I’d like to call your attention to The Brown Daily Herald for a couple of reasons.

No. 1, the students there have tirelessly covered a tragic campus shooting that left two students dead and nine others hospitalized: Brown shooting suspect recorded videos before his death detailing campus shooting, MIT murder; Brown police chief on leave, new security initiatives following mass shooting; One night under lockdown on College Hill … their coverage goes on, despite students being on winter break.

No. 2, their initial live blog-structured narrative emulates the pros: They posted updates much as The New York Times did for Venezuela or ABC News did with the Minneapolis ICE shooting, with time stamps and updates listed in backwards chronological order.

Under duress, students in breaking news scenarios have a tendency to post a notice at the end of their stories like: "This is a breaking situation. This story will be updated," or something similar.

And then? No update. The tagline is left hanging there like a forgotten prom date.

Breaking news can be chaotic. But this untreated label undermines the credibility of a news organization. It looks like students didn’t follow up. And they probably did, with other stories, or in another location! But readers might not know that.

Going into the spring semester, check in with your student newsrooms to make sure they have a good technical grasp of how their website/CMS might allow them to handle a live blog of breaking news.

In the meantime, welcome back and hold onto your hats! I’ve got lots of news to share.

Headlines

Student journalists at the University of Colorado have been fighting a frustrating battle to get an AI slop website to stop impersonating them. (The official student paper is at cuindependent.org, while the imposter is producing content at cuindependent.com.)

Talk about administrative overreach: Not only are Morgan State student journalists in Baltimore being told they have to clear all interview requests through a comms office, that same office is telling them they can’t even film B-roll of the campus. 🙄

More from FIRE: The free speech organization found “273 attempts to investigate, censor or punish students based on their expression,” in 2025, according to a story in University Business. FIRE says that’s the most since 2020, when it first started tracking.

Maybe your students need to hear that simply posting to social media frequently does not a strategy make, from the always excellent Adriana Lacy.

Who here is feeling the teensiest bit hopeful now that we’re in an election year again? The National Press Club and Open Secrets are hosting a follow-the-money webinar to help local reporters effectively prep for and cover the midterms. Students welcome!

Kudos to University of Delaware professor Lydia Timmons for getting her student journalists’ work on the air — and to Delaware Public Media for running it. Are you in touch with potential public media partners? There are so many on college campuses! Now is a great time to work with them on content.

In Defense of the Student-Run Magazine | The student-run magazine survives, even thrives—but not at the University of Alabama. (Inside Higher Ed)

Here are some tips for keeping young people interested and engaged in journalism from Leah Clapman, the founder and executive director of PBS News Student Reporting Labs, who’s alarmed at youth journalism trends, including vanishing jobs and young people’s distaste for “news.”

Too good and fascinating not to share, especially as quality sourcing becomes more important: How to Spot AI Hallucinations Like a Reference Librarian (Card Catalog, Substack)

Many college students don’t get enough to eat. Use these story ideas to examine food insecurity in higher education. (Journalist’s Resource)

Joe Trujillo, a student journalist at Fullerton College in Southern California, wrote a first-person account of being injured by law enforcement while covering ICE protests in Los Angeles despite wearing visible press credentials and following the rules.

For those of you drinking the Kool-Aid on creator journalism, here's a nice piece in Digiday that your student editors might find useful: Why publishers are building their own creator networks.

Resources

Common Ground USA is seeking 15-20 student journalists for its spring 2026 cohort. Selected students will attend six sessions with national and international journalists and peacebuilders, plus get a $200 stipend. Applications are due this Thursday, Jan. 15.

Check out this recent Journalism Salute podcast episode, featuring the editor-in-chief of FOIAball, a newsletter that utilizes public records to report on and investigate issues inside college football.

The Scripps Howard Fund is partnering with INN to offer students a virtual resume workshop this Wednesday, Jan. 14, at 6 p.m. Eastern. It's part of a project between Scripps and INN to offer 25 paid internships to journalism students in 2026. Applications for that are due Jan. 31.

Ethics discussion

Imagine you're an editor at New York magazine. You’re putting the finishing touches on a cover story about Zohran Mamdani and his staff taking over the mayor’s office of New York City, complete with a photo shot by a famed photographer specifically for that issue.

Then one of the people in your cover photo resigns.

Do you photoshop her out?

That’s the decision the staff of the magazine was faced with, and that’s what they decided to do. Have your students read this New York Times article on the issue, and answer the following questions:

1. Do you think it was wrong to remove the person from the image? Why or why not?

2. What are some alternatives that the magazine staff might have considered?

3. What are the main issues to consider when attempting a decision like this?

Feedback

Howdy! I’m happy to be back in your inboxes in 2026, and even more enthusiastic about serving you this year as a consultant, contractor, journalist and adviser.

My holiday break was great, thank you for asking! I helped hang this giant Sasquatch on my family’s rural Oklahoma property.

Should we ever take a walk in the woods together, I promise to point it out before it sneaks up on you.

But now it’s back to life, back to reality. I’ve included the entirety of this newsletter so you non-subscribers can think about ponying up the cash to make this relationship official!

Need someone to help you with course work, ideas for your student newsroom or want to share a great student media story? I’m all ears. Book me for a free 30-minute consultation, or shoot me that story via email to [email protected].

Happy spring 2026!