Meghan Morris, The Spoke’s assistant managing editor, has been named to a new Journalism Education Association national initiative that will serve as a student watchdog against publication censorship.
She was one of eight students chosen from an international pool of 28 applicants for the Scholastic Press Rights Student Partners program.
“I feel honored for such a great opportunity and I look forward to advancing the First Amendment and protecting scholastic journalistic for years to come,” said Morris, a junior at Conestoga.
In her application essay, Morris quoted John Milton: “‘Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.’ This liberty is the essence of the First Amendment, and the core of journalism. Through freedom of the press and speech, journalists have the power to better our democracy, an influence that few Americans ever have, and an influence that too few high school students fully understand. As a Scholastic Press Student Partner, I will raise awareness of the First Amendment and its relevance to both high school journalists and high school students in general.”
The program will employ social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, to reach out to students and will act as a “quick response team” to immediately respond to threats of censorship.
For more information, visit: http://www.jeasprc.org/45words/
