The Never-Ending Battle That Is Censorship.
Essay Preview: The Never-Ending Battle That Is Censorship.
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Censorship has been a battle that has raged through Journalism in its many forms for years. It has run rampant through High School Journalism for nearly 20, after the Hazelwood court case that gave advisors the right to edit, cut, and censor whatever they think is inflammatory or derogatory. Still even though there is Censorship across the United States there are still some students who fight it, every day.
Clovis, New Mexico three students were suspended in April 2004 when they handed out fliers protesting the administrative censoring of their school paper. The papers editor, Matthew Coker, and two others were sent In-school suspension notices for violating “school procedures” by handing out fliers without telling a teacher. The students were trying to get support from the school after Superintendent Neil Nuttall forced the school principle to reinstate the administrative review of the paper. The students believed that it was due to the December issue that contained a story on the Cancellation of a Attendance monitoring program and a ban on teachers wearing bleu jeans. Coker stated that “because of certain stories that no one thought were inappropriate except Nuttall, hes forcing us back to prior review.”
In April of 2003 four high School Seniors decided to sue their school district for violating the First Amendment. Since 1988s Hazelwood v. Kuhimeier school officials have had a lot of freedom to censor student publications as they see fit. Most of the time, even when students have the grounds to fight, they dont due to fear and a lack of belief that kids can beat the establishment. Most student dont even know the Hazelwood case exists but Wooster, Ohio has four teens who know about te case and plan to use it to their advantage. The students complained that their superintendent stop their December 20th press one, over three lines of copy. These three lines stated that the school board gave preferential treatment to six student athletes caught at a party with alcohol. A U.S. District court Judge, James Gwin, opened a door for the students by naming them a “limited public forum”. Gwin took in account a district policy that protects student journalists from censorship except where the material is obscene, disruptive to the school or defamatory. In November of 2003 the Wooster School District settled outside of court for $35,000 and winning a small victory for student journalists everywhere