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Students Learn Some Journalism Problems are Universal

Two contributors to Black College Wire, Kendra Toussant, a student at Southern University in Baton Rouge, and Chris Wallace, a student at North Carolina A& T State University in Greensboro, were selected for a prestigious journalism workshop at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism May 26-30, 2003. Black College Wire asked each one to write about the experience.

By Kendra Toussant
Black College Wire

Hands are raised. Voices seeking knowledge speak and debates flare.

That’s how I remember the College Editors' Workshop at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Students like me, who attended the sessions May 26-30, gained a sense of empowerment as they interacted with successful journalists and learned how to improve their student newspapers.

This is the workshop’s fifth year. Our group included 18 students from as far north as Maine and as far south as Louisiana, my home state. I am an editor at the Southern Digest, Southern University in Baton Rouge.

We students came with the hopes of networking with college editors, interacting with heavy-hitters in journalism, learning about careers in journalism, learning how to obtain desirable internships and, ultimately, grabbing a chance to see New York.

Sessions were held every morning and our days ended at 5 p.m.

We would catch the subway to various media centers, such as Bloomberg News, Court TV, The Wall Street Journal and Time magazine. After conversations about us, our publications and plans, question-and-answer periods would end the short lectures.

It was interesting to see behind the scenes in the production of magazines and newspapers that I had heard about and admired. I really liked seeing how staff meetings were managed.

During one session we had the opportunity to ask professional writers, including one from The New York Times, what they thought of Jayson Blair, the young journalist who lifted or made up information in dozens of stories, and the scandal he’d caused.

The speakers had very different things to say, but most felt Blair’s conduct dealt a hard blow to the credibility of all newspapers, not just The New York Times. The Times reporter said that although she had seen Blair in the office, there had not been a reason to think he was so dishonest.

Towards the end of the week, our papers were critiqued by our own critique group, consisting of a few student journalists and a few professional editors.

I’m glad there was time for questions and answers. I was amazed to learn how others in my group viewed the Southern Digest, a paper that represents the voice of the nation’s largest African-American university system.

Their surprise at our color-filled pages and at the honesty, bravery and uncensored comments from students quoted in some of the stories was a major topic of discussion.

One memorable story told how Southern, a predominantly black university, had just elected a Caucasian as student government president and that some students on campus were disappointed. Some in my group were shocked. They didn’t understand why it is a big issue to have a white student in office at a school like Southern.

Some said they would consider reading the Southern Digest online to follow up on the new president.

The students came from universities and colleges across the United States, including Princeton, Columbia, Bard, Spelman, Vassar, Williams, North Carolina A&T, University of Maine at Farmington, Berkeley and Pace. They were very different from each other, representing many beliefs, backgrounds, religions and races. Yet everyone seemed to enjoy each other's company and conversation and many became friends.

As a rising journalist, this experience opened my eyes to the fact that all student papers face some of the same problems. Many of the papers that I thought would be on “Easy Street” go through more than I expected. For example, Ivy League university Princeton is the place where many wouldn’t expect readership or financial issues to be problems.

But the editor of the Princetonian said readership is lower than he would like on campus because students aren’t willing to pay for the newspaper. The newspaper’s audience includes people in the university’s neighborhood, alumni, faculty and staff. Also, the Princetonian hasn’t switched to color reproduction because of the cost.

We all face other tough issues such as diversity, covering all the issues on campus, getting too little respect from peers and just finding the time to be a student and a newspaper editor. Everyone agreed there is not enough time in a day to do everything needed.

I enjoyed all the speakers and the workshop overall, for every part gave me a little strength to continue towards my goal of becoming a journalist.

Kendra Toussant, a student at Southern University, is Arts and Entertainment Editor of The Southern Digest.

Posted June 18, 2003