Journalism is facing dual challenges of lost trust and declining relevance. But a new research project suggests the solution might lie in teaching future reporters to rethink how they talk to the communities they cover.
Researchers recently tested a new curriculum across six US states that paired journalism students with historically overlooked groups, including unhoused, LGBTQ, disabled, low-income, Black, and Latino communities.
Instead of the traditional model in which students pitch story ideas and rely on rigid, preset questions, the programme focused on “conversation facilitation”. Students were taught to listen and let the communities dictate what issues actually mattered to them.
“The idea that schools have a class where students do the work with a community right away is not typical,” said Margarita Orozco, an assistant professor at the University of Kansas and co-author of the study. “Usually, we teach skills like reporting or ethics through assignments, and students propose topics. With this project we started in the communities and found something important to them, not to the professor or students.”
Unlearning bad habits
The approach, published in the journal Journalism Practice, aims to help students unlearn “extractive” reporting practices.
The results challenged students’ preconceptions. For example, when working with immigrant communities, students initially assumed certain topics would dominate the conversation. Instead, locals emphasised their concerns about access to insurance and affordable medical care.
“They came up with strategies and ideas — perspectives journalists don’t heed often enough,” Orozco said. “The stories that came out of it focused not just on problems but on how communities believe those problems can be addressed together.”
A post-pandemic necessity
Funded by the non-profit organisation Cortico, the programme involved 87 students and 135 community members, resulting in 27 conversations and 16 published stories.
The impact on the next generation of reporters was profound: 91 per cent of students said the class changed how they viewed the relationship between journalists and the public, while 82 per cent said it reshaped their understanding of journalism’s role in a democracy.
Orozco noted that teaching these conversational skills is increasingly vital for digital-native students. Many attended school virtually during the pandemic and are now struggling with in-person interviewing, finding sources, and engaging directly with diverse communities.
“Future doctors work in hospitals, while in medical school, lawyers participate in debates, teachers do student teaching,” Orozco said. “Journalism needs something similar. Students need [to] get out of the bubble, go and work with communities and learn from them while also developing ‘traditional’ skills in their coursework.”
