But if you re looking for ideas to get started, you ll find them here. It is a big commitment for a small newspaper, but it is a way we hope will slowly increase the number of minority journalists. The newspaper offers part-time work to a student of color, beginning in the student s junior year in high school and continuing for as long as the interest is there. At The Herald in Sharon, Pa., Jim Raykie s program for minority students begins in eighth grade. The newspaper invites kids in once a week to learn to use the computer system and news writing basics.
Students do the writing, editing, and photography.
The Herald helps with pagination and publishes the school newspapers every two weeks in tabloid format. Several times each year, the newspaper runs students work on a broadsheet page. Large papers step up to the plate High school newspapers are becoming an endangered species, especially in inner cities, says Dorothy Gilliam, director of The Washington Post s Young Journalists Development Project. To counteract this trend and address the persistent recruitment problems of people of color by newspapers, the Post developed a long-range plan to revive newspapers in Washington schools. The Chicago Tribune works primarily with journalism advisers, recognizing that they can use a healthy dose of support from professionals.