The Project for Better Journalism has shut down

In 2021, after 8 years of operation impacting at over 500 high schools across the United States, the Project for Better Journalism (PBJ) ended operations.

The shutdown was announced in mid-2020 (see shutdown notice). The last date of operation was June 15, 2021. The PBJ website was left online until 2025 but this was misleading as the Project has ceased operations.

(As a courtesy, I am now hosting this shutdown notice page on my personal website. I do not have any formal affiliation with PBJ anymore.)

On behalf of the former Project board, I thank our teachers, administrators, students, and benefactors for their support.

Excerpt from the shutdown notice (Feb 15, 2021)

It is my hope that our cause is not ended. Student journalism, particularly in the virtual education era of COVID-19, is more important than ever as a program that congregates students together virtually and productively. But it’s always been more, shining a beacon of light on our most challenging problems, and offering a space for students to be empowered and create solutions.

When I look at the programs that PBJ has supported over these past 8 years, I am filled with gratitude and awe at what thousands of participating students have accomplished. In this time,

  • Students who participated in PBJ programs have graduated high school and college to become full-time journalists, including at major publications, where the continue their important work.
  • Students have reported and opined on the events of our world, including Black Lives Matter, politics, the election, the pandemic, and more. Some of this reporting has received awards and accolades by serious institutions.
  • Students have investigated and even, remarkably, held local institutions to a higher standard, including in one case pushing a school administration to further investigate, and act on, sexual misconduct. (I know not every K-12 school newspaper is empowered to do such work. Nevertheless, I hope we all appreciate a world with more justice.)
  • PBJ's inter-school collaboration programs—of which we ran too few, but which included everything from journalist guest speakers to a joint publication defining culture and belonging—were a success, bringing together one of the most diverse school groups across the country of any school extracurricular.

I hope this work continues, and it starts with each and every school. While PBJ will no longer be an official partner in this work, we are rooting for you from the sidelines.