Opinion: I’m a 16-year-old high school student. This is why young journalists matter.

Opinion by Quinn Mitchell

(CNN) — I live in a New England community where town hall meetings foster open dialogue — anyone can openly participate and inquire into public issues. If answers aren’t satisfactory, the audience can ask more questions.

Yet I’ve watched presidential candidates dodge and weave through straightforward questions with answers that never would have held up in town meetings: places where every citizen can be a journalist, seeking public answers and accountability from town officials (who typically answer to the voters gathered).

As a 16-year-old aspiring journalist who’s been called a “clown,” a “disruption” and a “joke,” it might be surprising that these pejoratives did not come from my siblings or classmates — they came from presidential campaign staff and political operatives.

I’ve asked presidential candidates pointed and respectful questions. “Did Trump violate the peaceful transfer of power?” Was January 6 “a danger to democracy?” While I ask questions to candidates on both sides of the political aisle, I mostly attended Republican events this primary cycle with the Democratic Party’s recent stripping of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation status.

Still, I’ve been removed from a Republican event by the police and physically intimidated by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ security team. At an “Our Great American Comeback” event in New Hampshire, DeSantis evaded responding to my question about the peaceful transfer of power. (His previous remarks stressed the importance of upholding the Founding Fathers’ key principles — the peaceful transfer of power being one of them.) A week later, DeSantis’ guards physically intimidated and removed me after I asked him to follow up on his January 6 “answer” — to which the Florida governor replied, “Come to my next event.”

Last November, I attended another event with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Even after following her Q&A instructions, she refused to answer my question, and I was moved along by Haley and her team.

My experiences are just part of a disturbing trend. Gen Z journalists are often shut down by authoritative figures and officials, and student journalists across the country are not guaranteed complete constitutional First Amendment protection — discouraging active participation from students and rousing fear of litigation.

Encouraging my generation to speak up and not be fearful is crucial, particularly with the looming 2024 presidential election in November. Young people have the power to enact real change; a Tufts study found that Gen Z will make up over 40 million voters this year, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the American electorate.

But keep in mind that we don’t know who’s running the show: super PACs or the candidates. Like many in our country, I worry about the prospect of escalating conflict due to growing political, social and economic divisions. If a then-15-year-old’s questions provoked such hostility, we must pose more challenging questions to politicians, especially on topics they want to avoid or withhold from the public. The obsessive control, management of campaign events and media response I’ve experienced echo a long history of censorship in the US, dating back to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, which “made it made it a crime for American citizens to ‘print, utter, or publish…any false, scandalous, and malicious writing’ about the government.”

If officials across the political aisle can’t talk to each other with respect and understanding, how can we solve existential threats to our future? I’ve tried asking how candidates plan to address these issues. While some might think we’re “too young” to be concerned about or understand national policy, these outcomes determine our future: a future that Gen Z is increasingly concerned about.

Many people in my generation feel that we’re inheriting a troubled and burning world: one stripped of resources and devoid of the hope and possibilities that previous generations enjoyed.

Knowing the power of open access and seeing the lack of access on the campaign trail, I continue to explore my passion in journalism: the act of seeking truth from power — especially when that power is dodging and weaving. I decided to recast my experiences as a call to action, witnessing the political process with the critical eye of Gen Z and asking the hard questions that matter to the world around me — even when it gets a little scary.

I plan to do my part by practicing amateur journalism anywhere I can. I want to encourage my generation to participate in the process, to take their seats and to ask the questions that politicians seem most eager to avoid. It’s our legacy, right and responsibility.

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