As part of the NYC Youth Journalism Coalition’s initiative Journalism for All, the Newmark J-School is providing training and support to 30 teachers committed to starting journalism programs at their public high schools.

High school journalism is in crisis, a trend that threatens the journalism pipeline in the United States and ultimately affects our ability to operate as an informed democracy in a time of growing misinformation and mistrust.

Just under 27% of New York City public high schools have a student news publication, compared with over a decade ago, when 50% of NYC public high schools had a newspaper and/or a journalism program (according to studies by Baruch College Prof. Geanne Belton and Brooklyn College Prof. Jessica Siegel). What’s worse, only 7 of the 100 schools with the highest poverty rates have a student publication. 

At the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, we believe that teaching journalism is an effective way to learn critical thinking and introduce students to a critical career in journalism. In partnership with the Youth Journalism Coalition and with support from The Charles H. Revson Foundation, we produced the curriculum for a year-long high school journalism course, which includes 160 activity-based lessons focused on news literacy, reporting and writing, media law and ethics and news production. The curriculum will launch new courses in 30 NYC public high schools in Fall 2025.

In 2025, J+ will train 30 high school teachers on the curriculum and support them with coaching through their first full year of teaching their journalism course. The 30 schools will also receive startup funds, in-kind support from nonprofit service providers, and paid summer internship positions for students seeking out-of-school journalism opportunities, under the Coalition’s plan. You can read more about the coalition’s work here.

The program is led by Katina Paron, who has helped thousands of NYC teens earn bylines in professional publications, variously running Children’s PressLine, Teen Voices at Women’s eNews and playing a lead role in the award-winning Since Parkland project. She previously managed the annual high school journalism training and “Newsies” awards gathering at Baruch College and managed Teach for Chicago Journalism for Northwestern University. Currently, she edits teen journalism fellowships for New York Jewish Week and Jewish Telegraphic Agency, oversees the Dateline: CUNY website highlighting the best stories published in CUNY undergraduate publications, and is the author of “A NewsHound’s Guide to Student Journalism.”