This Spring, the White Pine Press attended two conferences, per usual. In San Francisco, our student-run news organization won fifth place for Best of Show in the 2-year college newspaper category at the Associated Collegiate Press conference. In Mt. Pleasant, we took home 18 awards, including third-place for general excellence at the Michigan Community College Press Association Conference.

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These honors are more than just pieces of paper. They symbolize a year of hard work and dedication to covering our community. Our reporters, editors, designers, and photographers—many of whom had little to no journalism experience when they entered the newsroom—gave their time to learn and grow as they explored issues that matter to NMC students, faculty, and the general public. 

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I am not here to brag, but to ask a favor. First, let me give you a history lesson.

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Student-run news has been there throughout NMC’s 75 years of existence.. In November 1952, just one year after the college was founded, the Northwestern Reporter published its first edition. The name went through an evolution—the Reporter, the Tomahawk Reporter, the Nor’wester—and the White Pine Press was ultimately born in 1983.

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In case the lead paragraph of this letter was not convincing, let me tell you how the White Pine Press gives young reporters a space to thrive.

NMC is by no means a journalism school, but the institution has attracted talent who have gone on to work for local and state news organizations such as the Traverse City Record-Eagle and MLive. 

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That is what I admire most about the newsroom I have been a part of for the past two years. NMC provides an affordable place for students in the region to get an education, making the White Pine Press an accessible liftoff point for anyone interested in journalism, photojournalism, and design. Prestigious journalism schools and legacy outlets can be amazing, but you don’t need to graduate from Columbia University or end up writing for The New York Times to make an impact as a journalist.

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The White Pine Press and other small student publications have the opportunity to do something particularly special. These outlets can fill gaps in community reporting and provide a young adult perspective on issues. We are intimately connected to the experience of a student because we are living it. This provides an opportunity for a unique reporting voice in a community that has been increasing in age—the median age is 43.1 in Traverse City and 55.2 in Leelanau County, compared to a state average of 40.1, according to reporting by The Ticker in 2024. 

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I never would have thought a newsroom of fewer than 5 reporters could make a large impact, but I have seen it firsthand.

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A news desert is an area with a community, or communities, that has little or no access to quality, comprehensive news. In Northern Michigan, most counties have only one local news outlet, according to an October 2025 report from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. While one is better than none, it stands in stark contrast to southern Michigan, which has multiple outlets in most counties.

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Calling the entirety of Northern Michigan a news desert would be an inaccurate statement. There is robust journalism by multiple outlets happening in many communities, especially in communities on the coast like Grand Traverse and Leelanau. Inland communities in the Upper Peninsula and Northern Lower Peninsula tend to see the largest gaps in coverage.

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My own observations have found Northern Michigan’s journalism community to be encouraging of one another. It’s a community that is constantly dedicated to finding solutions to gaps in coverage. A recent initiative that I admire is the Northern Michigan Journalism Collaborative, a reporting project funded by Press Forward Northern Michigan. Led by Bridge Michigan and Interlochen Public Radio, outlets across Northern Michigan have worked together to tell the stories impacting underreported rural communities.

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However, progress made in covering Northern Michigan is only temporary unless we continue to emphasize the importance of supporting journalism programs and outlets for students. If we don’t provide young reporters with education and outlets to cover our communities, they will look elsewhere. If we don’t provide an affordable environment for young reporters, such as the one that NMC provides, they will look elsewhere. 

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Right now, I believe the prospect of reporting downstate, where young people can afford to live and have more job opportunities, seems much more appealing than toughing it out in Northern Michigan. It takes a love for the Northern Michigan community to want to stay here, and local journalism opportunities for students can build that love.

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So, here is my request.

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Keep nurturing the next generation of reporters. Encourage high school and college students to use their voices and be civically engaged. Don’t let negative rhetoric around the press scare them. Incentivize young reporters—and the general emerging workforce—to stay in the area by working to provide affordable housing. Let the young people of Northern Michigan know there are opportunities for them here, in their own backyard.

To keep Northern Michigan informed, we need to continue to give the next generation of reporters a reason to stay.