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An Instagram post about Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to wealthy communities in Marin County, CA, turned one California student newspaper into a free-speech flash point. The students say they were just doing their homework.

wired.comA Teen Reporter Searched for His Community in the Epstein Files. Adults Freaked OutAn Instagram post turned one California student newspaper into a free-speech flash point. The students say they were just doing their homework.

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These young people have the courage to confront the shady dealings of the powerful in their school assignments their independent thinking and investigative spirit deserve encouragement from society as a whole.

Ben Mueller’s assignment for his journalism class was to tell a news story—any news story—in the form of an extended Instagram slideshow. He chose to comb the Epstein files for links to his home county—and he found thousands. www.wired.com/story/epstei...

Most of them were trivial, but a few things stood out: a 2014 art gala in Sausalito that Epstein helped promote; a meeting with Woody Allen in Tiburon; and—above all—a 2013 email exchange between Epstein and a woman from a modeling agency called Mill Valley Connection. www.wired.com/story/epstei...

Two days later, on February 12, Mueller posted his story to the Instagram feed of the Redwood Bark, his school’s student-run publication. More than 4,000 people liked the story. The comments filled up with praise: “This is the kind of journalism we need.” www.wired.com/story/epstei...

About a week and a half later, his journalism teacher called with bad news: Bonnouvrier, the modeling agent, was threatening to sue the district. And now the superintendent was demanding that the Bark either redact Bonnouvrier’s name or delete the slide entirely. www.wired.com/story/epstei...

I don't like to be the party pooper because I appreciate these students—but they are very wealthy white kids. Imagine THIS story written about Black or Hispanic students. You can't imagine that, can you? They'd never get the resources let alone the attention or coverage.

It does not matter who they are! The raped children ! What kind of people are we? How can only ONE yes only ONE person be in jail,after hundreds of victims gave names of rapist? And that only ONE criminal is a woman under the protectorate of the DOJ and thus administration! WHAT AN EFFIN SHAME!

The Hazelwood U.S. Supreme Court decision gave administrators the right to censor student publications for almost any reason. It stands as one of the few permitted restrictions on what can be published.

I'd love to read this & bravo to that kid, but I don't want to go through a song & dance sharing my cc # & then have to remember to unsubscribe before charged which I can't afford & then get dunned mercilessly in promo emails. Forgive me if I mischaracterize but, been down that road before.

Libby, the library app, has Wired available for free. Go to your local library and get a card. Then download Libby and register for access using your library card number, and boom! Books, magazines, audiobooks!

Seconding the Libby app rec, but also, for a more immediate fix, you can just turn off JavaScript before reloading the page (some browsers let you blacklist specific sites from using JS).

It takes a lot of courage for students to tell their principals they're wrong, even when the law is on their side. But as Ben and Madison suggest here, it's just another day in the life of a student journalist. We were proud to offer them our support.