Seeding new journalism in Jackson
High school students report on hometown topics under innovative news program
At a time when readers often have difficulty differentiating between truth and internet rumors or disinformation, there is a pressing need for journalists to report objectively and to rely upon documented facts.
That is one of the lessons students are learning in workshops and through firsthand reporting for the Jackson Youth Newsroom, a program launched by The Bell, a New York City-based nonprofit aimed at empowering teens to tell their community’s stories.
Among JYN’s inaugural program participants, Aubrey Caldwell, a 15-year-old sophomore, said her ideas about journalism have evolved as a result of her involvement.
“Before, I thought it was about personal opinion, but after I joined I learned you had to get the facts and don’t be biased,” Caldwell said after a recent JYN workshop.
Caldwell said she originally joined the JYN program because it sounded fun but became more deeply immersed in journalism as a result of a project about Jackson’s mayoral race. In March 2025, JYN hosted a forum about the mayoral election that drew close to 200 attendees, most of whom were members of student governments at Jackson public high schools. JYN’s full coverage of the forum is on its website and Instagram channel.
Echoing Caldwell, Laelya Walters, a 17-year-old high school junior, summed up journalism’s basic ethos: “To me, journalism is unbiasedly portraying stories, people and events,” she said.
The Bell was founded by former teachers and journalists Adrian Uribarri and Taylor McGraw in 2017, originally as a podcast to amplify the voices of New York City high school students on the issue of school segregation. McGraw, an Oxford, Mississippi native, launched the Jackson Youth Newsroom after he moved back to his home state. The program now offers training, workshopping, media publication and podcast hosting for high school students who apply and are approved.
On April 10, JYN hosted a meeting of eight students who had been accepted into the spring 2025 program, all of whom have been working on local news projects, covering topics such as public swimming pool facilities, the experiences of LGBT youth and other student-led issues. At the meeting, students shared details of their research and plans for creating engaging and informative content for a local and a national audience. The goal is to bring fresh perspectives to local news, including by connecting Jacksonians of different generations and promoting issues like sustainability.
Among the students who have reported articles published on the JYN website is Dion Craft, who conducted a one-on-one interview with incumbent Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba in which he laid out his goals for the city and defended his controversial record.
Another student, Hannah King, reported on a dramatic staging by Ida B. Wells APAC of Ntozake Shange’s play, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf,” which was selected as Mississippi’s entry in the International Thespian Festival this summer.
JYN program manager Azia Wiggins, a 26-year-old Jackson native, meets with the students every Tuesday and Thursday and said they are currently finalizing their journalism projects as the spring session nears its conclusion. Beyond helping train them and publishing their reports, “We’re also interested in getting them in the pipeline of journalism,” Wiggins previously told The Mississippi Independent.
Among the current student journalists, Asiah Knotts and Edgar Solis-Daz’s are coauthoring a story that focuses on school lunch options in Jackson public schools, including the availability of healthier food choices. Zyquira McClendon’s article will examine the experiences and struggles of queer youth in Mississippi.
“I was never interested in journalism at first, but after being accepted in JYN and being able to portray events and viewpoints in my stories, [it has] been so beautiful and the other students that I met in this program basically became my family,” Laelya Walters said following the group’s April 22 meeting.
McGraw, the program’s executive director, told the students at the meeting that they were welcome to return for advice as they continue their studies and pursue journalism careers. “I’ve been doing this for most of my professional career and now to be with my own reporters and spread my knowledge is just great,” he afterward told The Mississippi Independent.
JYN will complete its current session on May 1. Wiggins and McGraw are recruiting new students for the fall program while planning a summer fundraiser. Student applicants or financial supporters can find more information at the JYN website.
Image: Taylor McGraw, in blue shirt, listens as JYN students discuss their journalism projects (Levon Campbell III)
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