news gathering
In the photo above, I sit down with our local U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna to ask him about issues that directly concern our student body, like gun control, student debt and climate change. Photo by Anna Vazhaeparambil
From my experiences in journalism, I have learned the importance of extensive background research and thorough interview preparation.
But I have also learned that no matter the painstaking amount of work you put into planning event coverage, writing interview questions or mapping out a newspaper beforehand, you can’t count on everything going as planned.
Regardless of what comes my way, my job as a journalist is to adapt to the situation.
That is why when the first case of COVID-19 hit my county, I led a team of editors in publishing a breaking 1600-word article, complete with pertinent interviews and diverse visuals, in under four hours.
That is why my co-editor in chief and I often choose to scrap entire front pages, within hours of the send-to-press deadline, when a more impactful story breaks.
That is why when I had the chance to interview presidential candidates Andrew Yang, Tulsi Gabbard, Cory Booker, Julián Castro, Marianne Williamson, Jay Inslee, Tom Steyer and Eric Swalwell, I did not hesitate to speak up.
Not everything can be anticipated, especially in journalism. And that is why news gathering is so important to me – I do not take the news for granted when I see it.
I try to always be on as a journalist, even while on vacation. While traveling with my family in Seattle in Aug. 2017, I came across a protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. I immediately pulled out my phone and began taking pictures and conducting interviews. I knew that recent immigration restrictions were on the minds of many of our school’s students, a majority of whom are children of immigrants.
WHAT’S NEWS?
pitching
The first step to every news cycle is deciding what the news is. To get the input of the whole staff, I send out a form five to six weeks before every print date, asking everyone to pitch three to five articles, including ideas for visuals, sources, angles and alternative design elements. Pitches help us cover our blindspots, as everyone brings a different perspective to the table.
After compiling the pitches, I meet with section editors and online editors to select the articles that will go in the next issue, based on the stories' relevance and potential impact on our school community. Together, we come up with a coverage plan and assign the articles to our reporters through an assignments spreadsheet.
See the pitch form and assignments spreadsheet we used for Issue 1.
For more on how we coordinate pitching between print and online, visit Web.
keeping current
Staying on top of local, national and international news is essential to ensuring that our own coverage is timely and relevant. We make this a habit with a few engaging activities and games: news journals, news tag and current events quizzes.
For more on these activities, as well as how we engage with various news media, visit News Literacy.
Above, I plan out the articles for Issue 4 of this year’s Winged Post, along with section editors and managing editors from our print and online publications.
Above (click to enlarge) is the assignments spreadsheet we sent to the entire journalism staff for Issue 1 of this school year. It includes sections with details on each story pitch, visual and alternative storytelling ideas, sourcing suggestions and notes from my co-editor-in-chief and me. A color-coded column on the far right helps editors keep track of story progress.
keeping in the loop
I stay on top of local news and events by subscribing to a diverse array of email lists, keeping a pulse on what is newsworthy in the community.
These email lists served a crucial purpose this February.
When the first case of COVID-19 appeared in the county on Jan. 31, I found out about it at the same time that media outlets like ABC, NBC, KQED and the Mercury News did – from an immediate news release sent via email by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department (SCCPHD).
This allowed me and a breaking news team of editors to get the jump on providing timely and factual information to our school community, ahead of what we knew would be a rising tide of panic and rumors. We tuned into the live-streamed press conference held by the SCCPHD and got a comprehensive news package online in a matter of hours – ahead of many local media outlets.
For more on how we put this breaking news piece together, visit Web.
Above (click to enlarge) is the email I received from SCCPHD announcing the first case of COVID-19 in Santa Clara County.
Below (click to enlarge) are screenshots of additional email lists to which I am currently subscribed. I try to follow a balanced mix of local sources, including city council members, political organizations and county departments. Hover over the images for more detailed descriptions.
