We believe that literacy is a structural prerequisite for truly inclusive journalism. Without it, large segments of lived experience never reach the public record.
This challenge is especially acute in prisons. Research shows that roughly 70% of people in U.S. prisons read at a fourth-grade level or below, sharply limiting who can participate in journalism and public dialogue. A newsroom that relies only on contributors who can already communicate fluently will inevitably narrow whose stories get told — and whose realities are understood.
Prison Journalism Project’s Journalism as Literacy approach embeds adult literacy development directly into the real practice of journalism.
By expanding who can report and publish, while maintaining professional newsroom standards, we produce journalism that is more representative and more accurate — and that deepens our collective understanding of life behind bars.
Why Journalism Works as a Literacy Engine
Most literacy instruction in prison takes place in narrow or remedial formats, often disconnected from real-world purpose. Journalism offers a different model.
Reporting requires observation, sequencing, verification, audience awareness and revision — the same core competencies that underlie strong literacy. Because journalism culminates in publication for an outside audience, it gives writers a clear reason to read, write, revise and communicate clearly, as well as a tangible outcome: a published article with a byline.
For adults who have not succeeded in traditional classrooms, this combination of purpose, structure and audience is a powerful motivator for sustained learning.
Our Approach
Journalism as Literacy embeds literacy development inside every part of the reporting and publishing process. Writers build reading, writing and critical thinking skills through real newsroom practices — observing, researching, interviewing, drafting, revising and publishing for an outside audience.
Our approach includes:
- Instructional tools for mixed literacy levels: A sequenced, 14-module handbook teaches journalism in accessible language. PJP Inside, our training magazine, offers annotated examples, planning tools, news literacy columns and exercises.
- Low-barrier reporting formats: Fill-in-the-blank journalism enables writers at all literacy levels to get published while practicing sentence construction, recall of details and basic narrative logic. This structure has powered national projects like “Summer Heat in Prison: Just How Hot Are Our Nation’s Prisons?” and “What Extreme Cold Feels Like in Prison.”
- Reporting that reinforces core literacy competencies: Lessons and editorial assignments reinforce skills such as organizing information into clear, logical sequences; understanding audience and purpose; summarizing and conveying key facts; and revising in response to feedback.
- Literacy-aware editing: Our instructional editing processmeets writers where they are. Writers revise and resubmit, creating a repeated literacy cycle: read → write → receive feedback → revise. Editors adjust their feedback language using PJP’s Literacy Cheat Sheet, which outlines readability benchmarks and guidance for each level (e.g., step-by-step instructions for beginners, and structured comments and multi-draft edits for intermediate and advanced writers).
- Literacy-aware communication and story assignment: We assess writers’ literacy levels — through correspondence, past submissions and short diagnostic prompts — to determine what kind of story they can take on and what support they will need to succeed. Our standard communications are written at a middle school reading level, ensuring accessibility for the majority of writers.