IP: CENSORED STUDENTS POST THEIR EXPOSES ONLINE: Edupage, September 20 2000

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Funny how we teach our kids about freedom and the bill of rights djf

> High-school students frustrated by the editorial policies of
> their schools' newspapers are publishing their pieces of
> suppressed or "alternative" journalism on the Internet.  Students
> now publish more than 10,000 underground high-school newspapers
> on the Internet, according to the Student Press Law Center.  In
> many cases, these papers print stories that high school papers
> would not run.  Some tend toward gossip or ranting, while others
> are little more than an excuse to mock educators and fellow
> students. Educators worry that even "serious" underground student
> newspapers could be damaging because the students publishing them
> have no one to advise them on the basics of journalism, including
> libel issues. In one case, a Milford, Utah, high school suspended
> a student after it deemed his Web page a threat to students and
> teachers. Criminal charges against that student were dropped,
> however, and courts have generally ruled in favor of a student's
> right to free speech outside of a classroom.
> (Washington Post, September 19 2000)