An East Coast press institution and the Palo Alto High School journalism program will co-host a discussion regarding the many issues faced by free speech in social media on Wednesday evening in the Paly Media Arts Center.

The Newseum Institute, that protects the freedoms of expression stated in the First Amendment, will sponsor the event titled “Free Speech in the Social Media Era.”

According to the Newseum website, organizers for the event are Jeffrey Herbst, president and chief executive officer, and Esther Wojcicki, a Paly journalism teacher and Newseum trustee.

Panelists will include Geoffrey Brigham, YouTube’s director of trust and safety; Peter Stern, Facebook’s head of policy risk management; and Vivek Wadhwa, a fellow at the Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Center for Governance, at the Carnegie Mellon University adjunct school located in Silicon Valley.

The program will shed perspective on what is happening to free speech and ways to protect those rights, according to Wojcicki.

“We hope to inform the students and community about a very important topic,” Wojcicki said. “Today, freedom of speech is being curtailed because people are worried about offending people. There are safe spaces and trigger warnings.”

Although the headquarters of the of the Newseum is located in Washington D.C., the Newseum will be hosting its first program on the West Coast, according to Wojcicki.

The event will be open to the public and does not require the purchase of a ticket, but attendees should register here or email [email protected].

“I encourage all students to come and invite their parents to come,” Wojcicki said. “This [topic] is extremely prevalent in the age of social media.”