College-media bill clears committee

The Senate Education Committee on Wednesday backed additional protections for college journalists and their faculty advisers.

House Bill 1231 by Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, would guarantee rights of expression for student journalists at public colleges and universities in Arkansas, and it would preclude public institutions of higher education from punishing a student media adviser for protecting student journalists.

Lowery told senators that the bill was inspired by an incident at a Springdale high school last year in which school officials censored the school newspaper's coverage of the district's student transfer policies. Administrators at the school also disciplined a faculty adviser over the critical coverage.

[RELATED: Complete Democrat-Gazette coverage of the Arkansas Legislature]

High school journalists already have the protections outlined in HB1231 but not college students.

The bill doesn't provide protections for content that is libelous, slanderous or obscene; wrongfully invades privacy; or incites violence.

The bill already passed in the state House of Representatives and will next be considered by the full Senate.

-- Hunter Field

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