9-year-old reporter explains why she should be able to cover murder cases

Hilde Lysiak doesn't want your sympathy or your advice. Her publication, the Orange Street News, is probably the most famous family newsletter in the U.S. right now, largely because she is the lead investigative reporter, and she is 9. On Saturday, Lysiak reported on a murder in her small town of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and not everyone in the town thought this was the proper job for a pre-tween. "Some people were supporting me," she tells The Associated Press, but most comments were "about how I should be, like, playing tea party or playing with dolls instead of, you know, reporting a murder."

Lysiak says she was drawn into journalism by watching her father, Matthew Lysiak, when he worked at the New York Daily News. He tells AP that "it's a little uncomfortable" having his daughter-reporter at a crime scene, "but what we'd worry about much more than her at a crime scene is us stifling that passion." In the video that made her national news, Lysiak responded to her critics by saying "if you want me to stop covering news, then you get off your computer and do something about the news. There, is that cute enough for you?" Watch the AP report below, and keep an eye on this one. Peter Weber

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up