The 2023 Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference was a rewarding week, filled with engaging discussions of nuanced topics, presentations from renowned speakers, and interactions with amazing student journalists from around the country. Most people aren’t able to honestly say they have a friend in each state, but I left this program truly feeling as though I had made long-lasting and meaningful connections with each representative. 

When we think of the word diversity, we usually tend to gravitate towards terms like race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. However, this experience has allowed me to understand the immense value of geographical diversity. I noticed significant shifts in my own perspective that occurred as a result of conversing with people from different areas of the country. As the representative from Florida, I wasn’t educated on certain issues unique to various regions of the country, and these conversations allowed me to become more aware of problems I never even knew existed. Moreover, it was fascinating to note how legislation in certain states impacts the scope of student press and how national issues, especially those concerning the First Amendment, are perceived from the lens of each state. 

Although the differences between us were quite evident, they were often overshadowed by our similar lived experiences as student journalists. Almost every single representative had an experience in which they felt their 1st amendment rights were violated. Whether it be through censorship of journalistic content, or their ability to criticize injustice in their respective educational institutions being restricted, each representative recounted moments where they felt as though their voice was not being heard. As I listened to their experiences, the importance of maintaining student press freedoms became even more clear to me. The value of the First Amendment and the role it plays in preserving our nation’s democracy was a theme woven through many of the conference’s panels, but especially emphasized in the two presentations hosted by Kevin Goldberg, a First Amendment Specialist at the Freedom Forum. On one of the last days of the conference, he created an opportunity for us to share our personal struggles in fighting for our 1st amendment rights. Many students expressed great disdain for the lack of emphasis placed on the First Amendment in their schools. The frustration and passion emanating from each representative in the room was enough to remind me that, although the First Amendment is often viewed in an abstract legal manner, its constitutional protections truly do have implications in the lives of every single citizen of the United States- especially for people like this Free Spirit class, who have dedicated a significant portion of our lives outside of the classroom to journalistic endeavors.

I left this conference feeling more empowered than ever to exercise my First Amendment rights, and in the process, shed light on causes, events, and people in my community who aren’t often highlighted. I learned that media bias is present not only in how stories are covered, but also in what stories were never deemed important enough to spotlight in the first place. Most importantly, my biggest takeaway from this program was to never take no for an answer when pursuing stories that need to be told and to use my constitutionally protected right to free press for the good of those around me.