GALLERY FOR SPOKE’S PHOTOS OF THE PROTEST
GALLERY FOR ARAGON’S PHOTOS OF THE PROTEST
#notmypresident trending on
Twitter, it wasn’t surprising that
advisers were as divided as the
rest of America.
Yet turning a blind eye on any
news event or covering it from
afar carries risk. After Trump’s
unexpected win, the agony
was palpable in professional
newsrooms around the country
. What did we miss? How did we
get it wrong? Whose stories didn’t
we tell?
I talked to three schools
whose student coverage of
the inauguration tested and
challenged the young journalists:
The Spoke (Conestoga High
School, Berwyn, Pennsylvania);
The Aragon Outlook (Aragon
High School, San Mateo,
California); and The Wingspan
(Nixa High School, Nixa, Missouri).
Their advice on covering
controversial events was simple.
“Go do it—it’s so much better
than watching [events] on
TV,” said Neil Goldenthal, 17,
sports editor for The Spoke.
Spoke staffers took that advice,
covering the March on Science
a few months later.
“It’s really easy to form biased
opinions when you stay at home
and stay within your network,
whatever it may be,” said