Student journalism provides insight to campus life
By Felicia Roehm
The Rider News has been working incredibility hard to bring the students and faculty at Rider legitimate news since 1930. Student journalists have reported for the past 92 years. The Rider News staff has worked persistently this semester to educate the Rider community through their accurate and reliable articles. This semester, the students have written hard news stories about Title IX, Westminster Choir College, contract negotiations and so much more. Student journalists have stayed up late finding proper documentation, gathering credible sources and checking their facts over and over again. Collegiate investigative journalism is tremendously important because students pay to attend these institutions of higher education. Student journalists also want to give a voice to those who are silenced and shed light on issues that may not be known by many.
The Rider News prides itself on educating the Rider community on a wide variety of topics, from news to sports, entertainment and opinion. Investigative journalism is something that The Rider News has done immensely throughout this semester alone; however, none of these investigations have come with ease. Often people are afraid to speak up about sensitive subjects because of the inevitable backlash. They continued to go the extra mile to receive the factually correct information. These difficult topics weren’t just tough on those affected but also on The Rider News staff. Amethyst Martinez, managing editor of The Rider News, wrote an article about concerns students faced with the Title IX office and the handling of their cases. The story took three months to make after countless setbacks. “The biggest thing that I learned in the investigative writing process is that you have to be persistent. That is the only way that you’ll be able to dig and find things because you aren’t going to get the answers that you want at first or the answer that you think needs to be uncovered,” said Martinez.
The reporting process is intense, and the news staff has continued to ask hard- hitting questions. Members of the staff explained that often during interviews many other questions arise and one interview could lead to another. There is always more to a story than meets the eye and investigative journalism requires a lot of effort, but the outcome is incredibly rewarding. When students write about something they are passionate about and it takes a long time to compose, the students are proud of all the effort and work they put into it. The Rider News staff encourages any new journalism students to be careful when doing investigative journalism, but to get invested and cherish what they are writing about
because although it is strenuous, it can make them become better journalists. It is intimidating and difficult, but taking on a challenge will benefit writing, investigation and interviewing skills.
Journalism as a whole is supposed to provide accurate reports to people, and The Rider News gives journalism students the needed experience to prepare them for the workforce. The Rider News is proud to continue investigating issues that affect the Rider community and is committed to providing readers with correct and credible news for years to come.“We take pride in telling the stories of The Rider community and accurately representing it no matter what section,” said Shaun Chornobroff, the executive editor of the Rider News. “The Rider News has been an important part of this community since 1930, and it intends to stay that way.”
