The Detroit Free Press is abruptly ending a 29-year-old high school journalism program within weeks, in which high school students were brought into the newsroom to work alongside seasoned professionals, Aaron Foley writes on CJR.org, the online publication of the Columbia Journalism Review.
The Gannett-owned newspaper no longer has a financial interest in funding the program, according to multiple Free Press employees, who learned that the program would be discontinued on Monday but declined to speak for attribution before the paper issues a formal statement.
Publisher Paul Anger has not yet responded to an email inquiry.
“With (Detroit Public Schools) in such turmoil, this is the only newspaper outlet some of these schools had,” says Emiliana Sandoval, copy chief at Motor Trend, who ran the program while a copyeditor at the Freep from 1999-2006 and then full time 2006-07. “They (the students) can’t express themselves. Part of the program is learning about writing, communication, interviewing—all things that can be used in any job, not just journalism.”