SOURCING
Sourcing is critical to every article. We strive to incorporate the perspectives of individuals, both on and off campus, that are pertinent to our coverage. To that end, as news editor, global editor and editor in chief, I emphasized the need for diverse voices and credible sources in our articles. I constantly worked with reporters to research potential sources, develop contact lists and draft interview requests. I encouraged reporters to branch out of their comfort zones and reach out to experts and public figures even when a response seemed highly unlikely. Often, we would receive a pleasant surprise.
AS GLOBAL EDITOR
When I became global editor my sophomore year, I faced a challenge right off the bat: how would I localize my section’s stories?
Localizing Coverage
To localize coverage, I thought of compelling and relevant stories to assign. Students and staff at Harker belong to many international communities, and a development in China or India – such as devaluation of the rupi or protests in Hong Kong – may hit as close to home as an event in San Jose.
Further, I encouraged writers to always find ways to include voices from our community, emphasizing the personal impact of global news. For example, for an article on the genocide of indigenous people in rural Brazil in 2017, I spoke to a Spanish teacher who used to live in rural Peru, and she shed light on the lasting effects of European colonization on ethnic-group dynamics in Latin America.
Expert Sources
I also emphasized the value of expert sources, who could lend crucial insight to complicated topics like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and rising tensions between the U.S. and Syria. I helped reporters brainstorm, research and reach out to sources and compiled databases of congressional contacts, academics at local universities and experts at places like the Belfer Center for International Affairs and the Brookings Institute.
Above (click to enlarge) are examples of ways I helped reporters with sourcing in my sophomore year as global editor. Hover over the images for more detailed descriptions.
Original Reporting
To serve members of our school community, we strive not only to provide them with important news but also to do so in a way that no other media outlet can.
This means going straight to the source of information, whether it be an official statement or a firsthand account, and finding unique angles and perspectives. Since we are a high school newspaper, we especially strive to elevate youth voices, which are often left out of mainstream media coverage.
For example, when we covered Hurricane Maria’s devastating effect on Puerto Rico, I reached out to dozens of high schoolers in Puerto Rico through Instagram and Facebook. Eventually, one high schooler agreed to an interview, allowing the Winged Post to share her story and discuss the impact of the hurricane on students similar to ourselves.
Original Visuals
For visuals, I pushed myself and others on staff to make or take our own graphics and photos, rather than using sites like Wikimedia Commons. This catalyzed our Election 2020 coverage in early 2019, where we resolved to take our own pictures of presidential candidates and political figures (for more on my political photojournalism, visit Photojournalism).
For the global section, taking photos of events on-site often is not possible. As global editor, I taught myself how to make graphics using InDesign and Illustrator for our “Global Headlines” repeater. As I transitioned to news editor in my junior year, I helped the Global section incorporate an increasing number of illustrations made by our own staff members.
To the right is the “Global Headlines” repeating column that I designed for the Global section.
Background Research
As global editor, I learned that articles concerning complex states of affairs such as the Kurdish quest for independence and the Indian healthcare system could not be done justice without hours upon hours of research beforehand.
But the importance of background research applies to conducting any professional interview, covering any event and writing any article, allowing us to ask more in-depth questions and maximize the efficiency of our on-site coverage.
For example, before covering the three-day California Democratic Convention in June 2019, which 14 Democratic presidential candidates attended, my team of editors and I spent hours planning out our coverage both over text and in face-to-face meetings.
To the right is a schedule of the convention that I found, printed out and marked up for the team a few days ahead of time, researching and highlighting key sessions in which presidential candidates, San Francisco mayor London Breed, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), among others, were slated to speak.
In addition, for a series of articles on COVID-19 this year, my co-writers and I did extensive research on the science behind the virus and the disease’s progression. See a timeline the online editor in chief, Winged Post managing editor and I compiled on the virus’s spread in the course of our research.
EXPERT SOURCES
For sources, we strive for a diverse mix of experts, local voices and personal perspectives – both to anchor stories to our community and to show all sides of an issue.
