Students stand up for each other

Lately we’ve been seeing more examples of how student journalists are filling the gaps in news deserts or hyperlocal pockets that big newsrooms overlook. This week, for example, Wisconsin Watch profiled The Pulaski News in Wisconsin, where high schoolers — yes, teenagers — have been putting out their community’s paper of record.

Now we are seeing young journalists leading in another way, too: They’re standing up for one another.

In California, a coalition of 55 student news organizations led by the Student Press Law Center has joined an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit filed by The Stanford Daily against the Trump administration and its use of immigration law to deport international students for constitutionally protected speech. Several of the newspapers, like The Cornell Daily Sun, have published editorials expressing their support.

Meanwhile, after Indiana University administrators fired the campus newspaper’s adviser and killed its print edition, the Purdue University newspaper stepped in with a show of support — delivering 3,000 newspapers to IU’s Bloomington campus, a special edition focused on the value of journalism and student media, writes Abriana Herron of WFYI.

Are young journalists setting an example? At least one observer thinks so. Inspired by the Indiana case, Karl Bode writes for TechDirt that students are showing more backbone than many in the mainstream media.

“The student resistance to this is a refreshing act of courage and solidarity,” he writes.

News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> My bosses were afraid of crossing Trump. So, I quit. (Politico)

Alan Greenblatt was editor of the respected state-government focused magazine Governing. But he resigned in the face of pressure from the owner, e.Republic, to avoid coverage that was critical of President Trump. One of the saddest parts of the Trump anti-media stance, he writes, is that while the big media companies can fight back, “the little guys too often decide they lack the resources to stand up. Capitulation becomes the easier course.”

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Culture & Inclusion

>> New from API: Psychological safety is essential for intergenerational newsrooms — and a lens for community engagement

Our recent Local News Summit in Denver explored the role news organizations can play in helping their communities bridge generational divides. Within newsrooms, one way to do that is to ensure that journalists of all ages feel psychologically safe to communicate and learn from one another. It was the main topic of a workshop we held and one that resonated deeply with attendees. Here we’re sharing our takeaways from those discussions.

>> Mental Health in Journalism Summit 2025 recordings available (The Self-Investigation Academy) 

Recordings from 46 sessions covering topics like newsroom resilience, moral injury and self-care strategies are now available, offering practical insights for journalists everywhere. Access them here. API was a sponsor for the summit.

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory (BBC)

Research led by the BBC and coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union found that AI assistants “routinely misrepresent news content” regardless of the language, territory or platform tested. The study involved 22 public service media organizations in 18 countries, including NPR in the United States.

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Revenue & Resilience

>> Boston.com, the Globe’s free site since its launch 30 years ago, is adding a metered paywall (Media Nation)

The free news website of Boston Globe Media is adding a metered paywall, writes Dan Kennedy, who says he thinks the site will “offer a certain number of free shares per month that may be moved up or down depending on what the data show.”

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What else you need to know

📇 What LinkedIn’s rise as a publishing platform means for the news industry (INMA)

🌵 William McKenzie: Where do rural Texans go for news? (Dallas Morning News)

🫡 Pentagon introduces new right-wing press corps after media walkout (The Washington Post)

🎙️ MacArthur Foundation awards $1.25 million grant to National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB)

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Weekend reads

+ Forget SEO. Welcome to the world of generative engine optimization (WIRED)

+ Why doesn’t anyone trust the media? Anatomy of a credibility crisis (Harper’s)

+ Patron-supported journalism can’t be the future of news (Talking Points Memo)

+ Could the next hit podcaster be… your CFO? (Adweek)