The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Documents the Problems of the High School Press and Launches Youth
Communication

The Problems
• Censorship
• Racial Exclusion
• Elitism
• Mediocrity
• Budget Cuts

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial conducts the Captive Voices study (see right), which documents deep problems in scholastic journalism. In response to the findings of the Captive Voices study, the Memorial embarks on a series of projects to address the problems:

• The Student Press Law Center
•a news service for high school newspapers called the Student Press Service
• Several periodicals which analyze government spending and policies that affect young people. (The periodicals are later spun off into the Youth Policy Institute.)
• And, in 1977, the Memorial helps found the first citywide independent teen magazine, New Expression.

Years later, several Youth Communication alumni intern at the Memorial, as does eventual Youth Communication editor Andrea Estepa. The Memorial is also Youth Communication's first financial supporter. We are deeply indebted to the visionary leadership of Richard Boone and David Hackett, who led the Memorial during that time.

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1970
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1970
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1974

Deep Problems in HS Journalism: In 1971, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation hosts a nationwide contest for high school journalists who focus on "the problems of the disadvantaged." The entries are so anemic, however, that the Memorial convenes a Commission of Inquiry Into High School Journalism to investigate the causes.

(In 1972, Keith Hefner-as editor of his high school newspaper-attends the Memorial's first meeting to discuss the problems in the high school press. Eight years later he founds Youth Communication/New York.)

After conducting extensive hearings and focus groups across the country, the Commission issues its major findings in the book Captive Voices, written by Los Angeles Times reporter Jack Nelson. The key findings: the high school press is crippled by censorship, elitism, racial exclusion, and mediocrity.

Budget Cuts Pose Another Threat to Urban Scholastic Journalism: Meanwhile, in the mid-1970s, many of the country's major cities-New York most dramatically-are suffering fiscal difficulties. Budget cuts cripple extra curricular activities in schools, including school newspapers. By the end of the 1970s, the high school press in urban areas is decimated, first by censorship, and then by budget cuts.

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