NBTB students report, publish “One Day, One Story” website on historic Supreme Court decisions on gay rights

Wednesday’s Supreme Court decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 lit a fire under Newsroom by the Bay students, who worked hard to capture the sounds, sights, words and emotions of a remarkable and historic day.

From left to right: April Martin-Hansen, Megan D’Souza and Isabel Ullman shoot video, capture quotes and take photos during a stop in the Castro District. Photo by NBTB staff.

A Year 1 crew of 60 students headed into San Francisco at 7:45 a.m. to report on a wide range of issues, including the reaction to the Supreme Court decisions at City Hall, and in the Castro district, Golden Gate Park, the Haight Ashbury and elsewhere in the city.

Team leaders worked closely with students to plan their reporting expeditions, and found creative ways for students to experience this story both professionally and safely.

Year 2 students learn about handles, hashtags, widgets and Tweetdeck at Twitter headquarters in downtown San Francisco. Photo by NBTB staff.

Meanwhile, Year 2 students — 17 editors strong — developed an editorial plan during their field trip to San Francisco on Tuesday, where they met with Karen Wickre, editorial director at Twitter, and attended an op-ed workshop with San Francisco Chronicle deputy opinions editor Lois Kazakoff, as well as an afternoon budget meeting headed by Chronicle editor Michael Collier. The CalTrain home from San Francisco to Palo Alto turned into a rolling newsroom, with managing editors Simon Greenhill and Jacob Cader, plus photo editor Casey Miller, organizing their fellow Y2 students into news teams and discussing possible story angles and social media feeds.

Later that night (okay, it was the next morning), they launched a website called “One Day, One Story”. All day, Y1 students sent photos, captions, videos and quotes to the Y2 crew, who posted content and also shot their own reaction videos, designed logos and timelines, and followed tweets and news about the Supreme Court decision as it rippled across the nation.

Michelle Quinn, a politics and technology reporter for Politico.com, critiqued the “One Day, One Story” website during her presentation to NBTB students on Wednesday, June 26. Photo by NBTB staff.

The day ended with a showcase and a critique by Michelle Quinn, a technology and politics reporter from Politico.com, who said that the students’ work was “amazing.”

Students made all editorial decisions, including everything from what headlines and photos to run to which video interviews to post and how to write the stories that explained it all. They wrote and edited each others’ work, and strove for objectivity and balance, from a photo by Alexandra Hsieh and Tami Sharma of two women who got married at City Hall after the Supreme Court rulings to a video interview by Chizobam Nwagwu, Jimin Suh and Eibhlin Lim with a father who worried that he would not be able to pass along his values to his children. Students created their own hashtag #nbtbsf and Twitter handle @nbtb1day.

NBTB student Emma Moore, of the Watchdog news team, spent the day researching a story on “Humans of San Francisco,” a theme that explores the various ways in which San Franciscans express themselves through gender, race and sexual orientation. Photo by Jenn Teitell/NBTB.

“It’s astonishing that students were able to do so much so quickly — literally, just 48 hours after they met,” said NBTB co-director Beatrice Motamedi.

“For me, One Day, One Story shows the power of real-life reporting — what can happen when you take good kids, give them the right tools and guidance, and offer them the opportunity to be storytellers in the real world,” Motamedi said.