Did you know that a 9-year-old reporter exists? Well, if you didn’t, now you do. Hilde Kate Lysiak, only 9 years old, recently reported on a crime scene on Ninth Street in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. She even beat all her competitors with the captivating headline: “EXCLUSIVE: MURDER ON NINTH STREET!”
The 3rd grader also posted a short video from the crime scene, telling viewers that, “I’m working hard on this investigation.” As both the editor and publisher of the Orange Street News, in her hometown, Lysiak is known for writing about crime. She launched the site in 2014 when she was 7; only a year later, she started going to borough council meetings, interviewing business owners, and tracking crime.
It’s apparently in her genes, since her father, Matthew Lysiak, is an author and former New York Daily News reporter. As a child, Hilde was often taken to work with him–he stated:
“She’s really motivated. [She] has been in the housing projects in the Bronx with me. She doesn’t have a lot of fear. She just wants to get the stories out. And she really wants to report real news.”
She stated for The Washington Post why she enjoys writing and why this surprises people:
“I just like letting people know all the information. It’s just what I really want to do. And crime is definitely my favorite.
Because of my work, I was able to inform the people that there’s a terrible murder, hours before my competition even got to the scene. In fact some of the adult-run newspapers were reporting the wrong news, or no news at all.”
Unfortunately, her reporting has received criticism from many (such as: “Does no one realize that this is a 9 year old reporting this type of graphic information!”; “I am disgusted that this cute little girl thinks she is a journalist. What happened to tea parties?”), which prompted her to respond on Facebook Saturday night in a video, which her 12-year-old sister edited, in which she stated:
“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?
Right on, Hilde.
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