Nine-Year-Old Reporter Criticized for Breaking News of Town Tragedy

[Katashi_itto]

Nine-year-old Hilde Kate Lysiak is the sole journalist of Orange Street News, the only publication devoted exclusively to covering the events of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania (population 5,000). Hilde’s favorite beat to report on is crime, and she’s written extensively about vandalism, drug use, and harassment in Selinsgrove. Regular Orange Street News readers know that Hilde often covers serious subject matter that might seem incongruous with her age, but when the nine-year-old was the first reporter on the scene of a murder in Selinsgrove last weekend, some local residents were scandalized.

Last Saturday afternoon, after hearing rumors that police had finally caught a Selinsgrove vandal she’s written about in the past, Hilde headed down to the police station to get confirmation. Instead, Hilde’s father says, the police chief told her “I’ve got a big story, I’ve gotta go.” Hilde consulted with a source she has in the town (the nine-year-old told The Washington Post “I got a good tip from a source and I was able to confirm it”), and learned the police were investigating a murder on Ninth Street, a few blocks from her house. The first reporter to arrive on the scene, Hilde talked to neighbors then went home to write up a breaking news item which her father, a former reporter for The Daily News, put on the Orange Street News for her. She then went back to Ninth Street and gathered enough information to publish a full story, a video, and photos on the site hours ahead of The Daily Item, a local paper which reports on Selinsgrove as well as the rest of Susquehanna Valley.

Hilde’s father described what happened that day for The Washington Post:

Because she’s the only one doing community news, she’s developed sources who trust her to cover the news. One of her sources contacted her, and she was able to confirm it with law enforcement. She knocked on every door, like she’d seen me do with the Daily News. There were no other reporters there.
http://www.themarysue.com/orange-street-news/

[Arkansas Granny]

1. Remarkable. This girl will be a force to be reckoned with as she grows up.

And her critics can just cool it.

[AxionExcel]

2. She's following in the footsteps of the original Hildy

[hereforthevoting]

3. I think I will follow this gal

Seems to me MSM has a reason to expect serious competition.

[chalky]

4. I love this kid!

Hilde addressed the community’s concerns, ending by telling her critics: “If you want me to stop covering news, then you get off your computers and do something about the news. There, is that cute enough for you?”

[mrs_p]

12. Bravo

[Vinca]

5. Good for Hilde. She should be very proud of her work.

And here I thought journalism was lost forever.

[meow2u3]

6. This kid is more mature than the adults around her

And the adults who should cover the news are too busy covering the area where the sun don't shine to care. The adults are the ones who need to grow up and quit being jealous of a 9-year-old kid.

[Fast Walker 52]

7. what a great kid-- how awesome

[intheflow]

8. Grass roots reporting!

[ScreamingMeemie]

9. You go girl! Glad you aren't taking your readership's ideals seriously.

This must be the part of Pennsylvania that's still stuck in the 50s:

“9 year old girls should be playing with dolls, not trying to be reporters.”

[progressoid]

10. “9 year old girls should be playing with dolls, not trying to be reporters.”

Love her response:

[Katashi_itto]

11. It is an awesome response!

[yuiyoshida]

13. You go girl!!

[Odin2005]

16. Ouch, massive burn, there!

[LittleGirl]

19. Brilliant

She will be a strong woman some day soon! Cheers!

[JackInGreen]

14. That young woman is a BADASS

[Odin2005]

15. Awesome girl!

[d_legendary1]

17. She will be a force to be reckoned with

as she keeps getting experience. Hopefully she'll show the media a thing or two about actual reporting.

[dhill926]

18. cannot K & R this enough....

[christx30]

20. This kid doesn't need criticism.

She needs a full scholarship to journalism school.
And, frankly, the world needs someone with her brains and drive. Go Hilde!

[surrealAmerican]

21. k & r

That kid is a force to be reckoned with.

[Ezlivin]

22. Welcome back "Helen Thomas"

This young lady embodies that fierce, journalistic drive.

[hopemountain]

23. wonderful, hilde!

as a 9 yr old i also wanted to be a journalist. after winning a school wide essay contest during times when children were 'tracked', one teacher asked me what i wanted to be. i answered, "i want to be a news reporter and a doctor." the teacher answered, "how about a secretary? wouldn't you rather be a secretary?".

our country and our planet need young people like hilde. they will be inheriting what we leave them on this planet and they are going to need every bit of human talent to survive whatever that will be.

[Calista241]

24. Whatevs. Hilde, keep on going sister. Don't let the haters win.

[brettdale]

25. Good on her

I bet if a nine year old male broke the story he would be celebrated.

[Hekate]

26. I heard her interviewed on NPR this week, and she's got this little squeaky voice but is already ...

....a great newshawk! Hurray Hilde!

[Melurkyoulongtime]

27. Dear lord

that child should be given a medal. Not just for breaking the story but for being the ONLY soul in that town reporting exclusively FOR that town. I partially grew up in a town of less than 2400 and we had 2 papers; 1 was a weekly shopper type rag but the other actually reported town & surrounding area news.

She not only has gumption she's going to go places. I hope its somewhere her talent and skills are appreciated.

[PJMcK]

28. A real journalist

She may be our next Molly Ivans.

[Avalon Sparks]

29. OMG _ I love her online paper

She is absolutely amazing!

Some folks mentioned Helen Thomas and Molly Ivins - yes indeed!!!

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. Comment by her in The Guardian:

Yes, I’m a nine-year-old girl. But I’m still a serious reporter

...
Residents of Selinsgrove publicly called my work trash and told me I should leave it to the professionals. Other people told me I should stick to tea parties and playing with dolls.

Maybe that’s what the “professionals” were doing while I was working the scene, because they sure weren’t there. I have since found out that the police had asked the media not to run the story. I may be nine, but I have learned that my job as a reporter is to get the truth to the people. I work for them, not the police. I think that some people are angry that I didn’t follow along like everyone else.

My parents and I have also been warned that covering this story meant my reporting was no longer “cute”. I don’t think people should be able to decide for me who I should be and what I should be doing. I never began my newspaper so that people would think I was cute. I started the Orange Street News to give people the information they need to know.

I want to be taken seriously. I’m sure other kids do, too. Grownups usually treat kids like they cannot do anything great. If adults don’t think we can do something, then it is hard for us to believe that we can. And then how will we have great things in this world?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/06/nine-year-old-reporter-orange-street-news-truth

[Kalidurga]

31. The Mayor needs to be fired.

Someone tell Hilde to tell the Mayor that he should be fired. Now that's a story I would love to read about.