Journalism Lab

We center our first workshop around the questions “What is news?” and “How can student journalists make a difference?” Through several case studies, such as CBC’s exposure of Subway’s chicken content, medical fraud in China targeting elders, and the Flint Water scandal revealing lead contamination, we show students real and varied examples of journalism in action. We also introduce important concepts in journalism about ethics and communication.

After learning about journalism in the first workshop, we now walk through how to do it. We explore essential technical elements including ledes, the inverted pyramid structure, and kickers. In accordance with our “learn by doing” approach, we provide prompts to put their knowledge to the test, like asking them to write a feature lede about a recent movie/show they have watched. Another exercise is our mock interview, which is conducted with one of our team members, to give students a better understanding of how to write questions, how to approach an interview subject, and how to use quotes. We then play a custom journalism game that tests their decision-making abilities.

We start off with some quizzes to have students test their ability to distinguish real vs. fake media, including AI-generated photos and videos, and their ability to fact-check, using Inspect—a program coded by our team member Isaac. We run through the extensive fact-checking processes at reputable media organizations, and show students why they should care. We also discuss the role of AI and social media, and how they can be both incredibly helpful and damaging, depending on how they are used.

As part of our mission to provide resources to student journalists, our fourth workshop connects students with a professional in journalism to learn from their lived experiences.

In our pilot, we hosted Isabel Ruehl of The Atlantic.