From the annals of worthy causes: the diminishing fortunes of the Los Angeles Times have hit L.A. Youth, a twenty-one-year-old nonprofit newspaper by and for teens. As The Associated Press reported recently, the Times, which is owned by the bankrupt Tribune Co., announced that it can no longer afford to print and deliver the teen paper for free. So L.A. Youth has launched a fundraising drive to pay for its bimonthly 120,000-issue press run for the 2009-2010 school year.
The teen paper was founded as a response to the Supreme Court’s ruling that school administrators could control the content of school newspapers. It has given thousands of teen contributors an important foundation in critical thinking, civic education, and writing skills.
Brent Cunningham is CJR’s managing editor.