Nov 27, 2009 6:26 pm US/Central
Students Say School Forced Them To Publish Paper
Publication Of Student Paper Had Been Delayed Over Controversial Stories
LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. (CBS) ―
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Students at Stevenson High School say the school forced them to publish the November issue of the student newspaper without some controversial stories about teen drug use, teen drinking and teen pregnancy, or they would fail their journalism class.
CBS
The Stevenson High School Patriots have a First Amendment debate on their hands.
The school newspaper, The Statesman, went to press without a couple of articles this week, following a delay over stories involving teen drug use, teen drinking and teen pregnancy. Some students at the Lincolnshire high school told CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman that they think it's a case of censorship.
The Statesman usually runs 16 pages. The last edition was 12. You also see a feature headline on the front page.
Student Editor-in-Chief Pam Selman said, "We were forced to put out the publication. We had no say on what content went where."
She said the decision to publish the newspaper without the controversial articles followed a delay last week.
According to a school spokesman, an article about alleged illegal activity by students – one that used anonymous sources – was not fit for print.
So, Statesman staffers, hoping to champion First Amendment rights, wanted to go to press with a blank protest page.
Instead, administrators went with the delay to resolve sourcing questions.
"We believe they were censored," said attorney Gabe Fuentes.
He took the student journalists' case pro bono. He said that after the decision to delay printing of this month's paper, students and their parents asked for a meeting with administrators.
They said they left the meeting thinking the paper was on hold for a month.
Then came word that they had to go to print this week and put their names on a product they claimed they had limited say in. According to news reports, the students were given less than two hours to produce the paper – without the controversial articles – or they would fail their journalism class.
Fuentes said, "In our view, that's compelled speech. It's not consistent with First Amendment rights."
Furthermore, the article about alleged illegal activity by students was not part of the issue. Neither was another one about teen pregnancy at the school.
Selman said, "Originally we heard it was unbalanced, unethical. Then we heard, 'You need parental consent.'"
She said she's mad because as a student journalist, she was trying to do what's best for the community and can't be effective if certain material is pulled.
The school has said holding the one article had nothing to do with protecting the school's reputation, and everything to do with the question of anonymous sources. No comment on the second article because the spokesperson wasn't available.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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