House committee advances measure to establish First Amendment protections for student journalists

McKinley High School English teacher Cynthia Reves is in her tenth year as adviser of the student-run school newspaper, The Pinion. She is also the driving force behind House Bill 1848, HD1, which would establish freedom of press protections for student journalists producing school-sponsored media under the Hawaii Student Journalism Protection Act.

Reves was inspired to pursue the bill after learning about New Voices, a national student-powered nonpartisan grassroots movement that seeks to protect student press freedom with state laws.

Researching Hawaii’s own laws and policies proved problematic. According to Reves, “the language just isn’t something that I think we as a state should be proud of,” and Hawaii’s lack of protection means the work of student journalists are subject to censorship under administrative control.

“One of the examples that I just heard last week, the student said they wanted to criticize a program at the school that the school is very proud of,” Reves said. “But the student told me that the administrator said, ‘Oh, we might not let you run that.’

“If we’re going to say we value student voices, we have to actually value what they want to say,” Reves continued. “If they want to criticize a program, then they should be able to, and they should be able to do it in a way that is guided by an adviser, because they’re talking about these kinds of things out in the world. They’re reading about it. They’re talking about it.”

House Bill 1848, HD1 was unanimously approved by the state House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs last week. If it becomes law, student journalists would be allowed to exercise freedom of speech and freedom of the press in school-sponsored media, and advisers would be protected from retaliation for refusing to infringe upon student press freedom.

Lichen Forster, a recent Waiākea High School graduate writing in support of the measure, described her experience with her school’s administration as “stifling and at times censorial.”

“I started Waiākea High School’s student newspaper at the beginning of my junior year, and the first line of feedback from administrators was that everything published would need to go through one of them first,” she shared in written testimony. “This made sense at the time, as it would all be under the school’s name. However, it put pressure on the students and advisor to write pieces that promoted the institution and editorialized the role of the school in many places.

“If we teach student journalists to write with authoritative voices in mind while they’re in high school, we damage the integrity of the industry they are soon to inherit,” she continued. “I wrote an article at the beginning of my senior year about DOE teachers and their union feeling frustrated over pandemic guidelines and rules. The administration removed a couple of quotes of teacher dissatisfaction and the mention of a Facebook group where Hawaiʻi teachers (and parents) were organizing. For the sake of continued goodwill between the newspaper and admin, and for the comfort of my advisor, I chose not to argue the matter. I should have, and I should’ve never been in the position anyway.”

The Hawaii State Teachers Association also testified in support of the measure.

“Research says students who work on high school media learn to think critically, research topics, conduct interviews, write clearly for an audience and work together as a team,” HSTA President Osa Tui, Jr. said via written testimony. “Not only do students who participate in school media improve their basic academic skills, they also understand more than other students about their rights and responsibilities in a democracy. It gives students a voice and allows them to exercise their constitutional right of free speech.

“Hawaii needs a law that protects the First Amendment rights of student journalists and allows them the real-world learning that comes from making the decisions that must be made to produce a student-run newspaper,” Tui concluded.

Rep. Gene Ward (R, Hawaii Kai, Kalama Valley) called the bill a good beginning. “This is kind of the sign of the times. It’s kind of weird that we have to actually say, ‘Hey, students. You’ve got First Amendment rights,” he said. “It’s amazing that principals are taking their journalistic students and censoring them. So this is a good sign, hopefully turning the tide in the other direction, because we’ve got a slippery slope that we’re going to where we control what is true and not true.”

There are exceptions to the measure. Protections would not apply if the work is libelous or slanderous, invades personal privacy, violates state or federal law, is obscene, or causes clear danger or disruption.

In an earlier public hearing before the House committees on education and higher education and technology, Rep. Gregg Takayama (D, Pearl City, Waimalu, Pacific Palisades) noted, “I know some people are concerned that if we pass this law that students may act irresponsibly.”

But, Takayama shared with testifying students, “As a former student journalist learning at Farrington High School and the lessons I learned in responsibility on a daily basis — your responsibilities as a journalist — carried me on to my actually exercising those responsibilities at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and in TV. So the lessons learned by you folks on a daily basis will serve you well in your future careers and lives.”

The bill next goes to the full House floor for a vote and, if passed, will cross over to the Senate for a similar review process. All bills are subject to amendment and change, and the final outcome will not be clear unless and until lawmakers pass the bill in some form and it becomes law with or without the governor’s signature.

A similar bill passed five committees and died in its sixth in 2020 due to the demands of the coronavirus pandemic.