Teens Learn by Doing via PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs

Twenty-six teens from 14 states came to Washington recently for a full-immersion course in video journalism, media literacy and civic engagement at the fifth annual PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs Academy.

Over six whirlwind days, the students met professionals including NewsHour Executive Producer Sara Just and anchors Judy Woodruff and Hari Sreenivasan, got a crash course in technical aspects of video news production, and worked in small groups with educators and public media mentors to produce news stories involving youth and civic engagement.

The students were nominated from among thousands of middle and high school students participating in the NewsHour Student Reporting Labs at more than 150 middle and high schools nationwide. Now in its 10^th year, PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs trains students to produce local video journalism stories on assigned subjects such as misinformation, STEM issues, immigration, youth-led movements and the youth vote. Some, such as a Cody High School piece on a one-room schoolhouse in Wyoming, have been broadcast nationally on the PBS NewsHour.

Offered as a class or as an after-school program, Student Reporting Labs connect students with mentors from their local PBS stations. Each lab follows a standards-based journalism curriculum that teaches media literacy, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills.

Student Reporting Labs is supported by CPB through the American Graduate: Getting to Work initiative, as well as the MacArthur Foundation, the Kauffman Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health Science Education Partnership Award.

To learn more about the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs Academy, visit the official 2019 SRL Academy Tumblr.

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