ASNE rallies support for student journalism; Northern Highlands Board of Education tables vote

The American Society of News Editors rallied support for freedom of the press after the Northern Highlands Board of Education in New Jersey planned to enact a restrictive regulation for student publications. The Board tabled its vote planned for Oct. 7 after ASNE and the Student Press Law Center wrote letters explaining why the proposed regulation and the actions preceding it do not promote good journalistic practices.

“ASNE gets involved in these kinds of cases because student journalists need our help and journalism needs our help,” said Kevin Goldberg, ASNE’s general counsel. “Good journalism starts in the schools, and advisers and student journalists often find themselves under a lot of pressure and without a lot of leverage, and that’s where a group like ours can help.”

After SPLC alerted ASNE to the issue, ASNE not only wrote a letter in support of the student journalism program, but also contacted members of the press. NorthJersey.com quickly investigated the issue and on Oct. 6 published an article about the actions taken by administrators in response to a Northern Highlands Regional High School student’s story that, according to NorthJersey.com, “detailed an ongoing dispute between former Superintendent John Keenan and nine tenured administrators and supervisors.”

ASNE had concerns about the Board’s proposed regulation because it incorporated ASNE’s standards in a document that restricted press freedoms and used the 1923 standards instead of the current standards. “ASNE doesn’t envision its Statement of Principles as a tool for government regulation,” Goldberg said. “Based on what we know from this situation, the student journalists and their adviser did not violate ASNE’s current Statement of Principles.”

ASNE has supported student journalists for over a decade through its Youth Journalism Initiative. Additional resources for best practices for student journalists and advisers of student publications can be found at: