Young journalists point to hopeful future

In terms of business success, these are rugged days for newspapers. Any cursory look into business digests, stock tables or advertising-revenue trends will tell you that.

As for the work of gathering, analyzing and disseminating information about a community in ways that inform and entertain readers? Well, forgive us our bias, but we happen to believe that work is as important today as it has ever been.

Which is one reason our eyes light up when we realize that plenty of dedicated adolescents share that view and are developing their own journalistic skills. Impressively so, in many cases.

As the Daily Herald's Georgia Evdoxiadis Garvey reported last week, five suburban high school newspapers have earned a place among only 53 finalists nationwide for annual Pacemaker awards - probably the highest honor in high school journalism.

The five finalists from our area are the Lake Zurich High School Bear Facts, the Naperville Central Times, the Prospect High School Prospector, the Rolling Meadows Pacer and the Stevenson High School Statesman.

Those who have not had occasion to see a high school newspaper recently might be surprised. Students -- at least students who are producing the sort of high-caliber work that attracts this sort of attention -- are not giving their readers hallway gossip and fluff.

They are, to be sure, providing fun features and personality pieces. But these award-winning staffs also are tackling controversies within their schools, covering the local community beyond the high school walls and taking on relevant social and cultural issues. Oftentimes, they're doing it with surprising flair and creative design. Typically, these teens are producing their papers with a close eye on the same ethics and core values that guide professional news organizations.

These student journalists put in a lot of hours and deal with deadline pressures. Typically, they receive little notice from classmates, who often appreciate the final product but probably do not understand the amount of work required to bring it to life.

Says faculty adviser Jason Block of the Prospector's staff: "They don't perform, they don't have the band concert. They (other students) don't understand in the building -- the kids don't -- how hard (student newspaper reporters and editors) work and how high the quality of work they're doing is."

While the professional newspaper environment has changed, the fundamental truth that any democracy relies on an informed public has not. How encouraging it is that a new generation of journalists waits in the wings, working on their craft and preparing to assume this vital work.