The HS Beat: Don't be afraid to cover politics. Here's a step-by-step guide
'High engagement often comes from pieces tied to the school community'
With Korea just weeks away from the June 3 presidential election, voters will choose a successor to the impeached Yoon Suk-yeol.
Political stories often trip up beginning writers due to their vulnerability to bias. Here are some tips on how to dissect politics as a student journalist.
In school publications, political coverage often focuses on national or global stories, echoing big legacy media or local news outlets. While this type of reporting typically involves paraphrasing other sources, more original, student-centered pieces often resonate more with readers.
While we, student journalists, may strive to match the energy of professional newsrooms, they rarely have the same speed or access to politicians. Instead, high school writers should differentiate themselves with original student insights or community relevance.
“High engagement often comes from pieces tied to the school community,” said Arthur Hu, the founder of student news organization Policy Insights and Voices of Tomorrow.
But that doesn’t mean student journalists should not be afraid to embody the work of professionals. Attend protests, showcase their staff profiles and interview original voices.
If your publication uses a platform like SNO, it already looks as polished to the public as a corporate news website, so make sure to showcase your work.
“When I went to a protest to get interviews, I was reporting with my school uniform on and told others I was a reporter from DIS, and a lot of them were very supportive,” said Bonnie Kim, a writer at the Jets Flyover. “They were more willing to cooperate by disclosing their faces and names in interviews, as it increased my credibility.”
To differentiate themselves, student journalists must interview authentic stakeholders. It is more difficult than simply interviewing adults and students around you for their thoughts, but those interviews do not reveal anything new to the readers.
“Why read an article that only features information that even random bystanders know about?” said Jerome Kwon, the opinions editor of the Jets Flyover.
During the research process, try to minimize bias.
“The way that we advise to find sources is to go to All Sides Media. It basically tells you the political alignment of any given news source or any article on any given topic,” Hu said. “Just try to pick the most middle-aligned one, and from that, have your own opinion.”
Writers can also utilize portals like Ground News, which displays the proportion of left-, center- or right-leaning media outlets that cover specific topics. One can also go to middle-aligned outlets such as Reuters.
While political coverage often entails strong opinions, newbie writers can easily fall into the trap of loaded language.
“A lot of instances where people use polarizing language are in adjectives — they'll use discouraging adjectives like ‘evil’ or ‘sadistic’ or ‘ridiculous,’ but you don’t want to make the other side seem like (that) because that just further divides,” Hu said.
With interview-based stories, gather opinions from all sides and let your interviewees give the hot takes. Keep your own adjectives in check.
“We usually just take the adjective out because I think opinions can speak for themselves and you don’t need to amplify them with an adjective that is seemingly arbitrary,” Hu said.
Instead of polarizing language, use analogies and humor to make complex topics more digestible.
“For example, with tariffs, it’s a lot of work trying to explain trade deficits and the equation that Trump used. So you might use an analogy like, ‘You're a medieval farmer and you're selling fruits to a local village. And then they want to increase their domestic production of fruits. So they're going to tax you,’” Hu said.
Covering politics forces students to process complex issues, organize their thoughts and move beyond surface-level social media clickbait.
It instills independent thinking, research literacy and respectful discourse in the writer and simultaneously allows readers to encounter nuanced perspectives that don’t attack opposing views.
Cover global news stories that happen in your backyard to boost your confidence with authentic experiences and dip your toes into what professional journalists do.
📧 Contact Leanne Yoon at hspresscentral@gmail.com. For more information, please refer to hspresscentral.com.
Resources:
Student journalists covering Trump’s orders: Here are some story ideas (The Nutgraf)
How to cover public meetings (PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs)
Covering protests as a college journalist: Know your rights (Freedom Forum)
What student journalists need to know about covering campus protests (FIRE)
The student journalist’s guide to ethically covering protest (Center for Journalism Ethics)
Covering elections as a journalist: 8 article ideas to get you started (Writer’s Digest)
Navigating disinformation as a student journalist (PEN America)
 | A guest post by
|