reporting &
writing
1. Finding News
pitches selected and written into stories
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A Running Spreadsheet
As a first-year staffer, I looked forward most to pitching stories at the start of every issue. Why? Because I believe that the most important part of a paper is the stories it covers. That is why I always seek to discover the best stories in the community and throughout my daily life.
Oftentimes, I think of an idea, but it comes when I am talking with others, walking around at school and doing homework at home. To make sure I remember it when pitching occurs, I jot it down on a Google Spreadsheet, so I remember it in the future. By always being on the lookout for what is happening in our community, I help improve our paper’s coverage.
As a result, 33 of my pitches have been selected as stories over the past three years (2021-22: 12 pitches/4 issues, 2020-21: 13 pitches/7 issues, 2019-20: 8 pitches/7 issues).
Assistant Principal Yukari Salazar smiles as I introduce myself during our annual "Viking Day" before the start of this school year. I became one the first students she knew as a new administrator at Lynbrook, and we still talk regularly — almost every day actually.
Building Long-term Relationships
Being a journalist means knowing where to find stories, oftentimes requiring active seeking. Over my four years of high school, I have made lasting friendships and connections. These people range from the Principal, Assistant Principals, ASB Presidents, Club Presidents and many more, which allows me to learn about some of the latest news on campus.
For example, because I knew our Assistant Principal of Activities, Ms. Salazar, she came up to me (because I worked with her in student government) to share how Alethia (our school’s publication that publishes anonymous student experiences) haven’t met the district’s adviser guidelines and may, as a result, be disbanded. Knowing the information before it happened, I was able to get my paper to cover this significant development in our school.
Additionally, as News Editor in junior year, I met monthly with our principal Mrs. Jackson to talk about what has happened in our school and district. This allowed me to learn and initiate stories about construction progress and new teachers on campus before they happened and were announced.
Not only so, by building strong relationships with my peers, but I was also able to ask for help that would further our coverage. For example, knowing Alexander Zhang, Editor-in-Chief of the Valhalla yearbook, I got names of special people with special talents or experiences that we could feature in our paper, which he got by sending a form to the whole student body.
These relationships I have developed allow me to learn about some of the most important stories in our school, so I can share them with my audience.
Valhalla yearbook's Editor-in-Chief, Alexander Zhang, sending me a list of potential people we could feature on the Epic.
My reports for my beat "Calif. State and Local politics." For this specific beat, I would watch local channels' evening news show and check up on online publications like the LA Times, SF Chronicle and the Mercury News.
Checking up on Beats
At the start of every single new cycle, we check up on our beats. Unlike some other publications, we don’t write individual stories for our beats but rather reach out to them and see what is going on in their department, club, sport, etc. My beats have included State Politics, Local Politics, City of Cupertino, Special Education Department, ASB, Speech and Debate, Politics Club, Economics Club, Photography Club and Lions Club International. Through them, I got the chance to learn and pitch news ideas that go on to become published stories.
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To find these stories, I go to teachers’ rooms to ask about what they or their clubs have been doing. During the pandemic, I resorted to email. When my beats are led by students, I can sometimes just stop them in the hallway and ask them about any updates; when that isn’t possible, I reach out to them in person through Messenger and Instagram, which is very effective. While initially contacting my beats was nerve-racking, through practice, it has prompted me to embrace socialization and meeting new people. To make sure my editors know everything that I am doing, I draft comprehensive reports about what my beats have told me, allowing others to take a look and decide if they want to write a story about it.
Utilizing Social Media & Email
Sometimes, I find stories that we should cover on social media. Following students from all grades, school clubs, local news organizations and national news outlets, I learn about what is happening in the world around me.
Additionally, as Editor-in-Chief, I subscribe and receive emails from a wide variety of local and national organizations that gives us press releases. For example, the Regeneron Science Talent Search emailed my co-editor and me to inform us that 4 of our Lynbrook students were selected as semi-finalists in the competition, which gives out over $1.8 million in scholarships.
Regeneron STS's email to our publication about who were named semifinalists in their talent search. We later wrote a story about them.
