2025 – Just under 27% of New York City public high schools have a student news publication and only 7% of schools with the highest poverty rates do. Only 8% of high schools with the largest Black student populations, and only 16% of high schools with the largest Latino student populations, have school newspapers. By contrast, 62% of the high schools with the lowest poverty rates have newspapers, and all of NYC’s specialized high schools have a student newspaper. 

The need to connect students to news — fostering news literacy and the civic engagement crucial to maintaining a healthy democracy — has never been greater. The decline in high school journalism programs comes amid a digital news explosion and rising political polarization, mis- and dis-information campaigns, and distrust of traditional news sources — all of which could increase with potential misuse of artificial intelligence technology. 

High school journalism effectively teaches writing, research, and critical thinking skills, and it promotes community, civic, and extracurricular leadership. If student achievement is a goal, then schools are well-served by giving students the opportunity to lead and work on school newspapers. Students who take journalism or work on high school newspapers or yearbooks get better grades in high school, score higher on the ACT, and earn higher grades as first-year college students. More high school journalism will also build a growing number of life-long news consumers.

In 2022, The Bell convened youth media nonprofit leaders, journalists, and students to discuss the problem of unequal and limited access to youth journalism opportunities in New York City and organized the NYC Youth Journalism Coalition (YJC or the Coalition). YJC’s mission is to ensure equitable access to journalism opportunities for New York City’s youth by expanding journalism education and student publications in NYC public schools; growing the number of out-of-school media opportunities and internships available to public high school students; and diversifying the pipeline of young people into journalism and media careers. 

The Coalition’s membership has grown from 77 people representing 25+ organizations to 225 members with more students now participating (30% of the coalition) in 2024. In less than two years, YJC has achieved remarkable results. YJC’s efforts resulted in the City Council passing a resolution calling on the New York City Department of Education (DOE) to provide support for a student newspaper at every high school. The City Council is also preparing legislation to mandate that the DOE track and report the number of high school journalism programs and publications in its annual School Report Cards. 

In 2024, YJC launched Journalism for All to start journalism programs at 30 high schools, pilot a new curriculum developed by the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, and support teachers as they lead the new course and launch publications.

 

To learn more about the work mentioned in this grantee spotlight:

Follow or join the Youth Journalism Coalition’s work here

Learn about the Newmark J-School’s new high school journalism curriculum

Read A Plan to Fund High School Newspapers Seeks to Revive Student Journalism in the NY Times by Claire Fahy in the New York Times

Read NYC elected officials push for student newspapers at every high school by Giulia Howard in Gothamist

Read About 25% of NYC high schools have newspapers. City Council wants to see more by Julian Shen-Berro in Chalkbeat New York

Read NYC Students Urge Officials to Expand Youth Journalism Opportunities by Julian Shen-Berro in THE CITY and Chalkbeat 

Listen to and see the student leaders of YJC testify before the City Council.

Photo credit: Kyle Finck for the New York City Youth Journalism Coalition