1 st Amendment Rights 1 st Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redr ID: 526336
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Slide1
Student Journalists
1
st
Amendment RightsSlide2
1st Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of
grievance.
There are restrictions – the 1
st
Amendment does not give ANYONE the right to say whatever they want, whenever they want.Slide3
Limits
In
a private home.
The First Amendment prohibits the government from abridging the freedom of speech, but unless an individual is acting on behalf of the government or as a government agent, she is generally free to prohibit any kind of speech she wants in her own home, or any other private setting, as long as she does so without breaking another law, such as physically assaulting someone.
In
a private workplace.
If you work for a private employer, you generally have no right to free speech in the workplace, and can be disciplined for what you say. However, your employer may run afoul of other laws, such as discrimination laws if you're fired for religious expression, or labor laws if you're fired for reporting labor violations or whistleblowing.
Social
media.
Although social media sites like Facebook might seem like an ideal public forum for posting unpopular or controversial content, as private companies, they are technically free to delete or otherwise censor any content they deem offensive.
School
activities.
Although students at public schools still have the right to First Amendment free speech, their rights may not be as extensive as the rights of adults. For example, in a 1988 Supreme Court case, the court ruled that students' free speech rights weren't violated when school administrators removed articles from a student newspaper that dealt with controversial topics.
Obscene
speech.
The First Amendment does not protect speech or expression that is considered "obscene." This is why child
pornography
is against the law. However, the exact line between obscenity and free speech is often hard to determine. For example, the filmmaker behind
a controversial viral
video was sentenced to four years in prison for making films that were considered obscene, despite his contention that they were "art" protected by the First Amendment. Slide4
Tinker Vs. Des Moines (1969)
At a public school in Des Moines, Iowa, students organized a silent protest against the Vietnam War.
Students
planned to wear black armbands to school to protest the fighting but the principal found out and told the students they would be suspended if they wore the armbands.
Despite
the warning, students wore the armbands and were suspended.
During
their suspension the students' parents sued the school for violating their children's right to free speech. A U.S. district court sided with the school, ruling that wearing armbands could disrupt learning. The students appealed the ruling to a U.S. Court of Appeals but lost and took their case to the United States Supreme Court.Slide5
In 1969 the United States Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision in favor of the students. The high court agreed that students' free rights should be protected and said,
"Students don't shed their constitutional rights at the school house gates."Slide6
Hazelwood Vs. Kuhlmeier (1988)
Students enrolled in the Journalism II class at Hazelwood East High School were responsible for writing and editing the school's paper The Spectrum.
Two
of the articles submitted for publication in the final edition of the paper contained stories on divorce and teenage pregnancy.
The
divorce article featured a story about a girl who blamed her father's actions for her parents' divorce. The teenage pregnancy article featured stories in which pregnant students at Hazelwood East shared their experiences.Slide7
To ensure their privacy, the girls' names were changed in the article. The school principal felt that the subjects of these two articles were inappropriate.
He
concluded that journalistic fairness required that the father in the divorce article be informed of the story and be given an opportunity to comment. He also stated his concerns that simply changing the names of the girls in the teenage pregnancy article may not be sufficient to protect their anonymity and that this topic may not be suitable for the younger students.
As
a result, he prohibited these articles from being published in the paper.Slide8
Because there was no time to edit the paper if it were to go to press before the end of the school year, entire pages were eliminated. The student journalists then brought suit to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, alleging that their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech had been violated.Slide9
The U.S. Supreme Court held that the principal's actions
did not violate the students' free speech rights.
The Court noted that the paper was sponsored by the school and, as such, the school had a legitimate interest in preventing the publication of articles that it deemed inappropriate and that might appear to have the imprimatur of the school.
Specifically, the Court noted that the paper was not intended as a public forum in which everyone could share views; rather, it was a limited forum for journalism students to write articles pursuant to the requirements of their Journalism II class, and subject to appropriate editing by the school.Slide10
Student Press Law Center
SPLC.org
Monthly Podcasts addressing student press issues (mostly college related).
December 2015 – Student 1
st
Amendment Rights in Schools
http://
www.splc.org/multimedia/1176Slide11
Laws and Rights
Student Press
Handouts: 1
st
Amendment and Censorship
Confidentiality and Shield Law
Libel and Privacy
Copyright and Fair UseSlide12
Assignment
In the next week, do some research.
Find an example where an individuals 1
st
Amendment rights were violated (as deemed by a court case or legal proceeding).
Print the story and bring to class for next Tuesday, October 13
th
.
You do not need to write anything, but be prepared to share with the class what
you found.