2. Selecting Pitches
After we report on our beats and draft out reports, we have our “Pitch Roulette,” in which staffers pitch ideas to section editors. I set deadlines for writers to come up with pitches, full with a whole Google document pointing out all its details and explaining why the stories should be picked. At the start of the year, I provide dozens of pitches for all sections, so writers could know craft detailed and relevant pitches professionally. Requiring staffers to come up with at least three pitches, I make sure we have many stories to select from. This competitive process (with less than 30% of pitches being selected) serves as quality control to make sure our selected story ideas are relevant and cover topics students would like to read about.
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Additionally, I also meet with every single section editor to go over the pitches they have received and guide them through picking the best stories. I believe that each story selection is really important but also that our paper must have a cohesive vision throughout the whole paper. That is why I work with section editors to pick stories that complement others in the section and paper, whether it be its topic, writing style or detail, allowing us to have different yet cohesive ideas. I meet individually with section editors an average of three to fours hours before the start of each issue.
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For example, I worked with my successor as News Editor, Amy Liu, to brainstorm stories for the News for this year’s Issue 4. The main stories she proposed was the anonymous publication Alethia facing disbandment, recent bike thefts, an award presented to our Athletic Director, changes in the science curriculum to include more environmental education, school financial specialist Ms. Boehms retiring, Superintendent Polly Bove retiring, rise in COVID cases and Regeneron Science Talent Search semifinalists. Guiding her, we selected the COVID story because a week of school led to more cases than the entire year and a half; the Superintendent retirement and the school treasurer retirement because they have served our district and school, respectively, for decades. To make the page more engaging, we included an “alt copy” story to highlight student experiences with bike theft, going with an untraditional and more engaging story-telling method (learn more in the Design section). Previously just covering past school events and regurgitating weekly email bulletins, we instead chose powerful stories that tell students about all the main headlines of the month, redefining “News” in our publication.
Our pitch call spreadsheet, in which we decide when we will be talking to each section editor about the stories for the section. Pitch calls are, in my opinion, the most important part of an issue because it is when we decide what stories we want to cover.
The final pages for the News stories that we selected. They included many "alt copy" elements and included many photos and short blurb-style stories to provide readers with quick information.
Pitches
Our publication's pitch sheet. All staffers are required to pitch 3 stories and are free to include more.
As News Editor…
News is, in my opinion, the most important part of any newspaper. Opinion, Features, Sports and others are great, but they aren’t as unique to an individual school. News is. As an avid politics follower, I especially wanted to weave in political news that impacts our community in an engaging and relatable format. That is why I emphasized coverage on local initiatives, like our district’s Measure M bonds to increase school funding, and local elections during the 2018 midterm elections. I also want to foster political engagement among our community, covering the efforts of our ASB and Politics Club to encourage voter preregistration.
Two of the computers in the News section. While I never got to work in person as the News Editor here, these computers were the first ones I worked on when I joined the publication as a News staffer!
3. Interviewing Sources
My Approach
Interviewing is essential to journalism. It is the best way to get information, understand others in communities and present powerful articles about personal experiences that others have lived through. While many see interviewing as merely a requirement for writing a story, I believe it is a privilege and opportunity to turn research into something powerful, touching and impactful.
That is why I always prepare tirelessly for interviews — not just for the detailed questions that will help me present a more in-depth view of a story but also the personal side of the conversation. I walk into every interview prepared with questions that would make the interviewee feel comfortable before I dive into the meaty questions.
For my story on celebrities running for political office, I dropped into a history teacher Mr. Howden’s Zoom tutorial to interview him. Since he had never met me before, I knew I had to first introduce myself and converse with him, so he would later agree to talk to me and be comfortable sharing his personal opinion. Because he taught APUSH and was a great friend of my APUSH teacher Mr. Roy, I started by saying how often my teacher talks about him in class. By making small talk that put him at ease, I was able to get him to analyze celebrities’ political campaigns and share whether he felt about his perspectives on recent celebrities’ campaigns.
Interviewing Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian (left with the blue mask) at a Stop AAPI Hate rally at the San Jose City Hall.
