Mira Nalbandian

This year’s Student Press Freedom Day is Feb. 24. Unmute yourself is the Student Press Law center’s theme for this event.

The Pathfinder student newspaper began in 1968—the year Parkway West opened its doors to the students of West County. Throughout our history, the paper has written about plenty of controversial topics. While not every story has been well-received or received at all, we write every one of them with great care and attention to detail. We believe this is our responsibility as journalists and as students of the Parkway School District. 

Freedom of the press has not always been aptly applied to student journalism or even American journalism in general. The Alien and Sedition Acts approved just 11 years after the Constitution was adopted were an early limitation to publishing criticism of the government. During World War I, new laws restricted journalists’ freedom during wartime. As recently as 2020, about 125 freedom of the press violations occurred from May 29 to June 1 as police used violent tactics, including arrests, to suppress journalist voices.

Yet, one event that has been uniquely important to us as journalists in St. Louis is the infamous Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier case. The Supreme Court ruled that student publications are not granted the same freedoms and protections as professional ones. The Court stated that student publications were never intended to be public forums. We disagree.

While the Pathfinder is indeed an educational “supervised learning experience for journalism students,” as Justice Bryon White wrote, we are first and foremost a publication—a place for our staff to express their thoughts, opinions, ideas and to share the stories of our community. We are grateful that our administration has allowed us to do so.

This Feb. 24 marks the fifth annual Student Press Freedom Day, created to increase awareness of the struggles student journalists face and to celebrate their involvement in upholding press freedoms in their communities. This national day was established in 2018 by the Student Press Law Center with different themes surrounding each year. This year’s theme, “Unmute Yourself!,” encourages students to advocate for themselves and combat censorship in the media. 

As student reporters, we are not only responsible for educating our community and empowering student voices, but we are also the building blocks that unite our school. Despite the changes and challenges of the year, we have celebrated our peers’ successes, shared underrepresented stories and shed light on those who are struggling. This Student Press Freedom Day, the Pathfinder reflects on what freedom of the press means to us, and why it is so imperative that we are allowed to tell the stories of our community.

We asked our staff why freedom of the press is important to students. Their responses are below.

Makinsey Drake, Staff Writer

“Having the freedom of [the] press is important to me because I love to write about things that interest me and that I know will interest others. Whether it is a controversial topic or an opinion/stance some may not agree with, I enjoy the freedom to pick and choose the topics I investigate and report. Being able to cover a wide variety of subjects and issues keeps things interesting for me while simultaneously making my work more broad, bold and enticing to readers.”

Addie Gleason, Opinions/A&E Editor

“As my peers and I grow older, we become less sheltered from the world around us. Especially with a pandemic bringing light to issues and creating even more divisions within society, there are a lot of problems I’ve noticed within my communities. Freedom of [the] press is very important to me as a student journalist because it has allowed me to speak out about issues that I care about and bring more awareness from a perspective that older generations might not be aware of. Along with speaking about issues that I care about, freedom of [the] press allows me to read articles from other student journalists and learn about the issues in other communities. It’s important to me that our voices are not silenced because the press allows us to interact with one another and have open, respectful conversations about issues that we care about.”

Elizabeth Franklin, Staff Writer

“As a student journalist, I believe that freedom of [the] press is important because I can write what I need to write, no matter the subject, without any repercussions or backlash from the government—they can’t arrest me for anything that I write, journalism-wise unless I knowingly break the law. I believe it’s important because censorship of journalism won’t help us tell the truths that need to be told and I believe that freedom of press holds the government—and others—accountable.”

Brinda Ambal, Conceptual Editor-in-Chief

“[Student press freedom has] given me so much confidence, compelled me to educate myself and offered me a sense of safety in representing the voices of those around me. Seeing the community light up or engage with [the] content we publish and having it lead to meaningful discussion is not always possible under restricted press rights, and I’m grateful that we have great administration who support freedom of the press in schools despite living in a Hazelwood state.”

Chris Reed, CJ1 Writer

“I have to write the stories and cover important events. Sometimes the events aren’t socially acceptable or avoided. If I can’t write about them, nobody will ever learn about them. Not having freedom of [the] press also hinders my creative abilities because I can’t write about what I want to write about.”

Leah Schroeder, Managing Editor-in-Chief

“Having the freedom of [the] press is important to me as a student journalist because I believe that voicing your opinion and the opinions of others is very important. We have seen plenty of controversial issues in our community, especially recently, and I appreciate covering both sides as a student journalist to accurately portray what our community is experiencing. I also think that many people can learn from hearing opinions different from their own, so I am glad that we have the freedom to represent a variety of opinions within our publication.”

Sophia Johnson, Yearbook
“Having the freedom to express opinions and facts can be stated in many ways. Many people claim government propaganda affects much of the news and I think there is some truth in that but by having a voice of my/our own we can share our truths and events. We also decide what to publish and what not to publish. The more people who share their voice the more transparent and inclusive the world and our community can be.”

Elle Rotter, Awards Coordinator

“It is important to get the most accurate information out when we are writing in journalism. If we are being censored, that may not always happen, so that’s why it is a blessing to have freedom of [the] press as high school students. It’s already a risky thing that we do—calling out actions of the school or bringing awareness to controversial topics—so being able to do that without being censored is an amazing freedom to have.”
Anshu Chappidi, CJ1 Writer

“[Freedom of the press] is important to me as a student journalist because it allows us to convey important issues that affect us on a day to day basis and spread knowledge about what students and teachers deal with without having a filter blocking out the truth.”

Ashlyn Gillespie, News and Sports Editor

“If there is something that I decide not enough people are talking about, I need the freedom to dive deep into the subject and show the world. [So,] having that drive to point out the not-so-obvious is contingent on having the freedom to do so.”

Madi Michajliczenko, Staff Writer

“Freedom of the press allows students like us to bring light to important issues within the school. Issues that may be swept under the rug to keep up the school’s reputation. Parkway West has many of these issues that typically are not spoken about. From redistricting schools to burnout in gifted students to problems with parking, students and teachers need to be aware of what is truly happening in the community. Without this freedom, important issues would be ignored and that ignorance would bring harm to those who need to be spoken about.”