By: E&P Staff L.A. Youth, the United States' largest independent newspaper written by and about high school students, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month with a special edition. The commemorative issue will feature the paper?s best articles over the course of its history.
The newspaper strives to provide relevant information for teens dealing with a variety of issues. Eighty student staffers produce the content ranging from concerts and movie reviews to articles about AIDS in Africa. In 2003, the paper introduced the Foster Youth Writing Program, which allows teens in foster care and probation programs to write their own personal stories.
Journalists and teachers have praised L.A. Youth for the quality of its content and its educational value. The 20th anniversary issue has congratulatory quotes from news personalities such as Bill Moyers, Keith Olbermann, and Walter Cronkite.
?It is vitally important for our young people to become active in our country?s civic dialogue, giving their voices to those issues that affect their environment and their lives,? Cronkite writes in the issue. ?I don't believe there is a better way for them to do this than to be the reporters of those events. They and the readership of L.A. Youth will benefit greatly from the experience.?
The not-for-profit paper was created in reaction to a 1988 Supreme Court ruling granting high school administrations license to control the content of school newspapers. The current executive director and publisher, Donna C. Myrow, founded the paper as a forum for teen journalists to write and publish uncensored material.
Starting out with an initial press run of 2,500 and printing twice a year, L.A. Youth has grown exponentially. Now, it has a readership of 400,000 in Los Angeles County according to its Web site and publishes bi-monthly. Its reach has even grown past Los Angeles, as mainstream media such as Time, CNN, and National Public Radio picked up or referenced students? stories.
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