The Echo staff poses for a picture after finishing the Echo gift exchange activity. Through activities like this, Echo staffers get to bond and have fun together.
Inside the Echo staff |
Outside the Echo staff |
After dealing with the take down requests, myself, my co-editor-in-chief, last years editors-in-chief and my adviser held a meeting inviting past, current and incoming staffers to discuss the situation. While we had spent hours on FaceTime debating what to do, everyone else was just presented with the final decision. We wanted to provide a space where everyone could speak and feel heard. Staffers were given the chance to voice their concerns and ask any questions. I hope this made current and new staffers feel comfortable and safe on Echo.
If staffers get anything out of Echo, I want them to feel like they were a part of a community where they were loved and supported for who they are. To help with this, I make sure to check in with all staffers often — especially the ones I don't know well. |
When looking for student sources, it is easy to turn to a friend, especially while in distance learning. Because Echo has a heavy female membership, many of whom are white, the friends of those on staff typically represent a small portion of the school, resulting in the potential risk of interviewing the same people several times throughout the year.
Content is largely driven by sources. If there is no diversity in our sources then our coverage will be heavily leaning towards a certain group of people. When I write a story, I always put in the extra effort to reach outside of our typical circle of people to interview. My favorite way to find sources for stories that affect all students is to type a few random letters into the to place on email. I will then email six or seven random students that I don't know. This has allowed me to branch out and get perspectives from people who we typically miss. When a fellow staffer and I were covering the Black Lives Matter protests we were extra cautious about our sources. In the end, we interviewed eight students and made sure our main sources were students of color. It was important that we did that because our coverage had to represent the event. In order to cover politics it is critical our sources come from multiple backgrounds and represent all points of view. When covering the 2020 election, it was incredibly difficult to find a Trump supporter at our school. We had three sources for the story, but held off posting until we found someone in favor of Trump. Even though it would have been easier to post without it, I was not going to post a story about something so controversial with only one side as it did not properly represent the beliefs of the school. |