Montclair Journalism Students Bring Immigration Crisis to NBCU Academy – College Of The Arts

As the 2024 presidential race heats up, Montclair State University journalism students’ stories on the migration crisis are being shared on NBCU Academy’s national platform. Highlighting one of the most important issues of the election, these stories on immigration showcase the students’ powerful experiences as they interview aid workers and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Empathy in Journalism: Reporting on Migrants at the Border,” the first of three films to be released on the NBCU Academy’s national website and YouTube channel, was produced last spring as part of the “Arizona Stories: Border, Water and Politics” multimedia package. The series covers the border wall crisis, migrant camps in the desert and young voters’ perspectives on the upcoming election, among other topics, produced for the On the Road: Reporting from the Field course. “My Election Story Took an Unexpected Turn. Here’s How I Handled It” is also published on NBCU Academy.

The upcoming election brings a wealth of opportunities for students with a public-interest mindset. At Montclair, that includes a student-led project in the School of Communication and Media, #FocusDemocracy, which this spring focused on what Gen Z sees as the biggest issues in the 2024 election. Available to stream on the university’s digital platform Hawk+, the project features in-depth stories, interviews with journalists, student roundtables, and exclusive analysis of social media sentiment. The students were led by NewsLab coordinator Mark Effron.

This fall, news producer Steve McCarthy will head to the key swing state of Pennsylvania with his new On the Road class to cover the presidential election from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia for #FocusDemocracy.

A spring trip to the Arizona border, led by McCarthy and adjunct professor Thomas Franklin, encouraged students to reflect on identity and shared history while connecting with sources.

“Our team knew that covering the border would require a great deal of care and empathy. We took that role seriously, especially since some of us are children and grandchildren of immigrants,” senior Dani Mazariegos writes in a blog accompanying the report to discuss what the students learned during their reporting trip.

For two first-generation college students, reporting on events at the border brought up a range of emotions.

“Being at the border was hard, not only because we were so moved by these migrants who were desperate for a better life on our side of the wall, but also because we kept seeing our parents, even though the details of their stories and how they ended up here were different,” says Aylin Alvarez-Santiago ’24, whose parents came across the Arizona border from a small town in Oaxaca, Mexico. “I immediately called my dad and thanked him for every sacrifice, for everything he had done.”

Jennifer Sanchez, a senior whose family is from Guayaquil, Ecuador, says she had to walk away from the interview at one point because she was so overwhelmed. “I couldn’t stop my feelings the whole time.”

Their reflections are included in the NBCU Academy’s “Head of the Class,” which recognizes original reporting and video by student journalists. Montclair, a Hispanic-serving institution, is one of 45 academic partners in the academy that receive funding, resources and development to train future journalists. Students can work with and learn from professionals at NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC and Telemundo.

“I’m so proud of this group of young journalists and content creators,” McCarthy says. “They worked hard to prepare for the trip, excelled in the field during production, and pulled it all together in post-production to create some of the best reporting we’ve ever done.”

Story by journalist Marilyn Joyce Lehren.