Black College Wire captures students' stories

from Jean Thompson, Editorial Consultant, Black College Wire

"I'd like to bring to your attention the hard work of many of our student journalists, who have begun to cover the devastation of Katrina and the impact on our HBCUs.

"NABJ partner program Black College Wire has begun running student-produced enterprise coverage, and some of these stories have been told nowhere else.

"When some of the national media was reporting it could not find the president of Xavier, our students had located him through contacts and obtained a quote.

"While national media by and large failed to report that 460 students were trapped at Xavier days after the storm, our students were text-messaging each other and students' families. We were on the scene at Southern and Grambling when the students arrived, safe at last, on Friday.

"Is there disparity in coverage: Oh, yes. I noticed that a NYTimes map of New Orleans last week showed the location of Tulane's campus, which was EMPTY, during the time that the Xavier campus was full of students trapped in the upper floors of dorms. Xavier wasn't even shown on the map.

"Also: The fate of the Black Press in the Gulf region hasn't been covered: Someone should be writing this. Who will tell our stories from our perspective?

"Many of our student journalists from the region have lost everything they had at school, including at least one of the students who was working on the NABJ Monitor staff during our recent convention, Shawnee McFarland of Dillard.

"I know they are among thousands and thousands of victims, but we should give them our attention, and make sure that all NABJ members are aware of the fates of the HBCU student newspapers and journalism programs affected, including those at Dillard and Xavier.

"But also: I want NABJ members to know about the terrific reponse from other student newspapers, including those at Grambling, Southern and Jackson State. They are covering what's happening to their peers and telling their own stories.

"In addition, our student freelancers are at work producing stories for the Black College Wire, www.blackcollegewire.org. Please spread the word."

Consider it done...bkm