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Communication Student To Fight Censorship
Mike Hart, a senior mass communication major from Aurora, Illinois, has been awarded the prestigious College Media Advisers Journalism Internship with the Student Press Law Center in Washington DC for the summer. Since 1974, the Student Press Law Center in Washington, DC, for the summer. Since 1974, the Student Press Law Center has been the nation's only legal assistance agency devoted exclusively to educating high school and college journalists about the rights and responsibilities embodied in the First Amendment and supporting the student news media in its struggle to cover important issues free from censorship. Hart is the first ISU student to earn this highly-coveted position. “This is a Super Bowl type internship,” said Rick Jones, General Manager of the Vidette. “Most of the top journalism programs in the country have top students interested in this internship. Mike's selection says a great deal about the quality of this young man, his academic endeavors, as well as his distinguished service to the Vidette. I believe Mike's participation in the SPLC program further validates the status of The Daily Vidette as a leading collegiate newspaper and underlines the quality of the journalism program now being offered through the Department of Communication.”

 

The College Media Advisers Journalism Intern is a crucial component in the work of the SPLC. Interns research, write, and help edit the Report, the SPLC’s magazine that chronicles student press cases and controversies from around the country. Interns serve as the magazine's staff writers, reporting and writing news stories. Interns also write news flashes and analysis pieces for the Center's website. Interns have followed the efforts of state legislatures around the country to pass laws protecting high school students' free press rights and covered landmark litigation by the college and commercial media seeking access to campus crime information. Their stories have ranged from exploring the impact of school violence on students' free expression rights to antagonism between the student media and the NCAA. In addition, interns join in issue-oriented seminars organized by the SPLC and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Seminars explore such topics as working with confidential sources, government efforts to regulate the Internet, and more. Speakers have included Supreme Court reporter Tony Mauro and members of The Washington Post's in-house legal counsel staff.

Hart is currently serving as president of ISU’s Society of Professional Journalists. He is the co-features editor at The Daily Vidette and a former Vidette reporter and news assignment editor.

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