Being a student journalist in the times of coronavirus
Student journalists are a vital part of news ecosystems, especially in parts of the country where local papers have gone under and closed their doors.Â
Student journalistsâ challenge during this time is the same as their professional counterparts: providing up-to-date and accurate coverage on top of balancing the responsibilities of being a student and a safe citizen.Â
Itzia Crespo is a reporter for the State Press Magazine, Arizona State Universityâs student magazine. She lives with her parents, her uncle, her brother and his girlfriend in north Phoenix. She said quarantining makes it more difficult to do almost everything at her job, and sheâs being forced to adjust to her new reporting conditions.Â
âIt definitely hit me as soon as we came back during our first pitch meeting,â Crespo, a journalism junior, says. She tried to find events to cover, but coronavirus quickly put a stop to that âbecause everything was being canceled.â
Crespo is trying new ways to report and observe her sourceâs surroundings.
âFor magazine writing, itâs just about getting the environment in your brain. So I think sometimes it’s a little bit awkward to ask those questions of like, âDescribe your environmentâ ⌠but it can make or break a story, so I think itâs important to get that.â
Most recently, Crespo wrote about ASUâs shark and fish conservation lab. Because she couldnât interview sources in-person, sheâs adapted by asking them to describe their home environment â giving each interview the flair of an MTV Cribs episode.Â
Marcella Baietto, a politics reporter and anchor for Cronkite News, experienced her last day inside Cronkite News before she even knew it. ASUâs campus shut down during spring break, so there were no classes for her to return to.Â
Since then, Baiettoâs been working at her familyâs home in Phoenix and has had to improvise equipment that she would typically have in the newsroom.Â
“I just looked up âDIY homemade teleprompter,'” Baietto says. The result: a very involved do-it-yourself tutorial using strings, a box and glass. âI’m like âWait, I feel like I can do this from home.ââ
Like any enterprising college student, Baietto took to Twitter to share her DIY teleprompter with her followers. The behind-the-scenes display of transparency shows the stark contrast of resources available for student journalists versus their professional counterparts. Even those as heavily involved as Baietto are barred from checking out camera and audio equipment from Cronkiteâs broadcast lab because The Cronkite Building is shut down, putting the impetus on students to have their own resources. Many of the cameras students use cost $1,000; some even exceed $3,000.Â
Attention all reporters/anchors who are working from home!! đ đ đ
Hereâs a quick tutorial on how I made my at home teleprompter.
Itâs not perfect, but it gets the job done. Hope this helps! pic.twitter.com/IKJGdyZ0w8
— Marcella Baietto (@MarcellaBaietto) March 27, 2020
Video calls have been useful, Baietto says, but she has to make sure her room is clean before the call to maintain her professionalism. Video calls can also highlight the wealth disparities of students, and some have the added stress of creating a workplace they feel comfortable showing to sources, classmates and, occasionally, the world, in standups in broadcasts reports.
Yet itâs also an opportunity to show the real lives of journalists â many of whom are sharing pieces of their lives that they wouldnât under non-pandemic circumstances.Â
While broadcast journalists can still interview sources with the use of phone or video calls, photojournalists face a particular challenge as they canât go really anywhere to take photos. Theyâre having to find new solutions to represent their coverage.Â
State Press Photo Editor B Moffatâs job has been turned completely upside down. She lives with her mom and 77-year-old father, who because of his age is at a greater risk to contract COVID-19.Â
âIt’s just frustrating to me because this is the story of our lifetimes,â Moffat said. âWeâve been relying a lot on the illustration desk. And that desk has been absolutely killing it. Theyâve totally put the team on their back. Itâs frustrating not being able to contribute as much.â
Moffat also described her frustrations at not being able to mentor the freshmen on her staff â one of the most rewarding parts of her job â and that she basically ârelieved them of their dutiesâ to avoid sending them into the pandemic.Â
Living at home is a difficulty in itself. Itâs a distraction for Crespo, a struggle to find a work-life balance for Baietto and a source of anxiety for Moffat and her immunocompromised parent.
Crespo says at any moment, she could be interrupted or distracted by her family or, more likely, one of her pets.Â
âI honestly just kind of lock myself in my room, which is what I’m doing now, but that can only work so much,â Crespo said. âBefore, I would do as much as I could at school just to have a different mindset. Itâs just about trying to set up an environment for yourself to work at home.â
Baietto says she had ânever thought in a million yearsâ TV reporters could work from home.Â
âBut through the technology, and because of Zoom and FaceTime interviews and all the technology that we have at our disposal, it’s made it âŚÂ relatively easy to kind of transition,â Baietto said.