My Local Press launches free student journalism program

My Local Press has opened a free Student Journalism Program for high school and university newsrooms, giving students a way to publish local news to real community audiences. The move comes as newspaper closures widen local coverage gaps and schools look for practical ways to train reporters.

Why it matters: - High school and college journalists can now publish local reporting for free on a platform built to reach readers in their own communities. - The program is designed to help students cover events, city councils and school boards while building job-ready reporting skills. - The launch targets a long-running local news shortage as newspapers continue to close and student newsrooms take on more coverage.

What happened: - My Local Press announced a free Student Journalism Program for high school papers and university newsrooms. - Participating schools can use the My Local Press publishing platform at no cost. - Students can publish community news on MyLocalPress.com and reach a real local audience. - Journalists, teachers, advisers and program directors can sign up through the membership page. - Schools with setup questions can contact the My Local Press team at hi@mylocalpress.com.

The details: - Student reporters can cover local stories, events and community issues. - The platform includes journalism resources and courses for students. - Student accounts are configured for each program, and teachers and administrators keep control of them. - Coverage is geo-fenced so reporting reaches readers in the community being covered. - My Local Press says university journalism programs can also use the platform to promote themselves to student journalists already active there. - Advertising partnerships for those promotions start at $250 per month. - My Local Press offers city, state, national and global advertising tiers. - The company says publishers on the platform can sell local advertising and coupons, offer subscriber-only content and accept reader donations. - Publishers keep 90% of what they earn.

Between the lines: - The program fits a broader shift in which student journalists are doing more of the work once handled by shrinking local newspapers. - More than one-third of U.S. newspapers have closed since 2005, according to Northwestern University's Medill Local News Initiative. - The University of Vermont's Center for Community News found that news-academic partnerships grew 24% from 2024 to 2025, from 227 to 282 programs. - In 2025, 9,322 students contributed 44,188 stories, and 32,289 of those stories were picked up by at least one news outlet. - Adam Smith, My Local Press co-founder, said student journalists are already covering meetings and votes that others are no longer attending. - Smith said the goal is to give journalism classes a real audience without charging schools. - Ball State University said the platform fits its mission of combining educational, research and creative experiences with community service.

What's next: - My Local Press is inviting more schools to enroll and set up student accounts. - University programs can use the platform to recruit and promote themselves to student journalists. - The company will continue expanding its publisher base after growing to nearly 4,000 publishers since launching in January 2026. - My Local Press is positioning the student program as part of a broader push to support independent local news production.