washington state lawmaker who believes that active and unfettered student reporters and editors may be the key to a more informed electorate and community.

State Rep. Dave Upthegrove, a 35-year-old Democrat, has introduced HB 1307, which would give high school and college students true Freedom of the Press, one of the five freedoms guaranteed under the Bill of Rights.  The bill is being considered by the Washington House of Representatives, in the state capital of Olympia.

“It’s important to protect the First Amendment rights of everyone,” said Rep. Upthegrove. “Freedom of speech and press are fundamental to our democracy.”

Upthegrove’s bill, which recently had an initial public hearing, would strengthen free speech protections for students and prohibit censorship of their publications by shifting editorial liability from schools to students. This would make student reporters and editors responsible for any legal problems that might result.
Since 1988, when the U.S. Supreme Court passed the infamous Hazelwood decision, which granted broader censorship authority to school administrators, six states have enacted similar laws: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas and Massachusetts.

J-Ideas, through its new First Amendment Public Policy Alliance, has become an information hub for the bill, reaching out in a public education campaign that reaches beyond both Muncie and Olympia.  It’s all part of a new policy emphasis at J-Ideas, a four-year-old program which supports excellence in high school journalism, First Amendment awareness and news literacy.

But why support an effort 1,914 miles from home?

Well, the First Amendment is in peril.  Just ask anyone who truly cares about openness in government, the free exchange of ideas and the future of our democracy.

Governmental bodies waving patriotic flags continue to move toward secrecy. Reporters struggle to tell the full story.  Cases of censorship of student media expression proliferate.  High school students sit back and yawn.  Their college counterparts cut classes – and dates at the voting booth.

In fact, a 2006 survey sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, of which J-Ideas was a partner, showed that 45 percent of high school students feel that the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees.  And more than 75 percent either do not know how they feel about the First Amendment or take its rights for granted.

 “The purpose of school,” said executive director Dick Johns of the Iowa-based Quill and Scroll Society, an organization for youth journalists, “includes enlightening students and preparing them to be contributing citizens in our democratic society. Both educators and parents know that students best learn to do by doing”

Upthegrove, Johns and J-Ideas all believe that this important civics lesson can be conveyed through a student media not subject to administrative censorship.  “Journalism is the application of civics,” said Upthegrove.

Johns added that the Washington bill would allow students to become active participants in their own schools by eliminating prior review by administrators, which is short for “censorship.”

He added, “Arbitrary censorship and other devices of autocracy do not teach democracy, ethics or responsibility.  They teach hypocrisy, cynicism and tyranny. Too many administrators do not want students ‘to do,’ ” said Johns.

In the coming months, the J-Ideas First Amendment Public Policy Alliance will work in a number of areas, including training and education of principals and administrators in First Amendment education, news literacy, and the advocacy of an Advanced Placement high school course in journalism.

The Ball State institute also is developing a model policy for school districts that would guide administrators in the ever-evolving area of digital free speech.  The policy would recognize that administrators need to maintain order, safety and discipline in the schoolplace in this Information Age, but recognize that the First Amendment must be respected and celebrated as well.

So, the First Amendment battleground in our schools will be a broad one.

The first such skirmish is taking place in faraway Olympia, on the southern shores of Puget Sound.

(Warren Watson is director of J-Ideas, Ball State’s national First Amendment institute.  He is a 30-year journalist who teaches reporting, editing and writing in Muncie.)

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