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I’m glad to see student journalism getting recognition but something that has always bothered me about the “student journalists as heroes” narrative is that recognition as real journalists isn’t just some laurel to rest on. It means we have responsibility https://twitter.com/rainesford/status/1344268732147884032
To tackle our own internal problems, same as professional newsrooms. There’s a reckoning rn — student newsrooms, like pro ones, completely lack diversity. They can be cliquey, exclusionary, arrogant, overly demanding, discriminatory.
You may not think you know anyone who had a negative experience on a student newspaper, but you probably do. I was at one point told not to talk about my negative experiences publicly, so I did in private — and found many more experiences like mine.
And these include successful people in the industry!! But student newspapers are at times disillusioning them before they even get to the pros. The fight for recognition cannot include suppressing very real experiences primarily shared by women + BIPOC.
So, student newspapers— keep doing good work + fighting the good fight, but also know the responsibility you have to your staffers. We aren’t heroes, we’re people trying to do a service, and we have all the responsibility that comes with that
