PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs is building the next generation of informed media creators and consumers
WHY:
We believe that thoughtful, well-grounded local reporting and the interdisciplinary work of video production are powerful forms of learning and civic engagement. Public media empowers young people to report stories, reach authentic audiences, join conversations about the issues that affect their future and recognize their unlimited potential as valued members of society.
HOW:
Now in over 160 middle and high schools, Student Reporting Labs (SRL) is a national youth journalism program and public media initiative that trains teenagers across the country to produce stories that highlight the achievements, challenges, and reality of today’s youth. SRL creates transformative educational experiences through video journalism that inspire students to find their voice and engage in their communities.
SRL lesson plans, assignment prompts and instruction tools facilitate project-based learning that builds critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills. Teachers, who apply to start a Lab at their school, are connected to their local PBS station and journalism mentors within the community. SRL professional development workshops prepare educators for this work and the SRL Academy brings together students from around the country to hone their skills and advance the future of journalism and public media.
SRL youth media producers work on special projects with Labs and work with students on story pitches, script-writing, narration, rough cuts and final videos. Students’ stories are published on the website, shared on social media, distributed through partnerships and aired on local PBS station and the PBS NewsHour nightly broadcasts.
On the SRL Website, you’ll find:
- Stories produced by youth reporters across the country
- Journalism and production curricula focused on news literacy, visual storytelling and civic engagement
- STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) videos produced with specialized curricula focused on science literacy and communication
- Mentoring model that matches Labs with media professionals
STUDENTS TACKLE CRITICAL TOPICS:
2020-2021
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TitleProject Description
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Students learn how to make their own podcast episode, resulting in an audio story about a young person and their experience with mental health.
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Students explore justice in their own community, and use solutions journalism to produce a story about how people are working to create “justice for all.”
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Students explore ways the pandemic has changed education by producing a 2-5 minute news story with interviews, b-roll, and/or voiceover narration.
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Student journalists will find out how young people feel about our democracy: its fairness, its faults, and how they’d like to see it operate if they were in charge.
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Students capture teen voices on race and injustice in the U.S. and will film and interview students from their school and community to find out how young people are challenging racism and creating change.
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Students record a short personal vlog-style video to cover how school is reopening in their community during the pandemic.
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SRL reports on the effects of COVID-19 on their communities
2019-2020
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TitleProject Description
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SRL reports on the effects of COVID-19 on their communities
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SRL student reporters dive into three issues facing young people today
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No Labels Attached: Breaking Down Misconceptions & Stereotypes explores how young people break down misconceptions and challenge stereotypes about who they are.
2018-2019
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TitleProject Description
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Youth journalists in STEM Student Reporting Labs explore how citizen scientists are advancing knowledge while Health SRLs investigate where students turn in a mental health crisis and show how peer to peer counseling programs build healthier school communities.
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How are Americans experiencing art across the country? Find out in SRL’s latest series, Art in Real Life #artIRL.
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For our series, "Opportunity in America," teen journalists produced stories that explore dreams, expectations and the barriers teenagers must overcome to achieve their goals.
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Teen reporters from the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs across the country captured how teens feel about voting and the upcoming midterm elections.
2017-2018
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TitleProject Description
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Youth journalists investigate how health care innovators across the country are shaping our future and redefining what it means to be “healthy.”
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Youth journalists explore how engineering is reshaping our lives.
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Youth social movements across America
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Teens reveal impact and perceptions of misinformation
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Today’s Youth, Tomorrow’s Jobs
2016-2017
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TitleProject Description
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Breaking the bounds of disabilities
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STEM stories from national parks around the country
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Immigration, migration and identity
2015-2016
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TitleProject Description
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Young people challenging gender stereotypes
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How young people see tensions in their own
2014-2015
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TitleProject Description
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Challenges facing high school students
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Teens reflect on Ferguson unrest
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Student journalists react to domestic abuse scandals in NFL
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How the concept of school safety has changed since Newtown
2013
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TitleProject Description
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Concussion awareness in youth sports programs
Students Reporting Labs is made possible by grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the National Institutes of Health Science Education Partnership Award.
If you are interested in supporting the Labs, please use our contact page.