Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

This is the First Amendment, guaranteeing America the basic democratic principles of free speech, assembly, and press.

Free speech is obvious; A government that heavily censors opinions is one that is not free. Freedom of assembly, too – if citizens cannot gather to share opinions or discuss issues of the government, there cannot be free speech. 

Freedom of press is equally as important as these last two principles. Journalists hold government and powerful institutions accountable, covering scandals and peeling back the curtain on the ugly truths. More importantly, they give a voice to the voiceless. Especially in today’s era, journalism is desperately needed. Concerns over press freedom have been mounting with the Trump administration, especially with the White Houses’ barring of the Associated Press for editorial decisions and unprecedented decision to control exactly which news organizations will be allowed in the press pool. 

The founding fathers easily envisioned a world with the free press – but what they likely didn’t envision was the advent of school newspapers and student journalism (What you’re reading right now!).

School newspapers are typically, but not always, run by the school itself, publishing student-made content. From personal experience, it’s never viewed seriously by students, with many placing it in the same category as Cool Math Games or Wordle – a tiny distraction to ease boredom while the teacher isn’t looking.

There is somewhat of a reason for that. A lot of content published by school newspapers is not exactly hard-hitting, to say the least. It’s not like articles about back-to-school sales or Snapchat stories are must-read, earth-shattering works of investigative journalism. But it’s not a reason to dismiss the field entirely.

A journalist is a journalist, regardless of experience or reporting skill. But to find out exactly what is special about student journalism in particular, I sat down with Herald News editor Judy Harvey to discuss the importance and purpose of student journalism.

Harvey has been a journalist for 30 years in the Will County and greater Chicago area. She is also a 1982 alumni of LTHS, where she wrote for Porter Press back when it had physical print issues. While she had long aspired to be a sports writer, her interest in government began around age 10 with the infamous 1972 Watergate scandal, in which then president Richard Nixon attempted to cover up a burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. “They’re interrupting our regular programming for this stuff,” she recalls thinking, “and I got fascinated by it.”

“I used to pay attention to the news a little bit, again because my parents always had newspapers and that…but there was just something in there that sparked something. I don’t know what it was. I still don’t know to this day. You know, I couldn’t say, ‘Well, there was justice!’ It’s just something that really fascinated me.”

When Harvey started attending Lockport, she initially joined Porter Press as a sports editor, which she described as “apparently a big deal” at the time. This was not only due to the fact that she was a woman covering sports, but she specifically covered women’s sports, due to encouragement from the managing editor and a natural interest in covering the topic.

The most important skill Harvey learned from her time in Porter Press was teamwork, which she described as “crucial” in the newsroom. “You learn you can rely on others. You learn, you know, having someone else look at your work and somebody take another look at it saying, you know, ‘Is this good to go? Is this ready? Is my grammar right?’ Things like that. I mean, that’s what you learn. And that’s a big part of it, because in a newsroom, you’re working as a team.”

High school journalism isn’t just a place to gain valuable journalistic experience, however. It can spur real change, like with Harvey’s previously mentioned coverage of women’s high school sports.

“I think it made a bit of a difference. Yes, yes I think it did. I mean, I was supportive of it anyway – I was always supportive of that – but the fact that we went, ‘Hey, we’re going to start – we could really put this on the front cover, we could put this on the front page.’ …There was a lot of good athletes and good teams going on at that time and I think it really helped us, you know we kind of gave them, ‘Hey, we’re here, the student body is behind you too.’”

Or consider national examples: Principals have resigned after investigations by student journalists, college journalists covered campus protests over the war in Gaza when professionals couldn’t, and, as a favorite example, Harvey cites a case in Vermont where students stood up to administration after an expose article regarding a staff member was censored.

A new generation brings with it a new way of interpreting the world, and in journalism specifically, the news. While older journalists may have the advantage of experience, their approach to journalism is generally set in stone after a certain point. This is why, Harvey stresses, that fresh perspectives from young people are critical to keeping journalism alive: “Right now, it’s really important to have young people saying, ‘I want to be a journalist,’ because we need them. We need that next generation coming in. You have to have that next viewpoint. You’re bringing more energy, you’re bringing different ways of doing things, you’re bringing different ways of presenting the information, and that’s crucial.”

