The Importance of Youth Journalism Programs

The rise of youth journalism offers a bright spot for those in the journalism field who are feeling pessimistic about the industry’s future. The increase of youth programs intended to help young people dive into the field should give established journalists hope for an industry that has been plagued with layoffs, increased distrust due to misinformation, and the reduction of local news.

These programs will make journalism more accessible to students and guarantee that a diverse range of up-and-coming journalists will be given a chance to get their valuable perspectives and voices heard from an early stage in their lives. They are bound to have important contributions to make with their take on LBGTQ+ issues, the future of our environment, and mental health among other issues this young generation has worthwhile insights on. It can only benefit the world to foster fresh growth within the journalism field.

The New York City Youth Journalism Coalition

Oliver has turned to activism by helping to lead the NYC Youth Journalism Coalition, motivated by the lack of pathways to pursue journalism as a student. This coalition has built partnerships with City Council members, such as Rita Joseph, the head of the Education Committee. The coalition called on the Department of Education to offer support for a student publication at each high school, leading to over $200,000 being raised to build a new curriculum with the CUNY Newmark Journalism School.

Voices of Youth

Led by Lindsay Patton, a young budding journalist, the Voices of Youth Initiative received a two-year $30,000 grant from the Steelcase Foundation to provide high schoolers with valuable journalistic training. Thanks to the grant, young aspiring journalists can attend workshops to sharpen the necessary journalism skills and better understand media while receiving crucial mentoring from professional writers. Furthermore, these students get the opportunities to author stories and produce news pieces as part of their portfolio, giving them a sizable head start from a young age. The overall goal of this initiative is to instill students' confidence to show that they have important perspectives and concerns to bring to the table in our rapidly evolving society.

How Young People Can Start Their Own Youth Journalism Program

With enough confidence and a solid plan, any young person can successfully run their own program should they feel compelled. One of the most important aspects of any potentially fruitful program is accessibility to gain essential journalism skills and practices that young journalists need to break into their future careers. This can include knowledge of accessing private data and how to deal with anonymous sources. They also need to sharpen their media literacy skills, interview techniques and writing fundamentals. 

Any youth journalism program should have the same goal as Voices of Youth: to give these young aspiring journalists the confidence to take on the industry. Engaging in the same practices as established journalists will help students see themselves as journalists already, rather than just aspiring ones. The work done through these programs can help students publish high-quality pieces they can use to apply for jobs, schools, or internships and their trajectories will help them on the road to become our next newsroom leaders.