@#$%^&

For my final paper, I chose a topic that seemed to frequently come up during my research on the roles of student press in academic institutions: criticism of administrative censorship of student newspapers. Because the majority of my sources at least somewhat mentioned or referred to this issue, I figured that it was something I should look further into. As I read more and more into this topic, from its origins in the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier ruling, to recent cases of conflict between administrations and student press staff, it became clear to me that this was a very relevant and complex issue that had many different viewpoints and perspectives involved. Thus, I decided that this was the topic I wanted to pursue for my final paper.

As I read over the different sources that I found for my textual sources assignment, I found myself developing an argument of my own. Once I found the different purposes that student newspapers served on campus, such as being honest news messengers to the student body, it occurred to me that censorship could inhibit the abilities of the newspaper to fulfill such roles. Thus, it was then that I decided that I too would be anti-censorship.

I will admit, however, that there perhaps are certain circumstances under which censorship would be useful. This would be the case if the news department was doing a bad job at filtering content that intentionally offended particular groups of people or contained unnecessarily vulgar content. In this case, either the an administrative figure may need to be present to monitor such information, or a new journalism teacher should be hired.

But in the grand scheme of things, assuming that the content being produced is respectable and inoffensive, but may be controversial in its criticisms of the administration (for example), such content should not be filtered out. It is important to include such content in the newspapers because it comes from the most honest and reliable sources, the students themselves, while also being a way to hold schools accountable for their actions. I’m hoping I can explore this topic further, as it is extremely applicable to today and has many complexities and perspectives to take into account.

Images Cited

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/60472727/censored.jpg

http://www.indymedia.ie/cache/imagecache/local/attachments/sep2006/460_0___30_0_0_0_0_0_student_censorship.jpg