FUHSD board members Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto (left) and Rosa Kim (right) talk in front of the Lynbrook cafeteria after inviting concerned parents to observe the school's lunch line process.
Anywhere, Anytime
Wherever I am, I am a student journalist. While getting lunch at the cafeteria one day, I spotted FUHSD school board member Rosa Kim in our cafeteria. Paying attention to our district’s elected officials and knowing that one doesn’t visit high schools every day, I dropped my lunch on a nearby table, pulling up my phone to interview her and ask why she was here.
I discovered that she had come with fellow board member Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto and Superintendent Polly Bove to show parents how the lunch line worked. Because lunches were now free, the number of students getting cafeteria food dramatically increased, so parents were worried about the length of lines. Taking the initiative to inquire on the spot, even though I had no clue what was happening, I found and told a unique story that people wouldn’t know otherwise. Quickly distributing it to our student body, I posted it on Instagram (to learn more about my social media coverage, check out Web and Social Media).
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Check out my post here:
During a virtual event about Calif.'s Prop 16, I asked State Controller Betty Yee questions about the future of affirmative action in public education.
Are student journalists real journalists? Do people take us seriously? Or do people think we are just kids? I discovered that others do treat us seriously and that we are journalists if we embrace it.
For my story Affirmative Action on higher education, I reached out to many high-level officials to see if I could interview them. While some interview requests like that with Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis didn’t go through, I was able to talk to people like State Controller Betty T. Yee, and Mindy Kaling's brother Vijay Chokal-Ingam. More memorable was when I raised my hand at a No on Prop 16 event when asked if any news outlets had questions for former UC Regent Ward Connerly. I found that as long as I believed in myself, nothing could stop me. The organizer called me, and like White House correspondents on television, I recited, “I’m Bennie Chang with Lynbrook High School’s newspaper the Epic. I wanted to ask…”
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Read more here: https://lhsepic.com/8692/web-exclusive/from-harvard-to-proposition-16-the-truth-about-race-based-affirmative-action-in-higher-education/
Through scholastic journalism, I found that the improbable is possible. That doesn’t mean there aren’t setbacks, but that is what professional journalists deal with too. I just have to persevere. We just need to believe.
Dream Big
4. Writing Stories, Personalized
Behind the progressive City of Cupertino is the little-known Lehigh Permanente Cement quarry, the largest polluter in Santa Clara County. This was the first story I wrote for the Epic.
News & Sports
For my story on the local Lehigh Cement plant’s expansion, I started with a holistic news lede that incorporated all the 5Ws and utilized an imagery twist to engage readers. For all news stories, I start them with the most important information at the top and the more trivial near the end—go inverse triangles!. That way, I can give readers the most important information in a concise and digestible way at the start.
Read more here: https://lhsepic.com/5775/news/lehigh-cement-to-expand-cupertino-quarry/
Similarly, for my sports story on the change in sports schedules during the pandemic, I captured the most important information about the schedule change in the first two paragraphs. As a sports story dedicated to updating students on what was happening, I felt it was important to get right to the point and then included student perspectives as the story progressed.
Read more here: https://lhsepic.com/8784/sports/sports-schedule-changes-bring-challenges-and-hope/
Celebrity candidates’ yard signs in front of the backdrop of Hollywood’s famous white sign.
Opinion
In this story, I criticized many celebrities’ run for political office as merely a way to gain attention and news coverage. With Caitlyn Jenner announcing her campaign for California governor, I wrote this article to urge all candidates, but especially celebrities like Jenner, to run with the intention of service and implementing positive change, which starts with having concrete plans. In opinion writing, I acknowledged and agreed with perspectives that all people should be able to run for office, but I also argue forcefully for my opinion by providing examples of how unserious campaigns hurt political trust and engagement.
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Read more here: https://lhsepic.com/10237/opinion/celebrities-please-do-not-be-a-political-joke/#modal-photo
Miko Otoshi, one of Lynbrook’s 2019-20 employees of the year, has served in countless roles throughout her years at Lynbrook.
