blog
Washington State Hearts Student Press?
Date: 11/17/2008 05:28 pm
It has so far received very little fanfare, but a bill
recently introduced in the Washington state
legislature has the potential to make Washington
the first state to give college and high school newspapers full press
protection. House Bill 1307 would grant student journalists full First
Amendment rights and (a necessary counterpoint) release school officials from
liability for articles published by student newspapers. Rep. Dave Upthegrove,
who introduced the legislation, was first moved by a community college student
whose attempts to protect his paper’s autonomy met with administrative
resistance following the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Hosty vs. Carter,
a case that restricted student free-press rights.
