Student journalism matters a lot.
It matters to us here at The Post, as we put a whole lot of our time into improving ourselves as journalists every single day. Journalism is more than just writing stories — it’s making photos that truly capture the gravity of a situation. It’s shedding light on things you may not have thought about. It’s finding information and getting that to you, our readers, in some meaningful way.
Student media throughout the country are increasingly facing problems, though, whether that be finances, censorship or recruiting. A lot of student media are losing their funding all together. Some are being changed by their universities or running into huge problems when facing their administrations. That doesn’t just hurt the students who work for media on their campus, though. It hurts everyone.
When we can’t get information out to you, that leaves you in the dark on some of the most important topics facing students and local residents. If we can’t practice our craft, we won’t become better journalists. That means that when we get out into the world, we won’t have the skills necessary to tell the most important stories out there.
We got into journalism for a wide variety of reasons, but we ultimately stay in it because we want to help people. We want to bring them crucial information, let them know about the goings on of their neighborhoods or lighten up their days with a good blog. We can’t do that if student media don’t exist.
For us, working for a student publication has set us on the path to do great things in the future, things we wouldn’t have been able to do if we hadn’t worked for publications like The Post. It has been instrumental in launching our careers, in no small part because we have the value of being editorially independent.
We encourage you, our readers, to do what you can to support student media. Pick up The Post when you see it, or check out our website, updated every day. Email us when you read something you like and let us know when you see something you don’t. We’re here to serve readers, to inform people and get practice before we venture off to the real world, which is why it is so crucial that people support us.
The Post is proud to be a part of the movement to save student newsrooms. We see the value in journalism, especially at the student level, and we want to do everything we can to support it. You should too.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors: editor-in-chief Elizabeth Backo, managing editor Kaitlin Coward, digital managing editor Hayley Harding and senior editor Marisa Fernandez. Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage.
