Saving Journalism Should Begin In High Schools
Posted by anastasia on 03-11-2009
If you work in media or care about journalism, you probably have been following the rapid decline of the newspaper industry as we know it along with some of the more hopeful commentary around how newspapers must reinvent the way news is delivered (and monetized). Along the fringes of this big story, reports have surfaced that college newspapers are also beginning to struggle, experiencing a decline in advertising as well.
I began my journalism career in high school – writing stories and editorials about vegetarianism, the political history of Guatemala and why I thought grades were stupid. It was where I first discovered my writing voice and experienced what it felt like to be published and more importantly to have my peers read my work. I can honestly say my high school experience inspired me to choose journalism as a profession.
I'm sharing my own experience because I think that those of us who care about the future of journalism, should not just be thinking about reinventing new models for existing media to survive or reinvent itself, but about the next generation of potential journalists as well.
Have you looked at an online version of a high school newspaper recently? I have — mostly through ASNE's high school journalism project site, which offers free hosting and templates for participating papers. This is not meant to knock ASNE's heroic efforts to train and support high school journalists, but the reality is that many of these sites lag far behind college and mainstream newspaper sites, and even farther behind other content sites teens go to for fun. Yet the students producing them are allegedly the most "wired" generation yet – "fluent in Facebook," early adopters, etc.
The state of high school newspapers online encapsulates a number of issues. First, the technology gap that we know exists between what students do online outside of school vs. what is offered at school. My guess is that many high school newspaper advisers are still relatively "old school" in their thinking about journalism and technology or are restricted by resources or policies in terms of what they can do with students online. I also think that while this generation is on the whole more comfortable with technology and using these tools to socialize, that doesn't mean they know how to use them to produce a new kind of journalism. Still, I bet they would have great ideas…if we asked them.
If people in the journalism world are really concerned about journalism's future, we should all be focused on reinventing high school journalism. Companies creating widgets, apps, and other tools for youth to communicate/share/socialize should be part of this conversation and reinvention along with people concerned about preserving some of the core values of traditional journalism (accurate reporting, fairness, etc.)
Ten or 20 years from now, we'll look back on MTV's reality series "The Paper" and laugh at the name as the anachronism it is fast becoming. To reinvent journalism we must begin with the youngest journalists, allowing them to tap into the tools and expertise they use outside of school to re-imagine journalism's future.
Categorized under: Newspapers
March 12th, 2009 at 4:33 am
I couldn't agree with you more, and I'm convinced that the only way to save most high school journalism programs is to move them online. I've partnered with a high school newspaper adviser to help bridge the gap between traditional school newspaper operations and the emerging world of online journalism. We offer schools affordable, professional, and easy to use Web sites for their newspapers. Check us out: http://www.schoolnewspapersonline.com/
March 12th, 2009 at 6:05 am
I think your call to action for high school journalism programs is right on target!
I was EIC of my HS newspaper, and it was by far one of the most formative experiences of my high school years. My journalism adviser (who is now retired) was incredibly progressive, launching Texas's first high-school television broadcast program.
Even ten years ago when I was in HS, we regularly evaluated options for moving our paper online, but we could never find the right mix of resources to pull it off in an engaging, sustainable way that provided our audience the same quality of experience we could provide via the print edition.
I'm interested to see examples of school who are doing this successfully. I've visited numerous HS campuses affiliated with the New Tech Foundation (www.newtechfoundation.org), but I've never seen nor asked about their approach to student journalism. I'll have to investigate more on my next visit!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
March 12th, 2009 at 7:37 am
While I can't deny the feel good nature of empowering youth to take hold of their future, you really didn't address the central problems posed at the beginning of your article. Declining readership and a lack of a sound business model in the industry won't be fixed because more high school students get interested in journalism. The same problems persist–they'll be turning to the Internet for content and won't have a way of monetizing it.
March 12th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Hi Kyle — my point is that journalism will be digital, folks will find a way to monetize it (there are lots of folks thinking about this now) but that in order to sustain a new generation of young people going into journalism and being prepared for the new forms of journalism, we need to pay attention to what's happening (or not happening) at the high school level. I also think students could be a great source of ideas for how to save journalism as well as ways to use some of the tools they are comfortable using outside of class as part of the content creation process.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Agree with your points and pov. Not only will it help motivate and train potential journalists, it will improve their writing and reading skills and build self esteem. Think. Read. Write. Have an impact. Teens are ready willing and able to do it.
March 13th, 2009 at 9:35 am
As a former journalist in both print and digital mediums, I have been lamenting the slide of newspapers into the abyss for years. Perhaps my opinion is tainted because I left a sinking profession as a journalist, but I've shifted from watching newspapers decline with sadness to cheering on the inevitable conversion to the Internet. That being said, I couldn't agree more that high-school journalism programs should be completely reinvented. Caution should be exercised, though, so that journalism on the Internet doesn't become a free-for-all where objectivity and investigative writing takes a back seat to page views and flashy graphic/video/widgets.
March 23rd, 2010 at 8:02 am
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