In sourcing for articles, I try to interview local expert sources. For example, for a center spread on climate change this school year, I talked to Dr. Inez Fung, University of California at Berkeley professor of atmospheric science and Dr. Daniel Swain, University of California at Los Angeles climate scientist for their insight on climate change and natural disasters. I also researched credible studies on climate change by the National Weather Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to fact-check scientific claims and provide context to the article.
For a package I led on the housing and homelessness crisis in the Bay Area this year, I knew from my previous work as an intern at San Jose City Hall that this was a complex, multifaceted issue that affected everyone differently. To understand the scope and depth of the housing crisis’ impact on our community, I interviewed 40 teachers, realtors, property developers, students, administrators, academics, city officials, mortgage loan agents, nonprofit organizations, lobbying groups, people experiencing homelessness, activists and volunteers, as well as spokespeople for Google and Stanford University, who were able to provide both expert insight and personal perspectives. Combined with interviews done by my co-reporters, the number of firsthand sources in the article totaled 63.
See our sourcing list for the Housing Package here.
For more on using expert sources and credible studies, visit News Literacy.
INTERVIEWING
With each interview, I encounter a new perspective and learn better ways to listen and ask questions, skills that have benefited me beyond journalism. For example, when I interned for San Jose City Hall during the summer of my sophomore year, the interviewing experience I gained as a journalist helped me communicate and connect with constituents.
Here are some of my most memorable interviews.
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
From covering political rallies and conventions like the California Democratic State Convention alongside professional journalists, I have been able to interview eight of the candidates running for the 2020 presidential election.
Getting Out The Door
From interviewing presidential candidates, as well as city and county officials, over the past four years, I have learned that the effects of political elections and referendums, whether they be local, state or national, wield sweeping implications not just for adults but also for people below the voting age. Students at schools across the country have stakes in what our political leaders discuss and decide, from education to gun control to climate change.
Since I began covering political events, I have seen our reporters consistently covering political events, but I have seen little on-site coverage from reporters of other Bay Area high schools.
Through my political coverage, I hope not only to make politics accessible to my school community, but also to encourage other students to get out the door and get involved in politics themselves – whether by voting, exercising their First Amendment rights or covering a campaign event firsthand.
To the right are photos of some of my interviews with presidential candidates. Hover over the images for more detailed descriptions.
Getting In The Door
To obtain media access to these political events, I register as press with the event organizers or send out a press inquiry after researching the most relevant person to contact.
A press inquiry notifies the event organizers of my plans to be on site and allows them to plan accordingly. When I emailed Don Sun, presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s head of fundraising, of my plans to cover Yang’s Morgan Hill fundraiser, he immediately added me to the exclusive guest list and directed me to the best place to take pictures when I arrived.
After obtaining press credentials for dozens of political events, I was able to share my experience and strategies for gaining access to these events with hundreds of other student-journalists across the nation in a presentation at JEA/NSPA’s fall 2019 convention in Washington, D.C.
Below is a slide from that presentation, where I annotated my press inquiry to Yang’s fundraiser with tips for other student-journalists for drafting effective press inquiries.
Above is the media registration form for a Bernie Sanders rally in San Jose on June 1, 2019. Many campaigns use similar forms for registering press at town halls and rallies.
I took the above photo of Rep. Khanna at his town hall in Aug. 2019.
Above is a photo of the first time I interviewed Rep. Khanna, at a Bernie Sanders rally in San Francisco in March 2019.
Above is a photo of the second time I interviewed Rep. Khanna, at one of his town halls in Sunnyvale in Aug. 2019.
Above is a photo of the Winged Post’s extended sit-down interview with Rep. Khanna in Oct. 2019.
our representative in congress: U.S. Rep. ro khanna (d-calif.)
Building Rapport
Sometimes, getting an interview requires months of persistence. I interviewed my local U.S. representative, Ro Khanna, on two separate occasions – at a Bernie Sanders rally in March 2019 and at one of his town halls in August 2019 – and communicated with six of his staffers before he agreed to my request for an extended sit-down interview with our publication in Oct. 2019.
My experiences speaking with Rep. Khanna points to the value of networking and establishing a positive rapport. In my experience, the more I speak with and conduct myself professionally around a source, the more they trust that I will report fairly and sensitively.
