These are the best of times and the worst of times for student journalism – and for journalism, period.
Okay, okay, we know a Charles Dickens reference is not exactly the most original salvo for the first editorial letter of the launch issue of America’s first national student newspaper. But we’re going for old-school gravitas, because The SUNN Post is making its debut at an extraordinary moment in the history of American news media.
For those of you who are new to SUNN, it stands for the “Students United News Network,” a growing coalition of the top high school and college newsrooms nationwide, and The SUNN Post is where we aggregate and curate their best content. You’ll find a mother lode of reporting, opinion writing, explainers, reviews, graphics and video – by students, for students – updated weekly on this national platform, with the highest standards of accuracy and integrity. And we’re rigorously committed to publishing a broad range of perspectives from students in every region of the country, across political, cultural, socioeconomic and urban-rural divides.
The timing is crucial for this work: Recent years have walloped the American news industry — with turmoil in legacy newsrooms, local papers disappearing, the collapse of digital news giants like Buzzfeed, high-profile resignations and record-low audiences. Last year, the combined average daily print circulation of top newspapers in the US sunk 12 %; the previous year, it sunk 14%. But breakdown can hasten breakthrough, and a new generation of American journalists – that’s you, readers! – is showing amazing talent and promise.
Sure, the data is clear that Gen Zers by and large don’t read traditional news: 4 in 10 Americans under 30 regularly get their news from “news influencers” on social media, the overwhelming majority of whom have no affiliation with a news organization. But Gen Z should be neither dismissed nor feared as a threat to the integrity of journalism itself.
Week after week, Gen Z high school and college students are churning out landmark reporting and opinion writing in their own student publications – a cache of content that is widely overlooked. We know this because, alongside our young editorial team of brilliant student reporters, we’ve spent the past year devouring this stuff – combing through hundreds of high school and college newspapers across all 50 states. We’ve reckoned with the important truths this content reveals about who we are as a nation, and explored what it will take to sustain and modernize the free press in America.
Here’s what we’ve learned: Gen Z may very well be the best thing that ever happened to American journalism. You are not just media-savvy, you’re the best content-creation generation that has ever lived. Full stop. And despite – or perhaps because of – your exposure to so much misinformation, you are dogged truth-seekers. Just look at the many examples in recent years of the college journalists who’ve exposed faculty misconduct, revealed toxic leadership practices, and documented protests while also challenging their messaging. Student investigations have led to the removal of an eminent university president at Stanford and an iconic football coach at Northwestern. They’ve chronicled the traumas of a campus shooting, disclosed dubious funding streams, and repeatedly scooped local and national news.
At the high school level, the work is just as important, even if it’s been getting less attention. In Georgia, a high school publication located near the Apachee shooting composed a harrowing timeline and thoughtful analysis to help their community process and cope. In Maryland, another exposed a secret abusive tradition at an annual dance and uncovered evidence of a coach’s predatory behavior. In Kentucky, student journalists broke a story on corruption in local police trainings. It’s not all doom and gloom; student journalists also celebrate the inspiring and triumphant moments in their communities daily, from the artistic to the athletic.
This work connects students to the communities they live in and also, crucially, to the truth. The best way young Americans can learn to discern fact from fiction is by reporting the facts themselves. Yet despite its tremendous value, student journalism is imperiled: Less than half of American high schools today have student newspapers — a sharp drop from 64% of high schools nationally in 2011. And the presence of journalism programming is notably lower in rural schools and those with high populations of students of color. The decline is driven by inadequate funding, a scarcity of qualified faculty advisors post-pandemic, increasing K-12 emphasis on STEM, and changing attitudes toward the news media.
Many of the student newspapers that do exist are also battling censorship – only 18 states nationwide currently have laws that protect student journalists’ freedom. We’ve encountered recent examples of school administrators censoring high school journalists in states including California, Nevada, Colorado, and New York.
Moreover, funding for student journalism is getting slashed. Fewer businesses are purchasing ads in student newspapers, leaving high school and college journalists more and more dependent on support from their own schools. That makes it increasingly difficult for students to resist censorship and punishment for their reporting.
There are positive trends, too. Organizations like Press Pass NYC provide free training and support to students and faculty at underfunded schools to help them build and sustain school newspapers. In Minnesota, ThreeSixty Journalism provides journalism summer camps, school year programming, and full tuition college scholarships for high school students in St. Paul. Meanwhile, college journalists nationwide are stepping up to fill the gaps in eroding local news ecosystems–among other efforts, schools like the University of Vermont have developed powerful community news programs for journalism students who report beyond their campuses and publish their work in local news sources.
The SUNN Post is proud to join the movement to mentor, publish, and amplify young voices. We are committed to paying students directly for everything we publish, and building opportunities for greater attention to this vital work. We’re on a mission to professionalize the content and culture that surrounds student journalism, and to curate and syndicate this work not only on our own pages, but throughout a wider network of professional partner publications, locally and nationally.
We see journalism not just as a way for students to learn media literacy, the rigor of research and the art of interviewing, but as a form of lived civic education. High school and college newspapers represent more than just a pipeline of young talent that can sustain American journalism, they are also the wellspring of an engaged and informed citizenry – and in turn, a sustainable democracy.
This is our way of helping to turn the worst of times into the best of times.