Student journalists on U.S. campuses cut their teeth on story of a lifetime
The protest movement against the war on Gaza across campuses in the U.S. has become a training ground for students grappling with complicated editorial decisions early in their careers, nding themselves immersed in the story in ways impossible for journal
Ordered by the police to leave the scene of a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), campus protest after violence broke out, Catherine Hamilton, 21, and three colleagues from the Daily Bruin suddenly found themselves surrounded by demonstrators who beat, kicked and sprayed them with a noxious chemical.
On American campuses awash in anger this spring, student journalists are at the centre of it all, sometimes uncomfortably so. They are immersed in the story in ways journalists for major media organisations often cannot be. And they face dual challenges — as members of the media and students at the institutions they are covering.
Across the country from UCLA on Tuesday, a student-run radio station broadcast live as the police cleared a building taken by the protesters on the Columbia University campus, while other student journalists were conned to dorms and threatened with arrests.
Ms. Hamilton’s attackers wore masks. But she recognised the voice of one as a counter-demonstrator sympathetic to Israel’s cause because of prior reporting when some of them lmed her working and harassed her by name.
She checked out of a hospital on Wednesday after learning that injuries to her arms and chest were bruises.
‘Familiar ground’
“While it was terrifying and, honestly, will take a lot of mental processing, the experience conrmed for me the importance of student journalists because we know our campus better than any outside reporter would,” Ms. Hamilton said. “It has not deterred me from wanting to continue this coverage.”
Fear and anger were obvious in the voices of students narrating the action on Columbia’s WKCR radio on Tuesday. The station’s website briey went down because so many people were listening to an audio stream, and its announcers recommended people tune in to radio instead.
Even though he wore a badge identifying him as a member of the press, the police ordered Chris Mandell and other reporters for the Columbia Daily Spectator into a dormitory. When he tried to open the door, Mr. Mandell said he was told he would be arrested if he did it again.
Mr. Mandell has been covering the demonstrations and the planning for months. While he considers it a learning experience, he said “it has been breaking my heart” to see the police presence on campus and how the story has been covered by outside
FMjournalists.
The Daily Spectator has been on the story every step of the way and has not hesitated to confront Columbia University’s leadership in print. In an editorial late last month, the students sharply condemned university President Minouche Shak and said administrators have been uncommunicative except for “ominous latenight emails.”
“This is your legacy,” the Spectator wrote — “a president more focused on the brand of your university than the safety of your students and their demands for justice.”
At campuses across the country, around-the-clock reporting from protests and student disciplinary hearings have meant overnight vigils at encampments blurring into morning classes, homework and nal projects crammed in between interviews.
Student-run news websites at Yale and the University of Texas-Austin covered the action with innovative live blogs. The Daily Trojan’s print editions have stopped for the semester at the University of Southern California, but Editor-in-Chief Anjali Patel tries to keep a reporter and photographer available at all hours to feed its website, post news on ◣ and Instagram and do live streams. All during nal exam season. “We are still students at the end of the day,” Ms. Patel said.
‘Part of history’
At Columbia, whose journalism school is considered one of the country’s nest, Dean Jelani Cobb wrote a memo on Wednesday to the population of budding journalists who are his students: “You are a part of history now. Your perseverance during a confusing and challenging moment cannot be understated. You told the stories the global public deserved to hear. You helped the school to meet its mission.”
The protest movement has become a training ground for students grappling with complicated editorial decisions for some of the rst times in their careers. They confront the awkwardness of reporting on their peers and the challenge not to get swept up in emotion.
“This is a moment in our campus’ history,” said Arianna Smith, editor-inchief of The Lantern at Ohio State University. “Being able to contribute to its coverage is a privilege we don’t take lightly. We are under a lot of pressure to get it right, to be accurate, so that’s what we are striving to do.”
Over three dozen Ohio State University students and demonstrators face misdemeanor charges after a Thursday night crackdown by the university on protests about investments in Israel.
Lantern sta members are having meetings about balancing the experiences of pro-Palestinian protesters and Jewish students or counter-protesters, Ms. Smith said. They debate whether to publish the names of students who face discipline, compare language choices to other news organisations and reect on what viewpoints are missing from stories. Editors instruct reporters to keep opinions to themselves.
As national news outlets descend on campuses nationwide, student journalists say their connection to their campuses is their greatest asset. They have built relationships with student groups, faculty and administrators.