Covering the 'big' stories
Encourage your students to cover major news events through exciting local angles that will interest your readers

by Aaron Manfull

You can only get students excited about covering the French club for so long before the glitz and glamour of it all wears off.

Many students want something more.

Most high school staffers really want to feel like real reporters. They want to talk to important people and stand next to professional photographers on the sidelines of events. They want that adrenaline rush that reporters and photographers get when they are covering big stories.

Unfortunately, most don’t take advantage of limitless opportunities in front of them or they simply take a big event and rehash what local and national media are already covering.

They don’t have to.

Getting students to cover local and national events is not as tough as you would think.

WHY SHOULD WE?

For starters, life occurs outside the walls of school. Isn't it the job of a publication to record history and inform people of what’s happening? There’s a lot that happens outside of school that students just don’t know about. In mid-September, I heard a student at my school make the following remark: “What’s this ‘Katrina thing’ people are talking about?”

Click here to check out more pages from Francis Howell North HS about Katrina and other 'big' stories

Enough said.

Covering real events pushes staffers to new levels. Those who cover events outside of school often view these events as more important than much of what they cover inside their daily bell-driven home. By taking the assignment more seriously, they write better stories, shoot better photos and design better pages.           

Too often, high school students want to cover big events but they simply rehash what everyone else is doing. Instead of purchasing syndicated photos, I tell students that if they want to cover something of national importance, they need to find a way to illustrate it. This doesn't give them the easy way out and makes them think about what they’re doing at a higher level.  Get them to shoot things locally, interview people in the area or create an infographic with a local slant.

OK, HOW DO WE DO IT?

Getting students fired up to cover something is one thing, actually getting them to do it is another. Covering local and national events isn't like anything advisers typically prep their students for, so some extra work has to be done.

Start by brainstorming ideas on how to localize the national event or make a local event hit even closer to home. Staffs need to find some sort of connection to their audience. If it’s hurricane coverage and you live in the Midwest, the staff probably shouldn't be doing a story on the destruction in the Gulf. Instead, focus on local efforts of students to help the victims. There were hundreds of things going on in each community from housing evacuees to setting up lemonade stands in an effort to raise money.

High school papers shouldn't give readers what they’re already getting in other media. That is repetitive and the local and national media are targeting a much different audience than your staff is.

Don’t let your students be scaredy-cats. Too often students don’t think they can get into places or talk to people because they are just ‘high school kids.’ Most times, people will treat them just as they would someone from the local press. Often times the adult will end up talking to the student and not to the professional press. Students will be amazed at what they can get by actually picking up the phone or just showing up somewhere.

While we are all very busy individuals and really don't have time to do the work we already have, let alone add more, it's a good idea to get out of your room and travel with students as they report on big events. You don't need to do this all the time, but going with them can go a long way to help the final outcome of their work.

Now, you’re not going to shoot or interview, and you won’t end up designing the spread. We all know that. Your job is to just stand around. This gives students the confidence to go forth and do. We aren't much more than security blankets. Coach them on the ride to the event. Give them some tips and review basic principles that may have slipped to the back of their mind. Help them anticipate what might be going on when you get there. Once there, you may use some of the time with them to conduct impromptu interviewing and observation lessons, but for the most part, just sit back and let them go. Instinct will kick in and they will be fine.

The staffers covering the event will have exciting stories to tell the next day in class, which will get others in the room begging to know where the sign up list is for the next one.

Your readers will be more informed as a result of the staff’s efforts. You will enjoy the ‘lesson’ much more than many of the others that you teach. And most importantly, you will be giving your staffers the opportunity of a lifetime to take their games to higher levels and leave your room with a story they will talk about long after they've graduated.