Female student journalists need to be empowered in newsrooms

Starting at a young age, adults have told me that I should stay quiet and avoid problems instead of confronting them. This advice was applied to everything from defending myself against my classmates’ racist slurs, to simply stating my opinion in a discussion with friends. But I have since learned that remaining quiet instead of speaking out in support of what I believe is not only detrimental to my self-confidence, but also leads to self-censorship. This was a lesson that became especially clear when I became a journalist.

When I was in 11th grade, I joined my high school newspaper. Fellow staffers and I wanted to write about pressing issues impacting teenagers like the #MeToo movement and LGBTQ+ rights, as well as local crime reports to keep our student body informed. We soon realized this wouldn’t be possible given how our administration liked to portray our school as “perfect” and swept problems under the rug. So out of fear of retaliation or online attacks from school officials and classmates, we ended up writing about topics like school pep rallies and academic competitions.

Then our principal censored a news story about the cancellation of a senior movie day, an editorial on the removal of a book from our sophomore reading curriculum, and an editorial about the failure of a team-bonding activity. At that point, I found it within myself to embrace the power of my voice and speak out against our administration. My co-writers and I let local news outlets know about this censorship. Then, several other publications reported our story. This caused a media blitz and pressured our administration to give us full publication rights soon after. 

Not all young female journalists ultimately find their voices, though. Many find it easier to drop any “controversial” pitches we may have because we’ve been trained to be complacent, are afraid of gendered attacks and threats of retaliation, or think it’s easier to avoid sharing our opinions than being criticized for them. Men, on the other hand, are encouraged to take the initiative to pursue difficult and controversial stories and share their opinions freely. 

Research backs this up. One 2016 University of Kansas study found that female high school journalists are twice as likely as their male counterparts to not report on a topic because they anticipate a negative reaction from their administration. 53 percent of female students from this study said they had self-censored, while only 27 percent of male students said they had. 

I believe this study also signifies that self-examining whether or not we censor ourselves can be a first step to changing this reality. I first heard the term “self-censorship” when I was getting legal advice on how to combat administrative censorship in high school. I immediately felt guilty about stories I had dropped in the past, from ones about new dress code policies our school had in place that I felt were sexist, to covering protests and walkouts. 

I soon realized, however, that guilt wasn’t productive. The only way to get rid of my self-doubt and fear was to keep reporting the truth and chasing down big-swing stories. I also continued this self-correction by advocating for free press legislation called New Voices that emphasizes the problems of self-censorship and encourages students to fight for quality journalism.

Although we may always question whether or not we will be reprimanded for publishing a certain story, female journalists must continue to make ourselves and those around us aware of the issues self-censorship creates in the long run. Now more than ever, we must encourage young women to tell the stories that need to be told because seeking and reporting the truth will always be our job, no matter what gender or sexuality we are.