February 26, 2021

Student journalists have always done incredible work keeping their schools and communities informed, but the connection and clarity they provide have never been more important than in the past year. In 2020, students conducted an essential service by disseminating public health information related to COVID, informing first time voters of crucial election information, exposing racial discrimination in their communities and fighting for transparency from public officials — all while coping with the sudden shift to remote learning and the personal toll of isolation, risk of exposure to COVID, outpouring of racism and more.

The theme for Student Press Freedom Day 2021 is Journalism Against the Odds in acknowledgment of the phenomenal news coverage student journalists produced despite being faced with these incredible challenges.

Student journalism keeps us connected and informed. It is a public good that we must protect. As 17 year-old Lily Wobbe told Teen Vogue, “There’s no reason we should be censored and prevented from covering things like gun control or racism or climate change, because these things impact our lives just as much as they impact adults’ lives.”

Join the movement to protect student journalism!

Take Action for Student Press Freedom

Take Action

Feb. 25 — Student Journalism Forum

8 p.m. ET via Zoom

Join other student journalists from across the country for a town hall conversation on what student press freedom means to you, what you overcame in the past year, and what you can do to strengthen student press freedom moving forward.

Feb. 25 -27 — Screen the Documentary “Raise Your Voice”

From February 25-27, production company GoodDocs and Maribeth Romslo, the documentary filmmaker behind Raise Your Voice, will be generously making her film available for streaming by the student press community, in honor of Student Press Freedom Day. The film follows the student journalists at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as they navigate their school mass shooting as both survivors and journalists. Every person who wants to watch the movie must register. We encourage you to host a screening with your newsroom, or join SPLC staff as we watch on Friday, Feb. 26th at 12:30 p.m.

Feb. 4 — Op-Ed Boot Camp

In preparation for Student Press Freedom Day 2021 (Feb. 26), veteran journalist Steven A. Holmes led a workshop for students giving them guidance on how to craft and pitch op-eds. Check out the full recording now:

Watch the boot camp

Feb. 17 – Press Briefing

The Student Press Law Center released a white paper chronicling our findings regarding the censorship and intimidation challenges student journalists faced over the past year. Then, we held a press briefing on Feb. 17th, to go over these findings and answer questions for news media.

Watch the briefing

Read the white paper

Student Journalism: Understanding the Challenges

Targeting & Censorship of Student Journalists

Reckoning with Racial Justice

Journalism in the Time of COVID

Elevating Civic Engagement

21 Excellent Stories of Student Journalism Against the Odds

read their Stories

New White Paper on Censorship of Student Journalism in 2020:

REad the White paper

REad the Press Release

Use #StudentPressFreedom

#studentpressfreedom

Student Press Law Center @SPLC·

16h

Want legal and reporting tips, censorship stories and the latest news about #studentpressfreedom? Subscribe to SPLC's weekly newsletter: https://bit.ly/307TGMw

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DPMHS Student Media @ThePearlPost·

16h

Incase you missed our IG from Friday, here is a compilation of our videos for #StudentPressFreedom day.
Follow our Tik Tok @ThePearlPost

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Student Press Law Center @SPLC·

18h

When you protect #StudentPressFreedom, you keep communities informed and ensure students can cover issues that directly affect them: stories like these 21 about COVID, gun violence, racial injustice, sexual misconduct allegations and more. https://bit.ly/3k5lF8D

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FIRE@TheFIREorg·

2 Mar

College presidents should be answering questions from student journalists — not forbidding them from asking in the first place.

Now, student journalist Jared Nally will get his answers in court.

https://www.thefire.org/lawsuit-student-reporter-sues-university-president-for-forbidding-journalism/ #StudentPressFreedom

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FIRE@TheFIREorg·

2 Mar

NEW LAWSUIT

Jared Nally is fighting for his rights — and the rights of student reporters across the country.

Learn more: https://www.thefire.org/lawsuit-student-reporter-sues-university-president-for-forbidding-journalism/ #StudentPressFreedom