5 Questions for
Your Student Newsroom
A discussion guide for high school journalism staffs
What can student journalists learn from two professional reporters after their first year building a community newspaper?
In a Teen Exec Podcast conversation, Weston Observer editors Melissa Russell and Chris Larrabee talk about choosing what to cover, interviewing sources, adjusting when plans change, and how a year of experience has made them better journalists.
Use these five questions with your journalism class, editorial board, or newspaper staff to think about how your own newsroom works.
1. Who are we covering—and who are we missing?
Melissa and Chris talk about trying to make each issue reflect different parts of the community—not just government or schools, but features, interesting people, and audiences they haven't reached recently.
Look at your own recent coverage. Which students, activities, issues, and parts of your school appear regularly? Who rarely appears?
2. How do we decide what's worth covering?
Chris describes newsworthiness as a judgment call: Is this important to people? Will it affect their lives? Will they be interested? Melissa adds that some subjects matter because of their impact on the community even if they aren't dramatic.
When your staff has more possible stories than it can pursue, how do you decide which ones deserve your attention?
3. Are we really listening during interviews?
Melissa and Chris both emphasize preparation, but they also say good interviewers have to listen. Melissa recommends arriving with questions and then being willing to put them aside when the conversation goes somewhere interesting. Chris suggests asking simple questions, letting people talk, and not rushing to fill a silence.
Think about your last interview. Were you listening closely enough to ask the follow-up question you hadn't planned?
4. How well do we handle the unexpected?
Interviews get rescheduled. Stories fall through. Deadlines don't move. Melissa says one of their strategies is simply to assume that things will change and have other work ready to go.
What happens in your newsroom when the original plan doesn't work—and could you be better prepared for it?
5. How are we becoming better journalists?
After a year, Melissa and Chris say they have stronger relationships, more knowledge of the community, better routines, and a clearer sense of where to focus. Natalya reflects that many skills develop the same way: by trying something, seeing what works, adjusting, and being better prepared the next time.
What can your staff do better now than when you started? What do you want to be noticeably better at by the end of the year?
Continue the Conversation
Listen
Hear the full Teen Exec Podcast conversation with Melissa Russell and Chris Larrabee of the Weston Observer.
Read
Natalya reflects on what the conversation taught her about learning through experience.