The University of Michigan’s Michigan League building recently hosted a Regional Student Press Workshop by the Student Press Freedom Initiative (SPFI.) The mission of SPFI is simple and easy to understand.
According to their website, it “defends free press on campus by advocating for the rights of student journalists at colleges and universities across the country and offers helpful resources on student press censorship and information on the role of student media.”
The workshop consisted of two speakers from SPFI that presented on legal issues in the media and student’s press rights as well.
“The students that have been at this conference in Michigan have thoroughly impressed me with their ability to drive into the topics and to relate them to the issues that they’ve been going through,” Marie McMullen, Student Press Council at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), said.
The workshop brought students from more than five different academic institutions such as Oakland University, University of Michigan, Washtenaw Community College, Wayne State University and Central Michigan University.
Meghan Bareis, a student journalist at Oakland University attended the conference with members of The Oakland Post in order to gain a better understanding of the complicated media law landscape surrounding the industry.
“My goal was to learn a little bit more about media law because I haven’t been able to take a class at OU about it,” Bareis said.
The Oakland Post’s attendees, which included Editor-in-Chief Chelsea Bossert, Content Editor Mallory Waligora, Campus Editor Adrian Jimenez, Marketing Director Reagan Reetz, and Arts Reporter Maria Magnoli — made up a portion of the approximately fifteen student journalists present at the workshop.
Another student journalist at the conference, Eastern Michigan University journalism student Ameera Salman, commented on how impressed they were by the SPFI workshop and how their staff at The Eastern Echo was as well.
“I’m really passionate about media law, politics and the way those intersect with journalism specifically,” Salman said. “So, I’m really glad that some of us from The Echo were able to make it.”
The workshop included free breakfast, lunch, dinner and refreshments throughout. There were many different resources that were made available to student journalists as well — including pamphlets and student press legal help hotlines.
“Student journalists who attend this workshop can leave empowered knowing that even though media law can be a maze, it can also be one of their greatest tools,” McMullen said. “If they are ever faced with issues like censorship or any problems that arise legally that they have people who have their back.”
If you are a student journalist and you need legal support, or know someone who is currently being censored for their reporting, call the SPFI hotline: 717-734-SPFI (7734). Or visit FIRE’s website at www.thefire.org/.