One of my favorite features stories was that with Ms. Otoshi, who is our school’s after school librarian and band coordinator. She was named staff member of the year, which I learned from being on the School Site Council, so I decided to write a story about her. I recall standing at the library desk with her for almost 1 hour, as we talked about her first job as a professional typist in high school to traveling to Japan to teach students art. I learned so much beyond her current job, which was the first time I was able to get people to open up and share their personal stories. By doing so, I was able to write a beautiful story that showcased her whole personality and life experiences. Also conducting student interviews, I showed her impact on others and how wonderful of a person she is!
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Read more here: https://lhsepic.com/7307/features/otoshi-celebrated-as-employee-of-the-year/#modal-photo
Features
In No Time to Die, the character development of Bond is successful and much needed, but the nearly three-hour plot lacks clarity and fails to do justice to its main character.
Arts & Entertainment
When I volunteered to write this review, I was apprehensive because I had never done it before. However, through writing about Daniel Craig’s No Time to Die, I found a creative voice that I never got to express through hard journalism. I used my analytical and poetic writing voice and shared what I loved about the movie while criticizing aspects I found uncreative and unremarkable. Enjoying spicy reviews, I wrote one equally as frank and engaging.
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Read more here: https://lhsepic.com/11109/features/no-time-to-die-daniel-craigs-final-act-as-bond/
In-Depth
A special part of our publication is that we have a section dedicated to in-depth analysis of significant topics. Because I love politics, I wrote many stories in which I dived and analyzed the intricate details of a political topic or even. My article on senator stock insider trading was one of those, explaining to the high school students the legalities of massive offloading of stocks at the start of the pandemic. Bringing in national stories to high schoolers’ attention with a localized view, I wanted to get more people civilly engaged and knowledgeable about pressing issues in the country.
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Read more here: https://lhsepic.com/7762/in-depth/senators-selling-of-stocks-stirs-controversy/
Senators Kelly Loeffler and Richard Burr used their political offices to their benefits before the pandemic’s effects had fully materialized.
5. Yes, Republished!
Sen. Richard Burr was under fire for stock trading at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Erin Schaff/New York Times)
Having conducted a lot of research on insider trading, I was very passionate when I read reports about Sen. Richard Burr and his family’s offshoring, so I decide to write Letters to the Editor to the San Francisco Chronicle, which was published! Writing the letters was a great experience, and I learned to write concisely and powerfully. Because of this experience, I wanted to encourage fellow high schoolers to write more to our high school newspaper (read more in the Law, Ethics and News Literacy section).
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Read the letter here: https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/Letters-to-the-Editor-Hold-Sen-Burr-accountable-15276407.php
San Francisco Chronicle
The Mercury News
Another letter that I wrote and was published covered Trump’s handling of the pandemic. While most people in the Bay Area were criticizing him, I wanted to acknowledge the positive steps he took and take a more moderate stance regarding criticizing him. While I read many comments who attacked my letter, I truly believed in my word, so I didn’t let their words change my opinion.
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Read the letter here: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/19/letter-im-not-a-trump-fan-but-i-think-he-deserves-credit/
President Donald Trump speaks about COVID-19 in the White House press briefing room. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
For my story, “Aditya Suresh, besting illness to founding non-profit,” The Outlook in Los Altos, which is dedicated to writing articles for elderly citizens, republished my story in their print newspaper. In a year in which our whole paper was online, it was great to see my story printed. Knowing that the stories I told would reach a wider audience was a rewarding experience that showed me that my writing can positively impact the broader community.
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Read more here: https://lhsepic.com/8951/features/aditya-suresh-besting-illness-to-founding-non-profit/
The Outlook
A photo of my story about Aditya Suresh on The Outlook. It was one of the few stories that were selected to be published.
6. Awards
Best of SNO: Sleep, Debate History, Affirmative Action, Aditya Suresh, Stop AAPI Hate, and 007
Best of Show Social Justice Reporting 8th Place: Affirmative Action
NSMC Commentary Writing Honorable Mention: College Athletes
General Feature Story Honorable Mention: Sleep