Writing Questions and Background Research
To prepare for our sit-down interview with Rep. Khanna, two editors and I researched Khanna’s platforms, work in Congress and previous op-eds.
This allowed us to ask more in-depth questions about stances he had already discussed publicly and to tailor our questions to issues directly pertinent to our local community.
For example, this was one of the questions we asked:
Earlier you referenced the climate crisis and how youth activism is playing a large role in that direction. You have previously written that California can and should do a lot more to combat the climate crisis, including by enacting a no-tolerance policy for new fossil fuel projects. What do you think the Silicon Valley in particular can do to address climate change?
Because we knew from our research that Khanna was a member of the congressional vaping caucus and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, we asked him questions like the following about vaping and impeachment to more closely tie these issues to our student body:
We have a study about vaping conducted by Santa Clara County that says that about 1 in 3 teens in the county has tried vaping. How is your office planning to address this?
For a video I made of the interview, visit Multimedia Broadcast.
Above is an environmental portrait I took of Assembly Member Andrew Boff.
Above is a selfie taken by Assembly Member Boff of himself, the yearbook editor-in-chief, Anthony, and me after our interview.
My adviser found me Skyping Assembly Member Boff behind the journalism room for a follow-up interview on the latest news in London City Hall in August 2019.
GOING GLOBAL: london assembly member andrew boff
While 12 of us staff members were in London for a course on documentary photography in June 2019, I hoped to expand our publication’s political coverage overseas while we were there. When our adviser laid down one of her notorious lunch bets, promising to buy the whole group lunch if anyone were to interview a London politician, it only added fuel to the fire.
Within our first two days in London, the yearbook editor in chief and I had sent out more than a dozen emails to members of U.K. Parliament and London City Hall and spent several hours calling up local offices, persisting despite multiple rejections.
On our last day in London, we received an email from Assembly Member Andrew Boff agreeing to our interview request. Representing all 36 London boroughs, Boff has served as an Assembly Member since 2008 and the Leader of the Conservative Party in the London Assembly since 2010.
I will never forget interviewing Boff on Brexit and gentrification, or the incredible view of London that he showed us from the roof of City Hall. Assembly Member Boff, in turn, felt happy to help two high school journalists beat their adviser in a bet.
Read the article and the full interview.
Observing Details
During our interview with Boff, I took care to notice details in his actions, expressions and environment that would bring him and his surroundings alive for our readers. Those details turned out to be revealing. When asked about the rainbow lanyard he was wearing, Boff told us that he was one of the first gay men to be married in London.
Following up
Nearly two months after my initial interview with Assembly Member Boff, I conducted a follow-up interview with him for an update on Brexit, so that we could provide our student body with the latest news in the first issue of the Winged Post. In the follow-up interview, he spoke about his thoughts on Boris Johnson’s election as prime minister and his hopes for the future of the Conservative Party in the U.K.
informing our student body
After a graffitied shooting threat was discovered on campus, the school’s safety was thrown into doubt. About half the student body stayed home from school the next day, as parents flooded administrators’ inboxes with questions about the school’s next steps.
While the head of school had sent emails reassuring parents that administrators were taking appropriate actions, there was little concrete information about what those actions were. Some students said we would have police officers on campus for the rest of the school year. Others thought the school should start checking students’ backpacks at the front gates.
I knew I had to go straight to the source to find out the truth and separate fact from rumor. I conducted interviews with our head of school, head of upper school, and facilities director, asking them about the safety precautions the school would adopt in light of this incident, as well as the reactions that they had heard from parents. In writing interview questions, I emphasized getting concrete details rather than general statements.
In the end, I was able to write an article with key facts about changes to campus security that were previously unknown to the student body.
Above is my interview with Harker’s director of facilities Mike Bassoni.
Above is my and my co-editor-in-chief Gloria’s interview with head of upper school Butch Keller.
