Though third-grader Hilde Kate Lysiak is pretty busy publishing, editing, and reporting for her own local news site, Orange Street News, she took some time out of her busy day to pen an essay for The Guardian about the recent backlash she’s been facing.
On starting her own newspaper:
“I didn’t start publishing Pennsylvania’s Orange Street News so that people would think I’m cute.”
On breaking a local news story before any of the other local papers:
“Some other news sites run by adults were reporting the wrong information or no information at all while the Orange Street News was at the scene doing the hard work to report the facts to the people.”
On the responsibilities of being a journalist:
”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.”
On whether her critics are sexist:
”Some people have asked me if I thought people would have reacted differently if I were a boy. Maybe, maybe not. I could see them saying a boy should go and play with racing cars instead of how they told me to play with dolls. Or maybe they wouldn’t have said much at all.”
On her haters:
”You get off your computer and do something to stop all the crime going on in my town and I’ll stop reporting on it.”
Damn, ya burnt.
