Covering Children

By Romy Varghese, AAJA/Poynter Fellow

It wasn't long before I put into action what I had learned at Poynter's seminar Covering Children. In fact, it was my first day back at my paper, the Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., after spending a week in St. Petersburg in mid-August.

While I was gone, an 11-year-old nonverbal autistic boy wandered away from a day camp and was missing for 13 hours before he was finally found. As I caught up, I saw on a future budget that the Sunday editor assigned a folo to another reporter. The angle was: why wasn't Amber Alert used? But there was no mention of talking to parents or even talking to the boy's parents again.

I told my editor what I had learned from Poynter: that stories like these need real voices; need sensitive portrayals of the children being discussed; need a compelling story line for all parents to follow.

She alerted the Sunday editor, and I ended up working with the reporter to weave in the parents' voices. So a story that could have just summed up the usual reactions of law enforcement and legislators was more inclusive, thanks to my lessons at Poynter.

That is just one tangible example of what I learned at Poynter, an experience made possible by a fellowship by the institute and AAJA. The seminar also affected me in intangible ways. For instance, I had always considered myself an ethical person. Kelly McBride's session on ethics demonstrated how tricky newsroom ethics can be and the steps one can take to ensure emotion doesn't cloud one's judgment.

Keith Woods’ session on race, I felt, should be a must for all reporters and editors. I had never questioned the use of race in stories such as test scores, and Keith made me look at that differently. I can see now how there can be a lack of context in those stories.

I was also glad to be with reporters from different parts of the country and who had varying experience levels. I was one of two Indian-Americans; and one of three Asians-Americans. I felt we all learned from each other, and each person brought a distinct viewpoint to the discussions.

Overall, the sessions spurred many story ideas. But what I value the most was how the seminar improved my news intuition, thought process, and narrative skills. Having well-trained reporters can only be an asset to a newsroom and to AAJA. I’m grateful for the opportunity to attend the seminar, and I hope AAJA will continue to sponsor journalists eager to improve their skills, and by extension, the work the public will see.