Pulitzer Center Welcomes New Reporting Fellows

Country:

United states

Author:

Karima Haynes
Pulitzer Center Staff

Reporting Fellows Undeterred by Challenges to Student Press Freedom

The headlines tell the story: “The Value of Student Journalism Has Never Been Clearer.” “Press Freedom on Campus: Why It Matters and What Student Journalists Need Most.” ”Student Reporters Are Under Pressure To Protect Sources — and Still Tell the Truth.”

Student press freedom is facing unprecedented challenges on campuses as some college journalists are being arrested, suspended, and barred from attending classes and taking final exams. College students do not have special legal protections governing their work, according to the Student Press Law Center [SPLC]. Reporter privilege laws vary by state: Some provide broad protections for unpublished and published material as well as confidential and non-confidential information and sources. Other states are less protective.

Championing the rights of student journalists and journalism educators is the core mission of six leading student journalism advocacy groups: SPLC, the Associated Collegiate Press, the College Media Association, the Journalism Education Association, the National Scholastic Press Association, and Quill and Scroll. Yet, recent detentions and deportations and threats of visa revocations or bans on re-entry of non-citizen student speakers and journalists prompted these organizations to issue an alert calling on student media to place student safety and security ahead of some long-standing journalism practices.

“What we are suggesting today stands in opposition to how many of us as journalism educators have taught and advised our students over the years,” the alert reads. “But times have changed and we feel we must respond to the moment.”

The 2025 Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium Reporting Fellows are more than ready to meet the moment of producing underreported, solutions-based journalism projects in the U.S. and globally. These young journalists plan to tell the stories of a small community in Uganda working to mitigate the effects of climate change; the resettlement of women who defected from North Korea seeking to build new lives in South Korea; the deleterious effects of air pollution on people in Lahore, Punjab province, Pakistan; and more impactful reporting projects.

Meet our courageous and curious Reporting Fellows here. They are proof positive that the state of student media is resilient, empathetic, and empowered to make a difference in these challenging times.

Best,

Impact

Last week, City Hall in New Haven, Connecticut, honored Rania Mrinaalini Das, an 11th-grader and winner of the Pulitzer Center’s Local Letters for Global Change contest in the human rights category. In her letter to Democratic state Senator Gary Winfield, Das questioned the efficacy of body camera footage in police accountability efforts. The New Haven Independent reported that Das received a citation from the Board of Alders.

In an excerpt from her letter, she wrote: “This issue is all too familiar in my hometown of New Haven, where the tragic case of Randy Cox underscored the failure of body cameras to deter misconduct … Despite video evidence showing officers mocking his injured state and neglecting his care, accountability only came after immense public outcry and legal action … This case revealed that footage alone does not equate to heightened accountability.”

Read Das’ full letter, and more winning entries from the 2024 Local Letters for Global Change contest here.