Future of First Amendment speaker: Essential student journalists need protection

Summary

The executive director of the Student Press Law Center, Gary Green, spoke at Augusta University on March 11 to advocate for student journalism.

In this recently released video recording of the event, Green pointed out that student journalists at high schools and colleges have an increasingly important opportunity to step in and report on news in their local communities, which have often become news deserts as local newspapers close.

“More than half of US counties don’t have [local] news anymore….student journalists are filling critical gaps in your local news,” he commented.

He further urged K-12 schools to emphasize teaching journalism—teaching everything from fact finding and reporting, to objectivity and the importance of staying informed.

Green also underlined the dangers journalists face today, and urged colleges to take out liability insurance to protect their student journalists from lawsuits, since lawsuits are an increasingly common problem journalists face when their reporting ruffles the wrong feathers.

The talk was hosted as part of the Communication Department’s annual Future of the First Amendment event and was sponsored by the Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and the AU Libraries. Support also came from the AU Department of Communication, the AU Student Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Phoenix, the Bell Ringer and Jag News, as well as the Augusta Press.

Gary Green’s talk begins at 7:55 in the below video.