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Law, Ethics and News Literacy
I encourage my staff members to use their skills and abilities inside and outside the journalism classroom to create stories that represent the voice of Mid-Pacific, including what students, teachers, and other school administration have to say about important issues/all topics regarding the Mid-Pacific community. In encouraging this and leading the staff of students who write to speak the truth, it positively shines a light on my vision for Na Pueo, which is for our team to be the connection and source between the student body/others in our school community and all angles behind what really is going on in our school environment. This includes grasping every angle that we can possibly get regarding certain issues/topics. It’s important to me to lead a team of staff members who come through regarding the idea that we are the sources of the answers that people in our school community desire to know because, without us, there would be little to no information that people crave about certain questions that may come about in their everyday school lives. It is for this exact reason that I lead a group of students who carry on this purpose and serve our school with pride, embracing the journalism right of “freedom of press”.
Bill HB1848
This bill protects student journalists' right to freedom of speech when they are associated with school-sponsored media.
The following is the testimony I submitted to advocate for the approval of this bill:
I’m testifying in support of the Hawaii Student Journalism Protection Act. My name is Chelsee Sawai. I am testifying in my capacity as a student journalist of Mid-Pacific Institute and the state of Hawaii. Censorship undermines the education of studnets in the 21st century. Not only does it restrict them from using their voice to educate others, it hides the truth that deserves to be unveiled to others in the community. People deserve to know the whole truth, with the idea that the writers behind what they are reading were not restricted in telling that truth. How would it make one feel if they weren't being told the whole story of a certain situation? It'd be hard to know what actions to do next. Please support this bill not only for the sake of the truth, but for the power of having the freedom to speak that truth.
More Advocacy of Journalism Rights
Similarly, two years ago, my journalism class had the opportunity to go to the State Capitol and witness the legislature pass the bill for Student Journalism Freedom of Speech. This was my class and I's first time being able to witness a bill being passed and enforced thereon.
Real-World Application of Journalist Rights
Two years ago, even during COVID-19, my team and I got the opportunity to meet Emmy and Peabody-award winning journalist and CBS News TV Producer Nikki Battiste via a Zoom meeting. In this meeting, we got to ask a journalist who goes out into the real world about how she applies her journalist values to her line of work, the challenges about her job and how she overcomes them, and why she thinks journalism is something to keep alive and well in today's world and what it's importance is from a stand-point of a professional.
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