In the past week, our student newsroom has been monitoring news events like never before. With student visas getting revoked and an incident of sexual assault on campus, our staff has been actively learning how to approach riskier types of coverage.
Covering these breaking news events comes amid celebration: This past weekend, our publication received 14 awards for reporting excellence in service to our community.
Student newsrooms across the state were in attendance at the event, hosted by the Missouri College Media Association, which provides student journalists the opportunity to learn and grow. And it seemed as if the same questions were on everyone’s mind.
How do we cover these topics accurately? How do we ensure the safety of our viewership and contacts, our community?
These answers aren’t always black and white.
But with the first-ever student-media alert, created in response to Rümeysa Öztürk’s detention and concern for First Amendment rights, newsrooms are searching for best practices.
The Journal remains committed to our campus readership and to the Webster Groves community. As such, our newsroom, in further consideration of covering vulnerable communities, is revisiting our policies, resources and current understanding of our legal rights to continue working on current, impactful news.
Ranked a top university for international students, Webster has recently seen increases in enrollment for local and global students. In fall 2023, one out of three students were from abroad.
At the same time, the university’s finances were struggling, but school officials promoted enrollment of international students as part of their recovery plan.
With that in mind, international students play a significant role in our community of readers. We have welcomed multinational students at every single outreach event for The Journal, students who were interested in learning more about news on campus and life in St. Louis, in general.
In order to continue to accurately and ethically report on our readership, we must adapt.
During our most recent weekly staff meeting, our team viewed a training video from Andrew Finlayson of the SmithGeiger Group on “best tip practices,” along with discussing encouraged practices from other newsrooms. Our editors have remained in constant conversation since, working behind the scenes to follow up on any related updates and safety concerns.
As these situations continue to develop, we encourage you – our readers and followers – to share your stories and concerns with us. Due to the ongoing fear of deportation and visa cancellations, we also encourage caution when sharing sensitive information. Various technologies are easily traceable and, when publications like ours can be used as “reason for deportation,” we want to ensure we are doing our best to do no harm.
If you have a sensitive story to share, you can always reach out to our staff in person, or send a private message on social media. The Journal newsroom is located in Sverdrup 116, but we also have a mailbox in the School of Communications building (Sverdrup Hall) on the second floor, if you’d like to leave a note with your contact information. We are currently working on a tip line and we will post further information in the coming days.
The Journal will continue to keep you updated as these situations develop. We are a publication made up of – and dedicated to – our community. Thank you for your continued support as we navigate these changing and unprecedented times.
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