The coronavirus outbreak has created barriers for reporting the news, but in some cases, it has also forced student journalists to adapt, which can sometimes result in deeper, more thoughtful stories.
For graduate student journalists Jill Ryan and Andy Blye, the current pandemic allowed them to report on the effects of addiction when in isolation. Their story, which appeared in The Arizona Republic in mid-April, won an honorable mention from the Society of Professional Journalists’ College Coronavirus Coverage awards.
“It’s cool, on one hand, because you are affected by the story [since] you’re directly in it,” Blye said about covering COVID-19 stories.
Blye and Ryan’s professor, Walter Robinson teaches investigative reporting at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and said the coronavirus may put “limitations on our lives and our ability to report,” but has given his students the ability to do the kind of journalism that “really matters to people.”
“I can’t speak for other professors, but my students really embrace the opportunity to go do stories about what’s happening to all of us at this time and to contribute a little bit to the local community with the kinds of stories that they’ve done,” Robinson said.
The biggest challenge for Ryan when reporting remotely is going from being able to interview face-to-face to using social media, such as Facebook groups, as her new alternative. Though challenging, both Ryan and Blye learned how to overcome the obstacles and that, in a time of need, people are more “generous and understanding,” Blye said.
According to Cronkite intermediate reporting instructor Stephen Kilar, reporting during the pandemic has caused many students to innovate and sometimes produce better stories, despite the restrictive nature of social distancing.
“Putting these restrictions on them forces them to be more creative, more thoughtful in how they approach their reporting, more persistent,” Kilar said.
Kilar said he’s most surprised with his students’ willingness to adapt to their new environment in a short amount of time.
“My students were doing good stories before. It’s just the fact that they’re able to rise to the challenge at this moment and continue to do those great stories is what’s truly impressive,” he said.
While many students have produced some of their best work, Kilar said that because students are unable to attend meetings or talk to sources in person, some stories have turned out less vivid.
“Students cannot describe the details that they would otherwise pick up when they’re out in the field reporting,” Kilar said. “Sourcing in some instances has gotten tougher because they’re not able to get (a) reaction from someone they bump into outside a government meeting, for instance.”
Although he has seen the quality of certain stories suffer, Kilar said that he’s glad to make the trade-off to ensure the safety of his students.
Sophomore journalism major Kacey Wilson struggles with being unable to conduct in-person interviews because she said that there is a lot that journalists gain in seeing their subjects in real life.
Wilson recently reported on a West Valley dairy farm that had been hit hard by the pandemic. It was a powerful story, but because she wasn’t able to interview the business owner in-person, Wilson felt as though it could have been improved.
“That is one story in particular that I feel I would have gained so much more perspective on the story if I were to have physically visited the farm and seen his hard work with my own eyes,” Wilson said.
Wilson has written stories that have made the front page of Peoria Times and published in LA Downtown News, all relating to COVID-19.
“After reporting from home for a month, I have learned that flexibility and adaptability are two of the most important qualities for any journalist: whether it be in the middle of a pandemic or not,” Wilson said.
Contact the reporter at ljlipper@asu.edu.
