Reporter for FL high school paper told she can't write about medical marijuana amendment for paper.

[madfloridian]

There is just something so wrong with a journalism teacher telling a student she can not do this. Even worse is the reason the teacher gave....that their school paper was about "marketing and being a mouthpiece" for the school.

I take this personally. Many years ago I wrote for, helped proofread, and get the articles and ads blocked for the printer.....for this very newspaper. A long time ago...but that high school paper then encouraged our minds to think and write about pertinent things.

We were not a marketing tool for the school, and we were not just a mouthpiece. Sure we had to be careful, and we had to get what we wrote approved by the powers that be. But that is to be expected.

LHS Student Fights for Publication of Article on Medical Marijuana


Abbey Laine, a Lakeland High School senior and reporter for the school magazine, the Bagpipe, wants to do a news story about medical marijuana, but has been turned down.
SCOTT WHEELER | THE LEDGER

An editor of Lakeland High School's student magazine wants to write about the proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize medical marijuana.

"It does not fit into what we do. That type of article does not fit our audience," said Frank Webster, director of the school's Multimedia Communications Academy. "We are primarily about marketing and (being) a mouthpiece for Lakeland High and Harrison School of the Arts."

....Laine had a cancerous tumor on her kidney when she was 2 and had to have a year of chemotherapy and radiation to recover. Her chemo treatments led to several other problems, including anxiety and heart problems.

The principal backed the teacher. As expected the county's school lawyer backed the teacher and principal, fearing a lawsuit over it.

Laine had another opinion from The Student Press Law Center.

Frank Lomonte, executive director at the Student Press Law Center, a national organization that advocates for student First Amendment rights, said that is problematic and could be grounds for a lawsuit.

He said schools have to present an "educationally reasonable" justification to keep an article out of a student publication.

I wish her good luck. Read about some of her interviews, and her own experiences with cancer.