Embedded Files
One important rule we have on our staff is that writers aren’t allowed to cover topics they’re personally involved in. For example, if someone on our staff plays on the football team, they can’t write the article about the team’s big rivalry win from the Friday before. This helps make sure that what we publish is fair, unbiased, and honest. It’s just one of the ways I try to lead our staff and make sure we’re producing real and trustworthy journalism.We are also very fortunate to have an administration that supports our program and gives us very few restrictions when it comes to publishing our different forms of media. Even with that freedom, I still make sure our staff is creating content that is appropriate for our school and our community. Living in a small town, there isn’t a lot of coverage on many local topics. With our local newspaper declining, much of the news and entertainment in the community now comes from the OHS journalism staff. Whether it’s posting on social media, handing out our newspaper, or putting out a newscast, people in the community enjoy seeing what we’re producing and learning about what’s happening in Oxford, Mississippi.
This picture shows our whiteboard after a maestro day. At the beginning of every month, I lead our staff as we brainstorm story ideas for the month's paper. This is always one of my favorite days of the month because we all get to work together as a team to come up with ideas. Getting to see everyone's perspectice is really cool. After finding the best story ideas from our staff, our other editors and I take the ideas and begin to create the spreadsheet for the newspaper.
As mentioned above, this picture is one of our spreadsheets for our monthly paper. This helps us convey to our staff who is writing what story and who is designing what page. This is also where we keep track of our ads making sure that every ad is accounted for. I also use this spreadsheet to show which parts of the paper are done, partially done, pushed back or missing. Gathering the writing stories and picking the best ones is one of the most important parts of creating a good newspaper.
During the month of January 2025, an article written by one of our staff members covered government spending in the United States. With this complex topic, I helped guide my writer in the correct direction while writing. This was a very detailed piece, consisting of factual evidence from multiple different credible sources. We thoroughly analyzed what he believed to be unjust within our countries budget issues. Writing pieces like this is one of the things that I value most about the newspaper. We are able to be a voice in the community based on an opinion on issues that are bigger than Oxford, Mississippi. We were able to take a sensitive topic and highlight the flaws that needed change within our nation.
Another article that I had the opportunity to be involved with was an interview featuring Bonnie Bunkley, who once dated Elvis Presley. I was able to sit in on the interview and help gather information for the story. It was one of the coolest experiences I have had through journalism because I got to hear a firsthand account of what Presley was really like from someone who actually knew him. Listening to her tell stories about her time with him made the interview feel really personal and interesting. What made the story even more special was that it was the first time Bunkley had ever shared her story publicly. Because of that, the article became an exclusive story for the Charger. Even though I didn’t end up writing the final article myself, being part of the interview process and helping collect the information was still an amazing experience. It gave me a chance to see what it’s like to work on a real feature story and how important interviews are in journalism. Experiences like this are one of the reasons I’m so thankful to be involved in our journalism program. Opportunities to talk with people who have such unique stories don’t come around very often, especially in a small-town high school setting. Being able to sit in on an interview like that and contribute to the reporting process is something I probably wouldn’t have been able to do anywhere else. It was a really memorable experience and one that showed me how powerful storytelling and journalism can be.
Additionally, this story if the highest viewed story on our website thechargeronline.com. I love seeing that our community, and people all over the country love this story as much and my staff and I do.
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