Program Overview
In recent years, there have been major studies about the loss of local journalism and the rise of news deserts. Programs at the University of North Carolina and Northwestern have studied the subject, and conferences at Northeastern and elsewhere have explored solutions. In 2024, Medill’s annual “State of Local News Project” found that over two local papers are dying each week.[1] Medill reported that “more than half of U.S. counties have no, or very limited, access to a reliable local news source” and that more than 200 counties have become “news deserts.”[2] UNC’s Hussman School of Journalism’s Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media has spelled out five areas where the loss of local news has been of great consequence.[3] Brookings has pointed out that one impact of the loss of accountability journalism has been on bond ratings.[4] A conference at Northeastern looked at the future of local news, including what has worked with media startups on news deserts.[5]
Steve Waldman, who now heads Rebuild Local News, argues that local news outlets have a vital community cohesion function that is, in some respects, separate from accountability journalism. In an op-ed for Poynter, he contends that “obituaries, high school sports, school board meetings, the new economic development plan, the amateur theater production, a couple’s 50th wedding anniversary — these types of stories teach neighbors about each other, provide basic information on community problems and create a sense of shared interest.”[6] “In fact,” Waldman says in an op-ed for Editor and Publisher, “the decline of local reporting has helped fuel polarization, misinformation and the growing tendency for Americans to demonize each other. If we have any hope of addressing those democracy-crushing problems, we have to dramatically strengthen local news.”[7]
The USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP) created the Local News and Student Journalism Initiative premised on the notion that, with proper support, one solution to the problems created by news deserts may be provided by student journalists – in high schools and colleges – who can help to generate much of the kind of journalism that was once the mainstay of local newspapers. Student reporters can become a source for neighborhood news and reinforce a community’s sense of collective identity.
High school reporters are well positioned to provide local news coverage. In many cases, they are uniquely attuned to events in their communities, can connect with the culture and interests of younger audiences, and in some cases speak the languages of their older family members, neighbors and community members who seek local news in languages other than English. With proper training, and with access to newer technologies, students may be uniquely capable of sprinkling some life-sustaining water in the nation’s news deserts.
To explore the ways in which student journalists might become a resource to serve local communities, CCLP launched the Local News and Student Journalism Initiative. It seeks to reimagine high school newsrooms, helping programs find professionals to help with their work, to find equipment that can be used by the reporters, and to help make the transition away from school-focused print publications to digital-first community journalism outlets. In short order, it may prove possible for student reporters to serve their wider communities through multimedia reporting and local news stories.
CCLP’s Local News and Student Journalism Initiative seeks to develop ways to find and fund veteran journalists who can serve as mentors for high school student reporters and to help students to create news outlets that best serve their communities – be it in print, or online, or through podcasts, videos, or social media.
CCLP believes that the combination of two largely untapped resources – high school journalists and veteran journalists who may no longer be fully employed – have the potential to create stories that help to fill some of the empty spaces in local news deserts. Students will learn to produce local news stories at a professional level and expand their news operation into a reliable community resource, not just for their school but for parents, community members, local artists, business owners, restaurants, politicians, neighbors and more.
Background
To explore the options for such a project, CCLP prepared a white paper on the subject “A Possible Role for Student Journalists and Student Journalism in Helping to Provide Communities with Local News.”[8] CCLP believes that our research demonstrates that, with proper support, high school students are uniquely positioned to cover local news. We also believe that there are countless current or former journalists who are in a position to lend their time to such a project. Some of them are retired or no longer fully employed; some are working freelance; some are part-time teachers in universities or community colleges. We think that those people could become an invaluable source of support for high school students.
With a professional advisor to guide them, student reporters will be equipped to produce first-rate journalism that focuses on a range of local issues such as cultural events, food, culture, sports, businesses, civic and community leaders, weddings, speeches, commencement ceremonies, and other stories that highlight events and the connections among community members that Steve Waldman calls “cohesion journalism.”
Some high school newsrooms already produce high quality local news coverage. In its white paper, CCLP highlighted the case of a high school junior in Mississippi who won NPR’s student podcast award for her work on the water crisis in Jackson.[9] CCLP’s report also described The Blueprint, published by Hagerty High School, which in 2023 had great coverage of state restrictions on course material in Florida.[10] The Blueprint also publishes community stories about infrastructure repairs, charity events and the opening of local businesses. High school newsrooms around the country are capable of producing local news stories of a similarly high caliber.
Organizational Precedent
Many public and private efforts have recently been made to fill the void of local news. From city and state governments to philanthropists and foundations, concerned groups are increasingly directing their attention to the issue. The Local News and Student Journalism Initiative focuses on the potential for student journalism and takes inspiration from successful partnerships already in place between professional journalists and high school journalists:
Sacramento School Beat
A program funded by the Sacramento County Office of Education that trains Sacramento County high school students to become education reporters. Student reporters are paid a $1200 stipend to produce at least one story a month throughout the academic year. Each student reporter works with a writing coach (a professional journalist or educator). All stories produced by students are provided free to local professional media outlets.
