The First Amendment is our right
Embedded Files
My adviser, Mrs. Roskens, had just huddled the editorial team together for a quick minute right before we had our picture taken for the yearbook. It was there that she delivered some disappointing news. She explained that after talking with an assistant principal and reading up on the new Texas Education Agency walk out recommendation, there would be some challenges to covering a walkout that would take place in a few days as our school wouldn't condone it. Ultimately, considering the circumstances, the editorial team and I decided to not cover it. But this wasn't just a simple decision — it was one made with frustration and hesitancy, and it reminded of the current state of student press rights.
As the Editor-in-Chief of the online publication, I have three major goals to ensure the quality and ethics of our coverage:
Stay unbiased and provide all perspectives
Prevent student censorship and protect my team
Fact check when needed
My New Voices TX advocacy
The journey that led me here is a similar story mentioned above. As an eager new member of the team, I wanted to cover a hot topic discussed among students then -- the book bans that the Trump administration was enforcing. Even in the start, I was sent from source to source as I tried to get basic information, and the end, the school administration refused to give me any information around how they were responding to the book bans, so I couldn't proceed with the article. While I understand that there were some liability issues, it still made me frustrated on how I couldn't write a news article on a current issue — my First Amendment rights were taken away then. I complained about it at the time, but now I don't just complain. I'm actively doing something about it, not just for myself, not just for my team, but for all the student journalists in America who felt censored like me.
Without further ado, let me introduce my role in NVT:
It is my job to spread our fight for a New Voices TX bill and student censorship rights by helping to manage clubs throughout Texas and creating resources for them.
I also co-host a podcast with my fellow officer, Sydney Ortiz, where we make our message accessible and easily digestible to all.
During TAJE Fall Fiesta, some officers and I had the opportunity to reach an audience of 35+ student journalists and their advisers and present our mission in a talk.
It was at this event where we had student journalists come forward and share their stories of censorship, fostering a sense of community and connection.
One of the students we conversed with even reached out to us later for an interview on our NVT advocacy work, spreading our message even further.
Right now, I'm planning a student press rights webinar with my fellow officer, Zara Bukhari, for Scholastic Journalism Week from Feb. 23 to 27.
This is one of the most important weeks of the year for me as I find that this is the time that I can let student journalists' and my voice be heard by influential professionals in this field along with Texas politicians.
I made this flyer to help promote our webinar, which is now being promoted on the Student Press Law Center website thanks to our close connection with them, and our official Instagram
How does my advocacy translate into the ENO newsroom?
I plan on helping to educate my teammates by sectioning some time off each class period from Feb. 23 to 27 to do informative activities on the First Amendment and specifically student press rights. It's crucial that my team knows their press rights in case they are threatened in one of their future articles and it is a must that they're informed on proper journalistic ethics. Of course, I won't make this education a snooze fest for them — below are two activities I plan on introducing during class time.
Writing "love" letters to the First Amendment
Writing "love" letters to the First Amendment
It may sound cheesy, but this letter could be as simple as stating why the freedom to protest or speak has been important in history or now. Or it could be the time to share a story of previous censorship.
Is it ethical or not? Flashcards and discussion
Is it ethical or not? Flashcards and discussion
I will give a scenario on flashcard and hand it to each one of my teammates (and give one to myself!). We will all go around and read out the scenario and discuss whether it is ethical or not. I know some situations will not be so black-and-white, but that's all the more opportunity to discuss!
Case Study: Picking apart the ethics of my own article
My part of this project was writing the article and it forced me face my ethical standards and knowledge because not only was it a controversial topic in which some students didn't want their quotes inputted, but I had to accurately navigate a religion (Christianity) that I had little knowledge on. I knew here that preventing misinformation and bias was key along with respecting sources that didn't want to answer certain questions.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse