Student journalism isn’t kids’ stuff

For decision makers in positions of authority, dealing with reporters can be exasperating. Reporters don’t always play well with others, as leaders at all levels of government are quick to note.

Those same leaders know — or should know — that a free press is “the heartbeat of democracy,” as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said. But the erosion of local media outlets in New York City and across the country threatens to silence that heartbeat.

That makes it all the more important to plant the seeds of the next generation of journalists starting in their high schools.

That is why it is so gratifying that Schools Chancellor David Banks has expressed support for Press Pass NYC, an organization founded by educators and former journalists dedicated to creating a pipeline for that next generation — an “upstream solution to a downstream problem,” as Mayor Adams likes to say.

With students of color comprising such a large percentage of city students but such a low percentage of adult working journalists, far too few New York City schools — especially those where students of color comprise the majority — have journalism programs.

Of the 400-plus high school programs in the city, only about 25% had some form of student-run online or hard-copy newspapers, mostly in selective high schools serving students from families with higher resources to support their schools.

According to a 2022 study by Baruch College’s NYC High School Journalism program, a partner of Press Pass NYC, only four of the 50 city high schools with the highest percentage of Black students reported having a school newspaper. Of those with the highest percentage of Hispanic students, there were eight. Among the 50 schools with the highest percentages of Asian-American and white students, there were 39 and 38, respectively.

Looking at poverty levels, the Baruch study found just three of the 50 high schools with the highest poverty rate had newspapers. Of the 50 with the lowest poverty rate, 36 had newspapers.

The academic benefits are well documented by an Indiana University’s High School Journalism Institute study showing students involved in journalism scored far higher on standardized tests, scoring in the 81st percentile compared to the 69th percentile for their peers. A University of South Carolina study similarly showed they had higher grade point averages in English, social studies, math and science, and were more involved in extracurricular activities such as clubs and student government.

And surveys show that 70% of minority students working on their college newspaper — the feeding grounds for adult journalism careers — worked on their high school papers.

This should not be a surprise. Journalism requires discipline, an open mind, literacy and reasoning skills, an ability to meet deadlines and a willingness to question conditions around them. It enhances critical thinking, an ethical sensibility, curiosity and an ability to work as a team to that moment in time when you hit the send button and the final product is available for all to see, consider and argue about.

Already Press Pass NYC, working on a shoestring budget, has helped start up on-line student-run newspapers in 20 schools and aims to spread it systemwide by 2028. It was the brainchild of Lara Bergen, a former English teacher who tried making publishing a student newspaper part of a credit-recovery program for struggling students at a high-poverty Title 1 high school in Manhattan and saw how the students in and out of the class embraced it.

In New York City, facing financial challenges even with a $109 billion budget, starting a high school journalism program is relatively inexpensive.

An investment of $3,750 per school includes a stipend for teachers who take on leading the program, as well as for student editors. That includes training teachers in setting up an on-line newspaper, with working journalists and teachers with experience setting up high school newspapers serving as mentors. Once programs are running, a $7,500 per school investment can keep it going for years.

Students will benefit even if they do not go into journalism as an adult career. A study by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce found that communications skills and teamwork topped the list of in-demand competencies employers look for across the economy. And the Pew Research Center similarly found that “creativity, collaborative activity, abstract and systems thinking, complex communication, and the ability to thrive in diverse environments” were keys to future employment, attributes not replaceable by machine learning as artificial intelligence moves deeper into economic life.

Creating school newspapers requires a minimal investment with huge potential payoffs in fostering civic consciousness and responsibility essential to sustain the city long into the future.