NEW ORLEANS — Amid Washington D.C.’s seemingly never-ending political climate, emerging journalists need help to keep up with the professional and political pace confidently. As part of the Medill on the Hill program, select students dive in head-first, covering anything from protests to presidential inaugurations.
Medill School of Journalism associate professor Matthew Orr leads the program, which allows students to cover national news alongside seasoned reporters. Orr, who has had an extensive career in multimedia reporting and video journalism, presented at the Society of Professional Journalists 8 and 12 conference on “Covering the Chaos of National Politics as a Student Journalist.”
The program began in the early 1960s as an assimilated newsroom. While participating in Medill on the Hill, students can cover Congress, the White House, federal policy, and U.S. politics in a Washington newsroom. Each student has an assigned beat, including national security, the environment, education, business, and technology. Students spend three days each week focusing on this beat and the other two work days attending journalism and political science seminars, setting them up for an extensive career in political reporting.
“It’s beneficial for the students because it gives them an opportunity to get their work out the world and seen,” Orr said. “It’s also beneficial for a lot of media partners because perhaps they don’t have a reporter based in Washington who can come to the localized reporting.”
The program’s media partners include USA Today, Military Times, and STAT News.
Participating students receive press credentials and the same access as all other reporters on the Hill. They can witness committee hearings, attend press conferences, and even chase down lawmakers in the hallway for quotes.
“That’s the beauty of working at the Capitol,” Orr said, “that you have this open access to lawmakers that you don’t in any other branch of government. Lawmakers expect reporters to come up to them.”
In his presentation, Orr shared an unattributed quote he said felt represented the political reporting industry: “Journalism is the practice of waiting next to rooms for people to come out and lie to you.” This program teaches students how to sift through biases and misinformation to report a factual story.
Orr expanded on essential practices for emerging professionals to implement, including keeping opinions out of writing, staying unbiased as possible, and dealing with the scrutiny people often direct toward reporters and editors.
Many Medill on the Hill students gain a lifelong interest in political reporting, as displayed in a video Orr showed about the program’s impact, featuring student testimonials.
“It’s one thing to learn about politics in a classroom, but it’s just different when you’re watching it happen in real-time.”