Boyle Heights Beat
A self-labeled “bilingual community news project” that produces hyper-local coverage for the Boyle Heights community in the city of Los Angeles. Students from five East L.A. high schools contribute reporting, which is overseen by a team of professional journalists who edit their stories and provide on-the-job training. The project relies on philanthropic funding to sustain itself. With support from the Los Angeles Local News Initiative, the Boyle Heights Beat hosted high school reporters for twice-a-week meetings with professional mentors.
Mosaic Vision
A new school-year program that pairs reporters and photographers with a coach. Mosaic reporters cover East and downtown San Jose for young people, immigrants, low-income families, and residents.
Contra Costa Youth Journalism (CCYJ)
13 students from nine Contra Costa County high schools were selected for the 2024 program. They received guidance from the CCYJ editorial team, which is composed of Bay Area news professionals and educators. Stories were made available to local news organizations. CCYJ is funded by the Contra Costa County Office of Education and CalMatters’ Youth Journalism Initiative. (CalMatters is also in the process of launching a similar project in North Long Beach/West Long Beach/Wilmington/San Pedro called “South Bay Youth Journalism.”)
Another program, Pro News Coaches, focuses resources more broadly on local news, not high school newspapers.[11] A team of former Wall Street Journal reporters and editors organized the nonprofit to connect veteran journalists with local news outlets. Pro News Coaches offers pro bono coaching, mentorship, editing assistance, project assistance and workshops. Several programs listed above have started connecting veteran journalists with high school newspapers. Other programs, such as California Scholastic Press Association, Media Mentors and the Pulitzer Center, also introduce high school reporters to mentors.[12],[13],[14]
CCLP’s Proposed Initiative
CCLP’s initiative seeks to build on the experience of these and other initiatives. We hope to create some specific projects at the local level while proposing a more sweeping program that could be run within school districts and funded by philanthropies or government. Philanthropic efforts like the American Journalism Project and its regional coalitions, like the L.A. Local News Initiative, may be interested in expanding their idea of the local news landscape to high school newsrooms. State or local funding also may provide a potential source of support. For example, in California, the effort could learn from (and perhaps even benefit from resources provided by) Proposition 28, adopted by voters in 2022, which provides about $1 billion for music and art education and facilities at the K-12 level. The initiative may also be able to build on California’s new laws requiring schools to teach media literacy.[15]
To explore models for student journalism programs, CCLP is in conversation with the USC Leslie and William McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI), a college preparatory pathway for students living in neighborhoods around USC. For their student scholars, many of whom attend schools without a newsroom, CCLP is looking at establishing a weekly after-school journalism program on USC’s campus. Annenberg professors would teach student scholars how to produce local news in multimedia form, such as podcasts and short-form video content.
Another model that CCLP is exploring would be through a partnership with Fairfax High School in Hollywood. The Fairfax high school newsroom has been working with a former Wall Street Journal reporter who meets with students in person and online and is helping expand their coverage focus to their community. There is potential to expand this program with more high school newsrooms and retired journalists across Los Angeles and beyond.
[1] “The State of Local News: The 2024 Report,” Local News Initiative (Northwestern Medill, October 23, 2024), https://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/state-of-local-news/2024/report/.
[2] Ibid
[3] “The Loss of Local News: What It Means for Communities,” The Expanding News Desert (UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, October 17, 2018), https://www.usnewsdeserts.com/reports/expanding-news-desert/loss-of-local-news/.
[4] Chang Joo Lee, Dermot Murphy, and Pengjie Gao, “Financing Dies in Darkness? The Impact of Newspaper Closures on Public Finance,” Brookings, September 24, 2018, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/financing-dies-in-darkness-the-impact-of-newspaper-closures-on-public-finance/.
[5] “What Works: The Future of Local News,” Northeastern University College of Arts, Media and Design (Boston, MA, March 15, 2024), https://camd.northeastern.edu/events/what-works-in-community-news/.
[6] Steven Waldman, “How High School Sports Coverage Can Save Democracy,” Poynter, June 8, 2023, https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2023/high-school-sports-coverage-can-save-democracy/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center.
[7] Steven Waldman, “How High School Sports Coverage Can Save Democracy,” Editor and Publisher, June 5, 2023, https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/opinion-how-high-school-sports-coverage-can-save-democracy,244048.
[8] Geoffrey Cowan and Owen Foster, “A Possible Role for Student Journalists and Student Journalism in Providing Communities with Local News,” USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP), n.d., https://bpb-us-w1.wpmucdn.com/sites.usc.edu/dist/2/672/files/2024/06/LNSJI-Full-White-Paper-Final.pdf.
[9] Cory Turner, “A Teen Shares What It’s Like to Be in School With No Clean Water,” NPR, June 21, 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/06/21/1181726312/student-podcast-challenge-2023-high-school-winner.
[10] Alexis Madlang, “What We Need to Learn in High School,” The BluePrint Online, December 17, 2021, https://hhsblueprint.com/18773/uncategorized/what-we-need-to-learn-in-high-school/.
[11] https://www.pronewscoaches.com/
[12] https://cspaworkshop.org/
[13] https://journalismmentors.com/mentors
[14] https://pulitzercenter.org/education/journalist-visits
[15] “Media Literacy Resources,” California Department of Education, n.d., https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/ml/index.asp.