A look back at how SPLC stepped up to support student journalists this year, and how you can help us keep the fight going.
This Giving Tuesday, help SPLC give more to student journalists.
2020 has brought challenges for all of us, and student journalists found themselves at the center of the biggest stories and challenges of the year. At every step, they rose to the occasion, and SPLC acted quickly and decisively to meet their changing needs.
SPLC in 2020: Decisive action to meet unexpected challenges
A Global Pandemic
In the span of two weeks in March, more than 56 million students moved to learning remotely, and the world of student journalism shifted completely. SPLC produced extensive resources and materials to help, including our:
COVID-19 Toolkitanswering student journalists’ and advisers’ top legal questions and collecting all our coronavirus resources in one place
Protests and Police Targeting of Journalists
Student journalists all over the country faced unprecedented police violence while covering this summer's racial justice protests. To help, SPLC released new tools and mobilized more than 40 attorneys around the country to stand by for pro bono rapid response representationin the event that student journalists were detained or arrested. Within hours of the first meeting of the legal network, a student in California required representation, which we were able to quickly provide.
Student Media's Financial Crisis
We worked with experts to create a series of tools and strategies for high school and college journalists to fight budget cuts and diversify funding, while also creating a Student Media Budget (and Program) Cut Trackerto help us better understand and communicate trends in these cuts.
New Voices
Despite the pandemic shutting down state legislatures, SPLC staff and New Voices advocates redoubled our efforts, and everywhere that New Voices bills were considered in 2020, they advanced — through committees, full legislatures and even new laws adopted.
This Giving Tuesday, we need your help
As you consider your end-of-year gifts, please support SPLC. Your donation enables us to provide the kind of help we've just outlined, as well as our core work: the free legal hotline. With your help we can defend student journalists' rights and shift the legal landscape to support student press freedom. Thank you!
