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By Randy Swikle
No city can top Washington, D.C., as a playground for student journalists.
Its news-making venues present exciting opportunities for students to engage as press players alongside the capital’s elite—learning from veteran reporters and even scooping them on occasion.
When Bill Daley, President Clinton’s chief strategist for the North American Free Trade Agreement, entered the White House press briefing room moments after he and President Clinton addressed the nation on live television, a student reporter from the Johnsburg Weekly News (Johnsburg High School, Ill.) pulled the soon-to-become Commerce Secretary aside for an exclusive interview.
From the White House, the student phoned her story to her hometown newspaper. Later, she wrote another version for her student paper.
Whenever Washington, D.C., hosts the JEA/NSPA convention, Johnsburg students take some time to be unconventional. They take initiative, pursue relevant stories and create great adventures.
On the executive branch beat, my students covered Richard Nixon inside the Oval Office; Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Margaret Thatcher with the press corps on the South Lawn; Bill Clinton in the Grand Foyer, at an ASNE luncheon and on the South Lawn; cabinet members in the Roosevelt Room; press secretary Joe Lockhart in his office. Johnsburg student reporters have been on West Wing assignments seven times.
My students interviewed U.S. Treasurer Mary Ellen Withrow, cabinet members and top presidential aides. Two got autographed photos shaking hands with President Nixon.
On the legislative branch beat, our Johnsburg journalists sat in the Senate Press Gallery covering 99 Senators who were voting to make law. They interviewed countless Members of Congress, walked among the desks on the historic Senate floor and sat on the benches of the House floor for an exclusive, 90-minute congressional history lesson delivered by House Clerk Donnald Anderson.
On the judicial branch beat, AP reporter Richard Carelli, who covered the Supreme Court for a quarter century, took my students on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Court and gave them valuable insights about covering Justices, cases and other Court news.
At FBI headquarters, 15 of my students went through more than 100 press clippings sent in from field agents around the country and selected several dozen to include in the weekly FBI Report sent to all the field agents.
At a National Press Club book fair, my students sang “Happy Birthday” to Larry King and rubbed elbows with the likes of former Sen. Eugene McCarthy, ABC’s Jim McKay and long-time White House correspondent Sarah McClendon.
We hired our own guide and mini tour bus (24 seats, perfect for the Johnsurg contingent). We customized our own excursion of D.C., Mount Vernon and other sites.
You can do these sorts of activities too.
Think about having some unconventional time at our November 12-15 convention in D.C. Perhaps add a couple of days to the trip to fit in extra learning experiences.
To arrange special assignments similar to the aforementioned ones, do research and create a plan. Find the right official to contact—someone high enough in the hierarchy who can make things happen. Make a specific request involving the contact person, and have a good reason—a unique one. Once your foot is in the door, don’t be afraid to reach for added opportunities.
Persistence will open doors. Each of our trips to the White House was preceded by a couple of dozen letters and phone calls. One time we had the editor of our community newspaper help us secure White House press credentials.
We’ve heard “no” at times, but most often we have been able to circumvent denials by finding the right person to open the gate.
Be imaginative. Reach high and make a student news media adventure.
Washington is a user-friendly, news media town that makes a great playground for student journalists. |
