This article aims to reflect on school contexts of the use of digital tools and also on the possibility of going beyond technology itself and thinking about spaces of critical thinking, inspired by a process that is usually associated with journalism and its democratic tradition. These reflections result from the use of semi-open question-naires and semi-structured interviews with teachers (compulsory education in Por-tugal) as part of a project on Audiences, News and Literacy - ANLite (2014–2018). Research questions imply identifying ways digital tools are perceived in schools and how journalism serves as an inspiration for democratic school environments. The results point to challenges related to teachers’ fears about digital, but also to structural problems regarding access conditions to digital and equipment that allow quality access. The excess of tasks, including administrative, limits possibilities of collaboration between teachers and with young people. These latter challenges also constitute a possible increase in journalistic-inspired tasks that facilitate democratic processes in schools.