Hover over the images above for more detailed descriptions.
our local experts
When reporting on the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Bay Area this winter, I knew that professional sourcing would be key to dispelling rumors and informing students and faculty.
Present at the Press Conference
Beyond speaking to the school nurse, we knew we wanted to get information directly from county health officers. So when the second case of COVID-19 hit Santa Clara County, I drove to the site of the county public health department’s press conference, just in time for their statement.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with television broadcast crews, I photographed Dr. Sara Cody, the Public Health Department Director, and asked her a question on live television on behalf of Harker Journalism.
Panel Interview
In an effort to amplify the voices of our own school’s experts, my co-writers and I invited a panel of four biology teachers to be interviewed about the science behind COVID-19. We hoped that this professional input from our own resident experts would help assuage anxieties and dispel rumors among the student body.
By interviewing teachers in a panel, the teachers treated the talk more like a conversation with peers, allowing them to build off each others’ statements and lending us greater context to our article.
Listen to a recording of the panel interview to the left.
Above is the interview I conducted in Mandarin with Xia Zhenguo, a resident of Wuhan, China.
Read a transcription and translation of the full interview here.
interviewing in Mandarin
For another article on COVID-19, I did something I had never done before: interview in a different language. On Chinese New Year Day this year, I used my knowledge of Mandarin to interview Xia Zhenguo, who lived in Wuhan, China, the heart of the COVID-19 outbreak.
To prepare for our phone interview, I spoke with my parents, both immigrants from China, to discuss appropriate cultural conventions and terms of address. To start the interview, I made sure to respect cultural tradition by wishing Xia and his family good health and a happy Chinese New Year, establishing a positive rapport for the rest of the interview.
Xia was able to offer a valuable perspective: what life was like under city lockdown in the center of the virus outbreak.
INTERVIEWING AT HOME
Only a chain-link fence separates the Joe Rodota Trail, a pedestrian and bike path, from California State Route 12 in Santa Rosa. The whooshing sound of cars on the expressway is constant, loud and unavoidable.
For the over 250 people living in the two-mile homeless encampment on the trail, that sound formed the backdrop to their daily lives.
When I traveled to Santa Rosa to report on the city’s decision to clear out this encampment, I wanted to document the stories of the people living there before they were dispersed far and wide.
I was acutely aware of the fact that I was not just visiting a public trail, but entering a neighborhood of people’s homes.
With this in mind, I made sure to respect the privacy and dignity of the people living on the trail. I always asked for permission before taking video or pictures of anyone’s property or person.
I knew that the stories they were telling me were difficult to convey. In nearly every one of my half dozen interviews, the people I was speaking with broke down into tears.
The interviews served as a sharp reminder of the fact that there is an incredibly human side to the Bay Area housing crisis – real problems impacting real people.
To the right are some of their portraits and quotes.
Video of me filming and interviewing Cina Hone, 49, on the Joe Rodota Trail. Video by Yipei Fang
“This right here is Little Mama. She saved my life, and I saved hers,” Cina Hone, 49, said as she brought her 12-year-old chihuahua out from inside her tent. Hone began to cry as she recounted how her friend had brought Little Mama to her on a night when she had planned to commit suicide. Hone had been living on the Joe Rodota Trail since August 2019.
“It was hard hit after hard hit,” Joseph Vicino, 37, said. Vicino began living on the Joe Rodota Trail with his dog, Rocky, after his trailer with all his belongings was towed six months ago. Before that, Vicino had lost his house in Petaluma after the Tubbs fire in 2017 had driven up the price of rent.
“This highway is horrible to live by. It subliminally puts people in a place where they don’t think they can be anywhere else. Like they’re criminals,” Stephens Williams, 59, said. Williams lives near the Joe Rodota Trail and comes to visit friends. Between finding his current house and being evicted from his home in Santa Rosa, he had been unsheltered for six months.
“We’ve got to stick together. We’re family out here,” Mary Lopez, 58, said, crying as she talked about what life was like on the Joe Rodota Trail. Lopez had lived on the trail for three months and was looking for a roommate who could share the cost of rent.