As you may or may not know, today is Student Press Freedom Day, a “national moment to stand up for press freedom and recognize the essential role student journalists play in their communities.”
Although each year brings its own challenges and triumphs when reflecting on the theme, this year’s theme asks everyone to showcase Resilience in Action, a theme which “celebrates the ways that student journalists pivot, push forward and raise their voices — even as censorship, intimidation and legal threats escalate.”
As a part of this year's Resilience in Action, I wanted to describe why student journalism is important, impactful and, most importantly, irrepressible.
As a student-run publication, T&C has more freedoms than other, typically college-managed, publications. T&C articles, for example, does not require prior approval from Otterbein. This journalistic integrity allows T&C to pursue stories which Otterbein itself may prefer to dismiss. Case in point: Otterbein Police Department.
While OPD is now the source of great campus security – and endless student complaints – not until fairly recently, its records of criminal activities were kept private. This means that the public could not access the records of people whom the police arrested, commonly referred to as “rap sheets.”
That is, until 2015.
Anna Schiffbauer, Otterbein senior and news editor of Otterbein360/T&C (yeah, it was that long ago), filed a lawsuit against the university and OPD for refusing to provide requested criminal records. (Context: According to Ohio’s Public Records Act, R.C. 149.43, public offices which – according to the Supreme Court of Ohio – include OPD despite it being a private police department, must provide their public records upon request.)
Imagine that:
On one hand, you’re in your last year of college, excited to graduate. On the other, you’re suing the very institution that is handing you your diploma. And then you WIN the lawsuit.
Absolute girlboss.
Thanks to Schiffbauer, citizens can request the public records from OPD without being ghosted. And guess what? The effects of Schiffbauer’s lawsuit are not limited to Otterbein.
In a similar case in 2023, Cedar Point’s Police Department refused to provide local news stations with its own police reports. Ohio’s Supreme Court, citing Schiffbauer’s lawsuit as precedent, ordered Cedar Point’s Police Department to provide its public records.
Now, I have covered why student journalism is important and impactful – not just for our community – but why do I claim that it is irrepressible? It’s simple: “we’re not backing down.”
Student journalism's existential threats of administrative backlash, external intimidation and attempted repression of student journalism seem to have only intensified within the past year. Yet, we are not backing down.
External, louder voices seem to constantly drown us – the rookie reporters – out. Yet, we are not backing down.
We fulfill our duties as the press – to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable – even when our First Amendment rights are violated. Yet, we are not backing down.
So now, I ask you:
Will you join us in our celebration of the free press, or will you be the one to back down?
