Looking back at lessons from the first 20 newsletter issues

When I decided to take the leap and launch this project last fall, I genuinely wasn’t sure if anyone besides my friends from journalism school would read it. Twenty issues later, the newsletter reaches nearly 800 students and advisers in 46 states, plus a handful outside the U.S. (If you know anyone in Alaska, Vermont, North Dakota or Maine, please let me know!)

Instead of a new feature this week, I decided to take a look back at the lessons and themes that come out of talking with student journalists from around the country. Writing 20 issues has been challenging and rewarding, but the biggest lesson is something I already knew when I started the newsletter: Student journalists are doing incredible work that deserves recognition. I’m grateful for all the students who have taken the time to explain their work and share advice for others.

Students around the country are telling underreported stories. The Pendulum at Elon University produced its first-ever bilingual issue for Hispanic Heritage Month. The Georgetown Hoya sent student journalists to Louisiana to trace their school’s history of slavery. And more than 200 teenage journalists collaborated to tell the stories of 1,200 victims of gun violence.

You don’t have to be an adult or a professional to stand up for press freedom. Lincoln High School student Gage Gramlick is leading the effort to create legislation protecting student press freedom in South Dakota. The Call at Kirkwood High School called out President Donald Trump’s anti-journalism rhetoric in a staff editorial. And for when you get questions about fake news and if journalism is dying, Nancy Coleman and I wrote a guide for that.

Story ideas are everywhere. One of my favorite issues so far collected the work you were most proud of in 2018. We shared tips on investigating inequality in schools and finding student-related stories in elections. And here are even more ideas for stories, from hyperlocal poetry to analytics.

You can’t do good journalism if you don’t take care of yourself. Katherine Reed talked about the importance of being aware of trauma, and in the very first issue, professionals and students shared tips for balancing journalism with the rest of your life.

Carrying out ambitious projects takes a plan. Here’s how students at American University and Sacramento State University covered hate crimes and sexual assault. Florida students produced a half-hour special on the state’s antiquated voting laws. And here’s how photojournalists from Clemson and Alabama covered the College Football Playoff.

Looking for the next step in your journalism path? The Student Press Law Center and Newseum declared 2019 the “Year of the Student Journalist” and wants you to help. If you think you want to study journalism in college, Marlee Baldridge wrote about the factors to consider, and Emma Stiefel wrote about her decision to study abroad instead. And if you’re in the application phase, hiring managers shared their tips for applying to newsroom positions.

I say this at the end of every issue, but I mean it: I want your input on future issues. What projects should I know about? What issues have you faced as a student journalist? I’d love to hear from you at blatchfordtaylor@gmail.com. And if you know someone who might enjoy the newsletter, please share it with them!

One tool we love

If you’ve ever wanted to make your writing more conversational, look no further than Hemingway, a website designed to help you do just that. Copy and paste any text and it will analyze it for you, catching uses of passive voice, overly complex sentences and unnecessary adverbs. I tried it on last week’s newsletter and got a score of 9, meaning the writing was at a ninth-grade reading level. This site goes a step beyond spellcheck as a great self-editing tool if you’re in a pinch or on deadline.

(Thanks to Samantha Sunne’s Tools for Reporters newsletter for the recommendation!)

Reading list

In last week’s issue, we looked behind the scenes of Since Parkland, a collaborative project where more than 200 student journalists told 1,200 stories of American kids killed by guns. If you’re interested in reporting on those issues yourself, Global Student Square and Beatrice Motamedi produced resources and a reporting guide.

Loyola University Chicago has cracked down on media access to professors and administrators, even restricting its own student media. “We care about the more than 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students you’ve been charged with shepherding into fulfilling lives,” the Loyola Phoenix editorial board wrote. “By muzzling us, you’re failing them.”

Ahead of Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill’s basketball rivalry game, the Daily Tar Heel and the Duke Chronicle collaborated on their first-ever rivalry edition, with half the print pages created by each publication. The papers also competed with a rivalry fundraiser and raised more than $50,000.

Opportunities and trainings

• Internships with upcoming deadlines:

  • Colorado Springs Gazette (March 1)

  • Cedar Rapids Gazette (March 1)

  • NPR Training (March 3)

  • NPR (March 4)

  • Detroit Free Press (no deadline listed)

• The Native American Journalism Fellowship for college students includes a reporting immersion at the National Native Media Conference, mentorship and skills trainings. Apply by Feb. 28.

• High school seniors, National Press Club scholarship applications are due March 1.

• Apply for AAJA’s JCamp, a six-day intensive, multicultural journalism training program for high school students, by March 31.

• JEA’s National High School Journalism Convention is April 25-27 in Los Angeles.

• Apply for the Institute for Environmental Journalism in Maine or New York by May 15.