Michael Moore Launches Virtual Newspaper for Activist High Schoolers

Are you a high school student and a citizen journalist? Michael Moore wants you. The documentarian is so inspired by students everywhere from Egypt to Wisconsin "taking to the streets, organizing, protesting, and refusing to move until your voices are heard" that he's turned a section of his website into a virtual student newspaper. He's looking for youth contributors, and, unlike traditional high school newspapers, there's no censorship, not even from him.

Moore writes on his blog,

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In high schools all across America, students have great ideas to make things better or to question what is going on—and often these thoughts and opinions are ignored or silenced. How often in school is the will of the student body ignored? How many students today will try to speak out, to stand up for something important, to simply try to right a wrong—and will be swiftly shut down by those in authority, or by other students themselves?

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The page will be edited for the first six months by Moore's 17-year-old niece, Molly. So far the citizen journalism site includes entries from students on the ground in Madison, like East High's Riley Moore, who writes in his February 21 entry, "This is the 7th consecutive day that we've marched," and West High School's Sam Rahdar, who posted a vlog entry about his opinions on the Wisconsin bill.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEl78elfH5I

The entries challenge the stereotype that today's teens are apathetic. If you know (or are) a high schooler looking for a space to post blogs, music, or video about social issues, here's how to get involved.

photo (cc) by nicolas genin via Wikimedia Commons