High School Newspapers Still Censored Thirty Years after Tinker

Abstract

It has been slightly more than three decades since the 1969 Supreme Court Tinker decision that guaranteed freedom to high school newspapers that are forums for public expression and one decade since the 1988 Supreme Court Hazelwood decision which reaffirmed the right of high school principals to censor stories in student newspapers that are not open forums. This study investigates press freedom in high school newspapers at the end of the century. The findings paint a clear picture of a high school student press that is not free, that is controlled mostly by advisers, but also by principals, and that views editing of the paper by the faculty adviser as the norm.