This article was originally published in Kaleidoscope‘s Spring 2025 print edition. It is being published as a separate online article now for easy access.
In late May, the New York Times published a profile of the Ditch Weekly, a teen-run newspaper covering Montauk and the Hamptons. The article was selected as a “Great Read,” a designation given to one exceptional piece of journalism from the Times every weekday. The Ditch Weekly, founded last year by East Hampton High School students Billy Stern and Teddy Rattray, recently returned with a Memorial Day Weekend issue. They will publish weekly between July 4 and Labor Day. After reading about the Ditch Weekly, I was interested in how student journalism across Suffolk County is doing.
In some schools, student sentiment towards journalism has been declining, as can be expected with the rise of short-form video content. In the Half Hollow Hills Central School District, the elective journalism class is no longer offered due to low enrollment, though the district is working on getting it running again. English Department director Ms. Love Foy said, “My sentiments are that the art of writing, especially news, which takes time and dedication in order to verify sources and report accurately, is not attractive to many students as an activity or a long-term interest. Media in general has become more focused on quick sound bites rather than investing time in accuracy.” Pari Sachdev, the managing editor of Hills West Media in the district, said, “attitude towards journalism is declining, and being a part of a newspaper isn’t that popular anymore.”
At Earl L. Vandermeulen High School in the Port Jefferson School District, students founded an online newspaper, The Current, in 2019, but it has since stopped publishing. At Southampton High School, their student newspaper, The Riptide, was last active in 2023.
Despite decreasing interest in written journalism, some schools have been adapting by turning their focus to broadcast journalism. At Smithtown East High School, Addison Riccoboni, the editor-in-chief of their student newspaper The Matador, said, “I feel as though interest in actually completing articles and working through ideas has decreased so much.” However, three years ago, The Matador started incorporating daily broadcasting about school events into their functions. Since then, Riccoboni says, “I definitely feel as though the newspaper has become an afterthought and most people would rather participate in broadcasting, which also receives more funding.” Similarly, at Harborfields High School, the HF Tornado News Team has in recent years directed its focus towards broadcasting and video content and away from journalistic articles and the newspaper.
Notably, some student newspapers in Suffolk County have actually been growing. At East Hampton High School, students revived their long-defunct newspaper, the Bonac Beachcomber, several years ago. Now, though still somewhat primitive in layout, the Beachcomber has been publishing 2-3 issues a year. At Northport High School, the Port Press went all-digital in 2018. Dora Fields, the editor-in-chief, said that, although student membership in the club has remained roughly similar, “over the past few years, more people have been interested in reading our articles.”
The Paw Print, the student newspaper of Walt Whitman High School, has not been publishing this year due to issues with their advisor and funding. However, Sienna Leaver, last year’s editor-in-chief, noted how interest in journalism at Walt Whitman has been increasing. She said, “During my freshman year, our team had 5-6 consistent writers and two editors. Last year, we had a team of 10-12 writers, photographers and cartoonists and three editors, so it’s definitely gone up over time.” She added, “Even though we haven’t done much this year in terms of writing, the other editors and I have done some outreach at our middle school and there’s a lot of interest there which gives me hope for the future of our paper.”
At Commack High School, the student newspaper, The Courant, has remained a popular club. Casey Schwartz, a copy editor, said, “Our publication was shrinking until this past year, when we had a lot of freshman interest. … We’ve had stories about local restaurants, star athletes, how students have handled stress and more! It’s truly an amazing club at our school and it seems to be highly respected, especially by English teachers.”
