July 24, 2008 | Read Time: 2 minutes
For many girls in high school, gossip is the fastest way to spread a juicy story. But at KFAI Fresh Air Radio, in Minneapolis, teenage girls are taught how to find and report the real juicy stories.
This summer eight young women ages 13 to 18 are enrolled in the Youth News Initiative’s eight-week session. The radio station limits participation to members of minority groups.
“The point of the program is to use news journalism as a mechanism for introducing young women to the possibilities of finding their own voice,” says Janis Lane-Ewart, executive director of KFAI Fresh Air Radio. “They’re encouraged to identify stories that are not reported in the news, which the mainstream media doesn’t seem to think are important.”
Each girl learns to do research, conduct interviews, determine the highlights, and boil down the story into a five-minute news report. Stories from the program have included pieces on growing up biculturally and acts of violence against youths.
One participant examined what it is like to be raised by a disabled parent. She went on to win a journalism scholarship to Augsburg College, in Minneapolis, and later returned to serve the program as a mentor.
The radio station has seen a boost in its ratings when the girls’ stories are broadcast on a weekly newsmagazine called Sprouts; Ms. Lane-Ewart estimates that their pieces reach 45,000 listeners a week. All the reports have been archived on KFAI’s Web site.
Two station employees coordinate the program with a budget of $40,000 per year. The Youth News Initiative was created in 2002, but grants have been so scarce that the station has sponsored only four sessions since then. Last August, the station received a $10,000 grant from the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, through its Girls Building Economic Success Together fund.
Here, four girls hone their skills in a KFAI radio booth.
