LAW and ethics. 

Stepping into the world of journalism at 13 years old I quickly learned of the censorship that is pushed onto us as journalist. While becoming an active member of The Prospector and Oro publications, I began to learn more about First Amendment student press rights. Particularly, I learned of the lack of First Amendment protections granted to Arizona students . I have worked to become an advocate for student press legislation to raise awareness of the impact that student journalism can have.

Meeting

WITH

SPLC

The process of passing a law was not a topic I was familiar with, so on behalf of my staff I reached out to the Student Press Law Center asking for help with getting our feet in the door.

We were advised to reseach into any pass laws retaining to student journalism in the state of Arizona and found Arizona nearly had one in 2017 before. SB1384 was vetoed by Gov. Ducey. That bill was sponsored by now-Treasurer Kimberly Yee and passed the Legislature with not just bipartisan support, but huge majorities - including 29-0 (1 NV) in the Senate.

My staff and I were given sample bills from SPLC and started to contact our local legislators, inviting them into our newsrooms and for their support with establishing a New voices bill in my state.

After meeting with Hilary and Grayson from SPLC we contacted Rep. Jennifer Pawlik who gave us insight into how the legislative process moves. We learned from these meetings that this process can be both fast and slow, but there is an importance in constancy. We started to work towards getting our sample bill in front of as many legislators as possible.

One of the first legislators I personally reached out to was Rep. David Cook who was a past supporter of SB1384. Within a week we heard back and were invited to our State Capital on December 19, 2023 to meet in person to discuss why there is a need for bills like New Voices. 

Gaining

SPONSORS

When meeting or emailing any potential sponsors, I ensured my legislators had an organized packet which included a sample bill and thoroughly defined what a New Voices Law would entail.

Shortly after meeting with Rep. David Cook he announced his sponsorship of our bill through a podcast he was a guest speaker on in which you can hear him flipping through the bill language packet we had presented him with.

Shortly after meeting with Rep. David Cook me and my co editor in chief were invited back to that state capital to meet with former journalist, Rep. Analise Ortiz as we continued looking for sponsors for New Voices in which she happily signed on with Rep. Cook as a co-sponsor.

Throughout this process, we took a common political route in which ensures our bill. We also where pushing for a bill in the Arizona senate so that if one bill ‘died’ in one chamber, there was a backup bill in another chamber. We meet with senator Juan Mendez to help use gain senate support, in which he helped us gain a sponsor, Sen. Brian Fernandez.

Communicating beyond email

  • Beyond sending emails, my staff and I also sent personalize postcards to Legislators asking for support for the New Voices bill.

  • In total we were able to send over 50 postcards to our Arizona Legislators in which we were invited to our state capital.

  • I’m incredibly proud of my fellow staffers for stepping up and assisting with any emails, postcards, or meetings which greatly helped us.

Reaching

OUT

FOR HELP

Ensuring a bill that protects all students freedoms of speech in Arizona is not a one man job. At Arizona Interscholastic Press Associations Fall convention, my publication hosted a table in which we informed other students about how a New Voices Law in Arizona would benefit them. We collected names and emails that we have used to connect students and other media publication in how they can help pass a New Voices law and stay updated on our progress.

When reaching out to other student journalists, I wanted to make the process of finding their legislators and contacting them an easy/quick process; therefore, I would include screen recordings walking students through the email processes in any email I sent out.

Hosting

PANELS

At the Arizona’s Interscholastic Press Association convention in Fall 2023 me, my co EIC, and my advisor all co-hosted a panel teaching students how they can help lobby for a New Voices Bill. As well as hosted a table in which we could have students leave their names to show support for the bill.

student Press law center Presentation

BILL

HB2147

The official language for our New Voices bill - HB2147 - can be found on the Legiscan website where the the progression of the bill is being updated. As of Feb 7, 2024 the bill has had its second reading on the floor and awaits a hearing from the house’s education committee. Me and my staff have continued our push for support with this bill by emailing legislators urging the importance for a hearing in which we have high hopes of a New Voices bill being signed into law.

Teaching

ETHICAL

JOURNALISM

While building a new publication, one of my main priorities was creating our staff manual. My publication referenced my past Junior High manual from Oro to create a new set of standards — a series of linked documents outlining journalistic ethics, job responsibilities and effective editing habits — for all of the staff to reference. As an editorial board, we walked through each of these documents, including related documents created in prior years that were slightly outdated or less relevant. 

In accompany with our staff manual, we give staffers a syllabus at the beginning of each semester which clearly defines not just classroom expectation but the expectations we hold our staff to as ethical journalists.

Within the syllabus and manual students can find our mission goals regarding local journalism. As it’s a pillar of the community in which we have trusted writers to provide unbiased and timely content.

As well as our mission statement, which stresses the protections under which we operate to inform our community that our ethical code accounted for our rights and limitations.

In my publication we strive for accuracy so we heavily stress to staffers the importance of fact checking all stories, captions, and quotes to ensure the product our community is purchasing is accurate.