Byram Hills Explores Role of Journalism in Student Conference

There’s been plenty of discussion about journalism recently and its role in society, given the current political climate. The interest among the general public hasn’t been lost on the student journalists at Byram Hills High School.

Last week students at the school convened a conference to address the current state of the profession, its future and how they can bring the best coverage to the readers of their school papers.

Byram Hills hosted its first journalism conference last Wednesday, with the co-editors of The Oracle, the school’s student paper, and other staff members inviting peers from five other area high schools to join them for workshops and discussions. The event, titled “Redefining Journalism,” featured a keynote address by CNN anchor John Berman, an Armonk resident.

“We wanted to talk about how can we project our voices and stick to the facts, especially with the problems of fake news, and so, ultimately, we want students leaving feeling empowered and really wanting to take their newspapers to the next level, interact with the community and really involve others,” said Ali Brocato, co-editor of The Oracle, Byram Hills’ online student newspaper.

Brocato and fellow co-editor Zachary Milewicz came up with the idea for the event after attending the annual Columbia News Conference last year, which attracted students from hundreds of schools around the United States. That conference presented workshops as varied as learning how to interview to the best ways for student publications to move to digital platforms.

The Columbia conference also provided the co-editors the impetus to schedule their own event and collaborate with like-minded students from Ardsley, Fox Lane, Briarcliff, White Plains and Brewster high schools. About 70 students attended last week’s gathering.

Deputy Superintendent Dr. Tim Kaltenecker said Brocato and Milewicz returned from the Columbia conference encouraged about how much they benefitted. He suggested they think about scheduling their own.

“They looked at each other and got really excited, so a year later they started talking with me. ‘Can we meet with you? We want to plan that,’” Kaltenecker recalled. “So it all sort of came together from that, all from that little idea.”

Brocato and Milewicz came up with a theme, ideas for three workshops, which featured journalists Trisha Blacknar, Betsy Lombardi and Ali Rosen. They also reached out to Berman, who in addition to being a town resident has two children in the district.

During his talk, which was followed by an extensive question-and-answer session, he traced his career from ABC, where he started in 1995 after college as a desk assistant and worked his way up through the ranks to become head writer for the late Peter Jennings. By 2001, he got his break on air.

After 17 years, he left for CNN, where he now co-anchors “CNN Newsroom” which airs weekdays from 9 to 11 a.m.

“It was thrilling to be part of it and see all the news happening all around you,” Berman said.

Encouraged to see such a strong turnout and interest from students interested in journalism, Berman advised students to stay curious, and always question subjects on why something is happening.

“It’s the job of journalists to speak truth to power,” Berman said. “It’s the job of journalists to ask people why they are doing things. It’s no mystery right now why the journalism profession is under attack from a lot of different people.”

He told the story of Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cardenas, a crusading reported who fearlessly reported on the drug cartels in his native country. Cardenas was killed in May, one of five journalists slain in Mexico this year.

“This is, at its fundamental level, what the business is about,” Berman said. “Facts can be so revealing and so important that people are willing to kill over them. But facts can also be so important and so revealing that someone like Javier is willing to risk his life to get them out and tell stories.”

Catherine Eshoo, a Byram Hills English teacher and faculty adviser to The Oracle, said while the issues raised at the conference would transcend any time period, the interest and debate about journalism in the public sphere made the event even more critical.

“There have been so many relevant aspects of journalism brought to the forefront and I think the timing is perfect,” Eshoo said.