Meeting New York City’s Critical Information Needs In a Crisis
Social journalism students, faculty and alumni from the Newmark J-School at CUNY are helping THE CITY engage communities and report on COVID-19
Even before the pandemic hit, social journalism students and alumni often practiced the engaged journalism techniques they learn in their coursework in New York’s year-old nonprofit local newsroom.
Now, they are helping combat misinformation circulating in local Facebook groups and other platforms, developing resource guides, and helping answer residents’ questions in the American city hardest hit by the coronavirus.
Terry Parris Jr., THE CITY’S Engagement Director, teaches two required social journalism courses at the Newmark J-School at CUNY, serves as an engagement coach, and supervises engagement interns and post-graduate engagement fellows, many of them from Newmark. Prior to coming to THE CITY, Parris Jr. led ProPublica’s engagement team and participated in a variety award-winning investigative projects that involved crowdsourcing and other strategies for involving readers.
Currently, social journalism alumni Lauren Costantino and Daniel Laplaza are working with current student Allison Dikanovic to meet community information needs during the pandemic by answering New Yorkers’ questions and compiling tips on topics like how to avoid scams.
“More than 2,000 readers reached out to us with coronavirus questions & concerns. In response, we’ve been producing resource guides and FAQs on things like how to access food, apply for unemployment, donate supplies & more.”
In addition to individual stories, staff at THE CITY created a comprehensive guide to answer all of these questions posed thus far — a departure from the traditional news story, but one that provides quick and useful answers in a way that maximizes their impact.
They have also repurposed the FAQs and other guides to reach new/different audiences via Instagram:
Students and alumni have also participated in a variety of ways in THE CITY’s Open Newsroom events, where members of the community join journalists at public libraries to identify and discuss the neighborhood issues that matter most, shaping THE CITY’s coverage priorities and developing a new, more participatory model for local news. Mekdela Maskal, previously an intern with the THE CITY and now the engagement editor for Covering Climate Now, played a leadership role in getting these events off the ground.
Students in the fall 2019 community engagement course helped shape the launch of Open Newsroom by working in groups to do preliminary research on community information needs, including visiting neighborhoods to assess where people gather physically. Each of them also attended at least one of these events to observe how facilitating community conversations works.
Topics that came up repeatedly in the first round of events in Brooklyn included: affordable housing, access to transportation, access to fresh food (and other food-related issues), safety concerns and education, and subsequent events continue to dig deeper into these issues. Class of 2020’s Dikanovic has also contributing to reporting on these issues, such as this piece on homeowners seeking a ban on house flippers.
When the coronavirus shut down in-person events, THE CITY’s engagement team pivoted to virtual, using Zoom.
One more way our Social Journalism students are contributing to THE CITY’s engagement efforts is though a class project in the spring 2020 metrics and outcomes course taught by Parris Jr. and Kelsey Arendt of Parse.ly. Students are monitoring, documenting and, as appropriate, debunking misinformation related to COVID-19 in neighborhood Facebook groups and other online platforms, as well as monitoring for questions residents need answered. This information feeds databases that THE CITY can use in its reporting and engagement efforts.
These students learned from First Draft and its social journalism ’19 alumna Diara Townes how to verify online content, counter rumors and disinformation, and produce credible coverage on COVID-19, and they also contribute to First Draft’s efforts to track coronavirus misinformation nationally and aid local reporters in spotting it.
If you are interested in learning more about the Social Journalism program or have questions about engaged journalism, contact Director Carrie Brown. And check out the Social Journalism page to learn more.
