Opinion: What journalists have to say about the future of student journalism 

I almost decided to not become a student reporter. 

After all, I didn’t understand journalism. How could I have the authority to write for a  community? Was there even a possibility for a community to listen? 

I grew with questions, and life unfolded into articles: “A Vanishing Nomadic Clan, With a Songlike Language All Their Own.” “Our Best Pumpkin Recipes.” “Being 13.”  From the start of my New York Times subscription, I was captivated by the photographs, the reporting, and the interviews—how I could learn something from a new topic every day.

Before, I could only imagine writing journalism. As newspaper headlines about the Hollywood Writers’ Strike, artificial intelligence, or the migrant crisis became physically present in my life, journalism became a way of preserving the human experience. To capture the buried and unsung into words — that became my truth.

Throughout their work during high school, student journalists should have a future to continue reporting, editing, and working in the newsroom. However, many students begin to second-guess the skills they built. “When I began my university career [in media studies] thirteen years ago… [I] seriously doubted my own career prospects,” freelance journalist Jared Lindzon said in a convocation speech to media studies graduates.

A record number of job layoffs in the news industry is sparking concern about the future of misinformation and democracy. A 2022 report by the Medill School of Journalism and Microsoft’s Journalism Initiative found that local journalism employment from 2006 to 2021 declined by 70%. Between 2019 and 2022, 360 newspapers ceased to exist. This contributes to growing news deserts, which are communities without a credible local news outlet. 

Rather than completely disappearing, at least 1,000 once bustling news outlets have become ghost newspapers. Typically, they look like this: content is reduced to a couple of articles a week, staff size shrinks, and reporters provide less coverage and in-depth research on the topics they cover. 

Without access to local journalism, rural and marginalized communities are left in a vulnerable position, and corrupt groups are not held accountable. Environmental journalism provides one relevant case study: “one study of toxic emissions at 40,000 plants found that when newspapers reported on pollution, emissions declined by 29 percent compared with plants that were not covered,” journalist Steven Waldman said in The Atlantic. 

Many news outlets have a paywall, exacerbating the inaccessibility of news to lower socioeconomic groups. A survey from the Gallup and Knight Foundations found that most people who were likely to pay for the news earned over $150,000 a year. Saving local news means advocating for increased funding and diverse newsrooms. 

With the rise of social media, Gen Z consumes news differently. According to Deloitte’s Digital media trends survey, half of Gen Z get their news from social media and messaging services, preferring to watch visual and video-based media to engage in current issues. 

“Almost 40% of Gen Z is using TikTok and Instagram for search instead of Google, according to Google’s own data,” said Prabhakar Raghavan, Senior Vice President of Knowledge and Information at Google.

Jennifer Neda John, a Stanford Internet Observatory research assistant, explains how the shift of obtaining news from content creators or influencers, and information overload in apps, perpetuates the cycle of listening and sharing misinformation. 

“People united by identity will find themselves vulnerable to misleading narratives that target precisely what brings them together,” John said in the MIT Technology Review. 

Natalie Jones is a staff reporter for the Star Democrat, the daily newspaper based in Easton, Maryland. It is the only local newspaper that covers five counties in Eastern Maryland. She said that the burden of covering the news with a reporter shortage leads to burnout. It isn’t uncommon to hear about journalists leaving the profession. 

“We’ve gone through a lot of staffing changes,” Jones said. “There have been times where I have essentially been the only staff—the only full-time reporter trying to cover everything all at once. It can feel kind of bleak.”

Local journalists shed light on a lot of the important situations that are happening. 

The industry must become more sustainable for its journalists. As Jones covers a protest in front of the courthouse or interviews the county council, every event is critical to the conversation and history of a town. 

“I can talk to you about what’s going on in local courts and local crime trends but also the latest controversy with the development, what’s going on with the board of education…” Jones said. “You never know what you’re going to walk into. Every day is different and set by the craziest breaking news.”

The phenomenon of staffing shortages also occurs in high school newspapers. “In the past year, we have lost an incredible amount of newspaper students,” Sherwood High School the Warrior managing editor Audrey Farris said. “Going from having 40-something students across two periods on the newspaper to just over 20 students, almost a third of them being new, has made the start of this year very difficult.”

Nearby schools have drastic disparities in how their newspapers function. One school might have a flourishing newspaper presence with groups of students waiting to pick up the print newspaper during school mornings, while another school might barely maintain an active readership. “Seeing the print newspapers strewn about the hallways and filling the trash cans after a distribution day isn’t unfamiliar,” Farris said. 

Maintaining a school newspaper and publishing monthly cycles is a struggle. “It is a very challenging process as editor-in-chief to edit numerous articles and write my own,” Obehi Eromosele, Watkins Mill High School editor-in-chief of “The Current,” said.

Oftentimes, student journalists have trouble finding places that support their work. “Getting started in the business of journalism has been a challenge for me,” student journalist Ayah Al-Masyabi said. “My school doesn’t have a newspaper and I struggle to find any programs near me where I learn more about the craft.”

However, knowing the power of the student’s voice motivates journalists to understand why they fell in love with the field. “When I saw the reaction to the article I wrote about accessibility on campus and the actions that resulted, it became crystal clear to me that there is incredible power in storytelling,” Lindzon said.

“A few people told me that my Op-Ed [on voter education] was the reason why they voted,” the Knightly News copy editor Emmie Wolf-Dublin said. “That was a really beautiful moment for me and it was really cool to see how much my words mattered.”

As student journalists continue writing articles, they value stories that are told with empathy and inclusivity. “I also would love to see more human-level reporting because news, whatever it may be, affects our communities,” student journalist Al-Masyabi said. “If more stories are reported this way, there could be more of an understanding between individuals about those suffering worldwide.”

“I’m looking for stories that are not one-sided but offer every perspective worth noting,” Eromosele said. “[Student journalists] need to be diverse in the stories we choose to write.”

Ultimately, the high school student journalism experience is irreplaceable. By publishing their articles in the latest newspaper, student journalists can connect to other writers, readers, and the people they report to in their local communities. “My hope is that students realize that journalism is a great outlet for their writing and choose to be part of The Warrior,” Farris said. “The community I have among the staff is incredible and being on The Warrior has been one of the most incredible parts of my high school experience thus far.

“School newspapers can be an important source of connection within the community, as well as helping students to become good communicators and stewards of information,” student journalist Amaya Michaelides said. “Student journalists have a unique perspective as young people, and their voices are not often heard. But students are the future, and their opinions on pressing topics will soon be what counts.”

As well as an essential civic duty, journalism becomes a personal routine that sticks with student journalists. “It’s up to the students to take their microphones and speak about it, and I think writing is the way we do that,” Wolf-Dublin said. “Words that are well informed and spoken with kindness can truly change the word.”

“Every story is worth sharing, and people deserve to be heard through our articles,” Eromosele said. “Whether it be to how they got to the position they’re at today or how they left it, it’s all important.”

The impact of reading an article written by a student journalist is irreplaceable. “People can learn their true opinions,” Wolf-Dublin said. “Maybe next time they will march. Maybe next time they sit in on that legislative session. Maybe next time my article will prompt somebody to get involved, run for office, write a bill—that kind of thing.”

Countless stories are still waiting to be covered, and student journalists become a way of uplifting lost voices and drawing attention to the realities students miss. Lindzon said, “You gain credibility [by committing yourself and your career] to honesty rather than exaggeration, to the public good over personal gain, to sharing the stories that are too often forgotten instead of the ones that are more likely to go viral, to creating art and design that challenges your audience’s perception of the world, rather than reinforcing it.”