How did student journalism develop?
A series of events led to its consolidation of student journalism as it is known today.
The first is student activism, which started in the 18th century with the first student associations in Europe and continues today in all continents.
In their movements and protests, student activists used mass media, the pamphlet being the oldest and the blog the newest, to spread their message, call to action and in many cases, offer an alternative perspective of current events from those presented in main-stream media.
The second event that contributed to the origin of student journalism was the establishment of journalism schools. The first journalism schools were the Pulitzer School of Journalism at Columbia and the Missouri School of Journalism.
The Missouri School started the tradition of the student newspaper/workshop with the University Missourian, now known as the Columbia Missourian, where students could put their journalism lessons into practice by producing, editing and distributing their own newspaper.
The first student newspapers in the U.S., however, were not originated from journalism schools. They were born from the students’ desire of informing and being informed on their communities’ current affairs.
Student journalism grew and developed differently in each country. However, it is believed that most student news outlets worldwide were born at least from one of these historical events.
Author’s note: This information was taken from my thesis on student journalism. If you want a copy, send me a request via e-mail or post a comment. You can see the references in this page.
