Chris Dunker  🗞

Morfeld said LB88 is "not a free pass," it requires student journalists to work with an advisor, and does not allow for libel, slander, invasion or privacy, and other guardrails. It also says what's printed is not the stance of the school district.

Sen. Rob Clements moves to amend LB88, striking the section that applies to public high schools. "I think colleges and universities you'll find students 18, 19, 20 years and older might be more responsible or more mature," Clements says.

"The key objection I have is...all school sponsored media are deemed to be public forums," Clements says. "Public forums is the real problem."

Clements says high school students "have a lot of other outlets where they can express their thoughts in public forums." He says LB88 would make sure the school doesn't have control over the student content, which he says the parents want.

As a parent, Clements says he expects the school to reflect his values, and says LB88 would get rid of public control in favor of creating a public forum where anything could be said or written. Which, the bill (and current law) has protections against that.

"This is too broad, too open for abuse," Clements says. He gives a hypothetical of a student who gets disciplined and then writes an article rebutting the punishment without any editorial authority preventing them from doing so.

I'd like to see the research that 18-19-20 year olds make better decisions than 15-16-17 year olds, because folks, based on personal experience I can tell you that's not true.

Groene says he doesn't think having 1 gov't employee (a teacher, probably tenured with a political bent, he adds) should be the one who gives the up or down on an article running in the school paper.

"This bill doesn't create free speech, it creates censorship by one person who decides what's going to be in that paper," Groene says, flipping the bill's intent on its top.

Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair reads from the Society of Professional Journalism's code of ethics, and insinuates several times that working journalists do not hold to them and that we don't want the practices of working journalists to leach down to students.

Sen. Julie Slama, who is a co-sponsor on LB88, says "the sky hasn't fallen" in places where this bill has previously been adopted.

Would be interested to see a Venn diagram of people concerned about cancel culture and people who oppose LB88.

Morfeld says student journalist privacy bills have been discussed in each of the last 4 years, and almost passed on the first go. He chides opponents for cherry picking their objections he says the bill addresses directly.

Sen. Halloran says he doesn't think the Legislature should mandate what the local school districts can and cannot do. He said these decisions about what can be printed in the school paper belong with the school district.

Going back to the N. Platte High School example, Groene says the process worked. The student wasn't able to publish her story in the school paper, so she went to the local paper and got it printed. Groene says school papers aren't meant to cover abortion, elections, etc.

Sen. Blood summarizes Tinker v. Des Moines, which says students don't give up their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate. "I am really concerned when we are trying to restrict those voices," Blood says.

Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard thanks Morfeld for his persistence, but says he still opposes the bill. "I am very concerned about giving authority to the Department of Education," he says, particularly as the state school board is considering new sex ed guidelines.

"I don't know that we need to open this up," Erdman says. Students have access to social media, which he says gives them "plenty of opportunity to share what their opinions are." Folks, Twitter/Facebook/Snapchat can be, but is not always journalism.

Erdman also says he thinks school districts should have some input on what school papers can publish. Omaha will have a different standard for publication than Harrison, he says, which should leave it up to that community.

Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard says he believes schools, if they want to make their newspapers public forums, "can do this already" because of the Tinker decision.

Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk, who owns a broadcasting company, reads Orwell's "journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.” He's supporting LB88.

Flood says he started an underground newspaper in HS and got in trouble for it. "Journalism, in and of itself, is curiosity and the question," he says. Students might make schools uncomfortable, but "they will go onto do great things in life."

"What I look for in a reporter is someone who sees something driving into work and says 'why is that like that?'" Flood asks. He says he has a reporter who "would follow a skunk through the forest to get a story."

"The benefit is some student somewhere is going to be empowered," Flood says of LB88.

Sen. Curt Friesen of Henderson says he believes there needs to be some control in an education setting, and says he believes journalists now are censored by their editors. FYI I've never been censored by @editorontherun. Told to keep it short, maybe, but never censored.

Friesen says he believes college/university students should have free reign to publish what they want, but doesn't think high school students should have the same freedoms because they are still learning.

"For me, the high school level is maybe a step too far," Friesen says.

Sen. Jen Day of Gretna says she's been frustrated by the paternalism of some senators, "that it's their job to protect people, particularly young people, from their own poor decisions." "That's not our job...to restrict other people. Our job is the opposite."