Harvey believes a strength of student journalism is access to a unique, hyper-local demographic; “I think when student journalists are able to tap into that sense of the student body of where students are at on things, not just in their community, but also nationally, and say, ‘Listen, this is where we’re at.’ …Anytime the the student newspapers can tap into how something maybe seems a big issue nationally – and there’s a lot of that right now – and saying, ‘How is this impacting us right now as a student?’”

Most students don’t have access to a platform that elevates and legitimizes their experience relating to a particular subject, but student journalism fills in that gap. When student journalists document the thoughts and feelings of their peers and publish it to an official source, it fulfills that journalistic duty of “giving a voice to the voiceless.” Students feel heard, and their experiences are suddenly validated. 

But Harvey says that the most important role a journalist can play is simply being an informant for the public. “You’re the one who is paying attention to things for the greater community. You’re the eyes and ears on things, you’re the one who is looking at what’s going on and informing people…Most people in a community are not going to the city council, they’re not they’re not going to their own school board meeting. So we have to be the people who are informing them.”

But this simply doesn’t entail listing a fact sheet or laying out policies in exact legal terms. Harvey emphasized that “as a journalist – student journalist or professional journalist – you are taking information and putting it into context.” She referenced the Herald News’ reporting on the local economic impacts of tariffs and egg prices as an example of this. “That’s putting facts out in context of how it impacts your life, and letting it set and saying, ‘Okay, we’re informing you of this.’ That’s all. We’re not taking a stance, we’re not taking an opinion, we’re not doing that. We’re exposing something that needs to be exposed.”

“I think that’s the critical thing of journalism – we just don’t say ‘here’s facts.’ We go, ‘Okay, what do those facts mean? Let’s dig deeper to find out what that next level of facts is. What’s the next bit of information we need to let people know about?’”

In the age of social media, however, simply “telling facts” has been a dying principle for many normal folks seeking news. Inflammatory opinions and statements are outright encouraged by platforms, driving ever-increasing political polarization that brings issues to a standstill. 

Opinion pieces have existed for a long time in newspapers, but especially in this new era of information sharing, Harvey believes that a good opinion writer or columnist bases their work in facts. “Anybody can do a podcast. You know, I could set up one tonight and go, ‘Hey, this is what I think about all of this.’ …But if you’re going to do something like that – to have any kind of real credibility, you still have got to talk in facts.”

The tendency to neglect this principle by modern culture and political pundits has led to the formation of tight echo chambers, where many, including journalists, have shut off outside information contradicting their viewpoints. The effects are obvious in today’s world: antagonization of those with differing opinions, rampant conspiracy theories, and the refusal of politicians to cooperate with those on the other side of the aisle to solve issues. But Harvey argues that the largest echo chambers aren’t just political, but also intergenerational: “I’m big on generations talking. Young people need to listen to people my age and older, and people in my generation and older need to listen to young people.”

It just so happens that student journalists are in the perfect position to do this. The common American high school employs people of all ages and backgrounds, from graduates fresh out of college to veteran teachers who are only a year or two from retiring. Students bring in fresh ideas and cultural norms that teachers and administrators have never considered, and teachers and administrators bring in lived experiences that students will never experience themselves.

Some advice Harvey offers: “[Students] kind of want to just always talk to other students and that’s great, but find ways to talk to people who have life experience who are maybe, you know, 25 years older than you, who are maybe 40 years older than you.”

In our time, Harvey repeatedly mentioned one point: local journalism matters. “you have to support it because that’s your front line,” she emphasized, “you’re not going to find out what’s going on in, you know, Will County through, you know, going online and going on to CNN. And everybody’s got their role to play the national and that, but local journalism, it matters. It’s huge.”

Local journalism is able to capture a geographically specific demographic of people in a way that the national outlets simply can’t. It acts as a microfilter of sorts for accountability, catching the minor yet critical stories that are directly affecting citizens of a certain region.

Student journalism is simply another level of local journalism. Whether it’s catching inappropriate staff behavior, recording how national cultural and political issues are affecting teenagers, or simply documenting the experiences of individual students, it isn’t just an activity to put on a college application. Student journalism can uphold the functions and principles of professional journalism and even surpass it in some aspects.

…

It’s easy as a student journalist to simply type this out into a void, to proclaim that what I am doing is important and good for the world. But professional journalists like Harvey recognize that this seemingly innocuous after-school activity offers genuine value to the wider field of journalism. As student journalists, we aren’t just writing articles. We are fostering real change, platforming unheard voices, and holding institutions accountable.

Special thanks to Judy Harvey for her valuable insight provided for this article. You can find her work here.