Lesson 5: Pandemic Journalism

This week, we take a look at satire journalism, including what separates a good idea from a bad one, the writing process, and how it must distinguish itself now from fake news. We interview Anna Larranaga, an editor of TheNordly.com, a regional satire news site based in Minnesota. 

This week, we discuss live streaming high school sports and other extra curricular activities with Mark Koski, vice president of the NFHS Network which streamed a million live events this past year and continues to grow.

This week, we ask retired journalism adviser Karl Grubaugh about his viral Twitter thread that reflected on a 1994 side project asking public figures who were involved in the Watergate scandal what America should learn from it. His Twitter thread begins here: https://twitter.com/kgrubaugh/status/1341277717975580672

This week, we turn the spotlight onto The Tower student publication at The Masters School (New York) and talk to journalism adviser Ellen Cowhey about their excellent, ongoing reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, Ivy Kaplan joins the show for an expert's review of The Tower's recent work.

This week, we discuss a future in which news literacy is standardized education, why it's so important and what it would look like with Darragh Worland, vice president of creative services for the News Literacy Project and host of their podcast, "Is that a fact?" Read her op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle here: https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/We-need-news-literacy-education-in-our-schools-15900710.php

This week, Kansas Scholastic Press Association executive director Eric Thomas explains what makes him nervous about student journalists trying to be pollsters to provide definite answers to big, indefinite questions and why his advice to publications preparing their own surveys is to drop everything and run away.

This week, journalism curriculum expert Ivy Kaplan teaches us how to conduct an interview. She outlines a few easy, transferrable strategies to be better prepared and discusses things to look out for during your conversation. Then, we spotlight the student newspaper at Powell High School in Wyoming and interview its journalism adviser, Vin Cappiello.

Teaching is a hard job. The coronavirus pandemic has complicated it even more. How can you carry on when your situation is so fluid, when you don't know whether you'll be teaching class tomorrow in person, virtually or by some hybrid model in the middle. This week, we focus on how one teacher is making it work. Tommy Li is the journalism adviser of The Accolade student newspaper at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, California. He's not in a constant panic and hasn't pulled his hair out of his head. He talks about the challenges he and his students have faced, from tracking down sources virtually to toeing the line of politicization that has entered schools and the lessons they've learned about organizing a thriving publication virtually and keeping each other motivated from afar. It's all about being adaptable. The Accolade's website can be found at shhsaccolade.com.

Alex calls on four student journalism superheroes raising the public awareness of vaping in their high schools. How do you tell your readers about the dangers of something with few facts and so many unknowns. Is the habit already out of control?  

Brian Higgins, adviser at Liberty High School, talks to Alex about why the SNO Distinguished Sites program matters, how it sets the table for future success, using it in the classroom, and why there should be a "Friday Night Lights" for Texas journalism.