The Changing Face of High School Journalism

Here is a very interesting AP article on the changing face of high school journalism. This is an excerpt--to read the entire article, click here.

High school journos take all-platform plunge

By MARGARET STAFFORD
Associated Press Writer

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. (AP) -- Josiah Jones is the editor-in-chief of an award-winning magazine, guiding a staff of 90 that also produces podcasts and a Web site.

It's heady stuff for an 18-year-old senior at Lee's Summit High School near Kansas City, Mo. After he graduates, Jones plans to pursue a journalism career, completely undeterred by the forces buffeting the profession. Newspapers are cutting back or closing and thousands of reporters have lost their jobs.

Media advocates worry that those factors - budget problems, advertising declines and the migration to Internet-based news delivery - are reaching into high school, leaving print publications especially vulnerable.

For now, the printed word remains a top focus of most high school journalism departments, but the move to add online components is growing, said Diana Mitsu Klos, senior project director for the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

The ASNE hosts 2,626 student news sites on its online site. The site, which began in 2002, was connected to 150 student media sites by mid-2003, 400 at the end of 2006 and 735 in December 2007.

"There's no doubt that's the trend for youth journalism, to both post and consume online," Mitsu Klos said. "This is obviously the next and necessary step for them, to make the information available where (students') social networks are."

Others contend that high school journalism will thrive by finding ways to merge traditional print with Web-based publications. Jones is one of the optimists, but he's curious to see how journalism will be delivered when he graduates from college.

"I'm fascinated by what's happening multimedia-wise," Jones said. "It's going to open doors as far as what we can do as journalists. We'll continue to even out all our options between Internet-based publications, print journalism and everything in between."

High schools are embracing online publications because they allow more immediacy, innovations such as podcasts or videos and don't require a district to buy increasingly expensive newsprint and ink or sell advertising to support small press runs.

Patrick Stoddardt, the 16-year-old Web site editor at Lee's Summit High School's journalism lab, said the school is trying to "go where its audience is" by using social networking sites to draw readers.

But many students still prefer the printed publication.