Now more than ever, journalism matters. With the growing political, social and economic turmoil within the country, many would agree, which is why a certain convention board thought it would be the perfect convention motto. The National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) held in Washington, D.C. Nov. 20-24 had over 8,000 journalism students and advisors attend the event to hear speakers from around the country and workshops about a variety of journalism-related topics.
The highlight of the conference, keynote speaker Chuck Todd, a moderator of “Meet The Press” and a host of MSNBC, spoke about the representation of politics through different media outlets. With such a political split in today’s society, journalists often report the information people want to hear. Todd encouraged young journalists to report the facts straightforwardly. Other speakers included writers of “Politico” and “The Washington Post”, professors from around the country and Mary Beth Tinker from the 1969 court case Tinker v. Des Moines, who advocated for student activism in nonviolent ways.
Competitions for students accompanied the workshops Nov. 21-23. Students wrote and designed based on specific prompts given to them at the convention, and even copy edited papers. Co-Editor-in-Chief, Kristen Quesada received an Excellent for News Editing and Co-Assistant-Editor-in-Chief junior Bella Ramirez, received an Excellent for Broadcast Feature Story and an honorable mention as writer of the year. Online Editor-in-Chief, Joanne Haner also received an honorable mention for editorial writing.
Even though journalists are sometimes portrayed as the bad guys in modern media, they keep citizens informed about politics and current events.
