Student Journalism in the Age of Media Distrust
President Trump’s attacks on the press seem to be fueling young people’s interest in the profession—a phenomenon also seen at other turbulent times in U.S. history.
There was a president with an energizing message, then a sharp, seemingly instant, political shift. The new president kept an enemies list that included a number of reporters. And he was knee-deep in controversy—though that only led some people to support him more fervently.
It was the 1970s. President Richard Nixon had been undone by a pair of young reporters at , Hollywood had made a blockbuster movie about it, and the reporters had become celebrities. People were excited about journalism—and that was reflected in massive enrollment 33,000; by 1979, that figure had jumped to 71,000.
