An urban high school English/journalism class used the production of a community-focused newspaper as a strategy for the self-determination of young African Americans. The intervention emphasized social relations--focusing on specific verbal and social skills which young people can use in determining and reaching a variety of communication goals of their own choosing. Approximately half of the 60 students in 2 eleventh-grade English West Philadelphia urban high schools participated in the production of the newspaper "QWest." Students chose their own story topics, wrote in their own words, and made group decisions about the content of the publication. The class differed from a traditional journalism course in its consistent emphasis on group identity. Evidence of change in the students was gathered from daily ethnographic participant observation. During the often rocky dynamics of group decisionmaking, students sometimes argued bitterly with one another. Reflecting on the paper's reception in the community, many students felt they had succeeded in reframing others' views of them. Findings suggest that practices based Habermas' theories of communicative action contributed to the growth of self-determination among students in an urban journalism classroom. (Contains 40 references.) (RS)