As hundreds of international students across the U.S. are having their visas revoked — many on a rarely-used, decades-old immigration law provision — student journalism organizations have encouraged student newsrooms to take more care and thought in their reporting, from evaluating their anonymity policies to providing more transparency.
This week, I wrote about that model as something all journalists could do well to follow.
In this issue:
🗞️ Journalists can learn from student journalism's response to immigrant criminalization
And also: AP wins case against White House, San Quentin News editor fired for his prison reform work, Gannett stops collection of demographic info, and worker-owned Hell Gate gets its millionth dollar from subscribers. And the resource of the week is a duo of guides for covering Trump’s tariffs.
—James Salanga
MIGRATION, LABOR
Journalists should learn from student journalism’s response to immigrant criminalization
There have been over 300 and counting visa revocations of college students across the U.S. So six student journalism organizations — Associated Collegiate Press, College Media Association, Journalism Education Association, National Scholastic Press Association, Quill & Scroll, and Student Press Law Center — issued an alert calling for the revision of student newsroom takedown and anonymity policies as needed
“Ethical journalism demands that we minimize harm,” the organizations wrote. “We have issued this alert because our organizations believe student media may fail that obligation if they continue to adhere to the traditional guidelines in light of recent developments.”
What’s happening in student journalism is a microcosm for the broader failures of journalism writ large. Many mainstream newsrooms are failing to reckon not just with how the Trump administration is harming communities, but also with how journalists are affected by the harm caused by state violence.
The Society of Professional Journalists’ position paper on anonymous sources first and foremost states, “the public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability.” Yet its code of ethics also maintains the importance of minimizing harm by balancing the public’s need for information against potential harm or discomfort.
Student journalists have long dealt with these questions — in 2019, the Northwestern Daily issued an apology for its photographic coverage of then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions on campus and the removal of an initially included source, given that Northwestern is among the U.S. universities that do not grant amnesty to student protesters.
The Student Press Law Center previously cautioned student media to exercise restraint in taking down, altering, or even de-indexing published material — but in the letter, they and the other five signatories acknowledge “the political and legal climate has changed in America.”
“Today, granting retraction or anonymity requests could protect those most vulnerable from being punished for their speech,” they wrote.
But journalism, even unintentionally, has worked hand-in-hand with the state to criminalize migrants. Even as far back as 2004, ICE agents used a CNN documentary to find identifying information to arrest the family at its centerpiece.
—James Salanga
WHAT ELSE?
A bit more media
AP wins reinstatement to White House: Since Feb. 11, the AP has been blocked from covering Trump in the Oval Office or aboard Air Force One. While a federal judge ordered the White House to restore the AP’s full coverage access on First Amendment grounds, the government has a week from Tuesday to respond or appeal.
San Quentin News editor-in-chief fired for prison reform efforts: “I was silenced,” said former audio producer and SQN EIC Steve Brooks. “What are these calls for reform but moke and mirrors if we’re silenced when we try to make them a reality?” During his time as EIC, Brooks co-founded a group dedicated to minimizing California’s overreliance on prisons, and became a spokesperson for incarcerated people to answer questions from outside media about California’s prison reform efforts.
Gannett removes diversity information, citing Trump’s January 22 DEI order: The U.S.’s largest newspaper chain also revamped its corporate site to remove mentions of diversity. It informed employees at a company town hall meeting on Wednesday afternoon, and a spokesperson said the decision is an adaptation “to the evolving regulatory environment.”
Worker-owned Hell Gate received its millionth dollar from subscribers: “We did not, for better or for worse, buy a Ferrari F12 TDF supercar with your million dollars,” Hell Gate staff wrote. “We plowed it right back into the journalism machine to make more journalism.” Though the milestone is (as they say) “largely symbolic”, it also represents the desire and belief in worker-owned news — particularly local news.
JOURNALISM IN A GRAF
Quote of the week
“The data suggests if you build it [AI newsroom tools], do not expect overwhelming demand for it.”
FINALLY…
Resource of the week
This week’s resource is … guides from Voice of America (RIP) and the Journalist’s Resource on how to cover Trump’s latest tariffs in the context of what came before them.
Being a journalist this week felt a little bit like being a modern-age Paul Revere: The tariffs are coming! When? Last week — but also 90 days from now. How high? Between 10% and 145%. On what? Technically everything.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced — and then reneged on — sweeping tariffs on all imported goods in an attempt to correct trade deficits and spur a resurgence in U.S. manufacturing. After stocks tumbled and people panic-shopped, Trump reversed course. A baseline 10% tariff on most imports will be enforced for the next 90 days, unless those goods are from China, which faces a 145% tariff. Even this about-face will make most everyday goods (a bit more) unaffordable.
Journalists have done an excellent job of covering the piecemeal nature of Trump’s tariff folly, from dissecting the formula to tracing the ripple effects on everything from small-time Asian grocery stores to public school budgets. The one thing missing? Historical context — understandably so, since the point of flooding the zone is to make people have a hard time looking back to understand the present.
Luckily, the Journalist’s Resource and the now-dismantled Voice of America published primers on the historical — and economic — context of tariffs weeks before Trump announced them. When journalists write about policy in its infancy, we often write about the intent as if it will be the impact. In reality, we can use history to help audiences decide if that’s true.
Here are three takeaways from both guides:
Don’t treat the U.S. as a foolproof beacon of free trade: A lot of tariff coverage is imbued with a level of slack-jawed shock informed by the heuristic that free trade is kind of the U.S’s thing. In reality, VOA reported, the U.S. has used tariffs throughout history to counterbalance lopsided trade relationships, netting mixed results. Incorporating this background into your reporting can help audiences make sense of how different types of tariffs create different sets of consequences.
Spell out how common retaliatory tariffs actually are: Though Trump is very bullish on a tit-for-tat trade war, trade historian Douglas Irwin told the Journalist’s Resource that his strategy isn’t common. After the fallout of the Smoot-Hawley tariffs that exacerbated the Great Depression, the U.S has generally used a carrot-approach when it comes to import taxes, Irwin said, which is when the U.S reduces tariffs on a country’s goods so they will do the same. Noting how Trump breaks from tradition can help thread the needles between the tariffs and foreign policy.
Fact-check claims about job growth: Trump’s whole spiel has been that these tariffs will generate jobs in the U.S. as companies try to pivot to domestic manufacturing and become more profitable than their foreign competitors. That’s not entirely true. Not only could it take months for willing companies to incorporate the U.S. further in their supply chains, some — like Apple — are actively avoiding doing that because of the costs. When the costs of inputs go up, companies will often look to limit profit losses in other ways — chiefly by letting go of employees, University of Wisconsin-Madison economics professor Lydia Cox found in research she explained to the Journalist’s Resource.
—Beatrice Forman, Democracy Journalism Columnist
For more style guides, journalism job boards, and tip sheets, check out The Objective’s resource list.
Thanks for reading. We’ll have more for you next week.
— 30 —