The letter was written in response to New York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt's commentary published Sunday, July 19, 2009, One Newspaper, Many Checkbooks.
Re: "One Newspaper, Many Checkbooks" (July 19), New York Times:
Nonprofit newspapers are not a new idea. L.A. Youth was launched more than 20 years ago with support by foundations and corporations. There has never been a conflict of interest or pressure from any funding source regarding our investigative reporting.
In Los Angeles, we have reported fraud and abuse in group homes, we have reported illegal searches of backpacks by school security guards, and we have brought attention to the Legislature regarding the plight of youth incarcerated in private mental hospitals without the right of due process. These stories were ignored by mainstream media even in the well-financed days of journalism.
Our paper is distributed free to more than 1,400 teachers and is used in classrooms for civics lessons in lieu of boring, dated textbooks. Philanthropy and journalism are an excellent partnership.
DONNA MYROW
Los Angeles, July 20, 2009
The writer is the publisher of L.A. Youth.
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LA Youth is a great newspaper. Parents should direct their teens to www.LAYouth.com for all kinds of great writing by teens for teens. They have serious articles about things like domestic abuse and mental illness as well as a lot of fun writing on local culture like restaurant and movie reviews. It's a great way for teens to see that they can be involved in reporting and writing news.
ReplyDelete-Jon Harris