Parkland student journalists reflect on reporting the shooting
Ahead of the "March for Our Lives" rally in support of gun control, five student journalists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School told "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan about struggles covering a deadly shooting at their own school.
Several of the students described hiding in the photography closet during the shooting. After the students evacuated, some of the students on the high school's newspaper, The Eagle Eye, began reporting.
"I had to be there as a journalist to take photos, and in a way, it helped me escape from the reality of it," said Kevin Trejos, a photographer for the paper.
Their reporting was featured in the latest memorial edition of the publication, where all 17 victims of the shooting were honored with in-depth profiles.
"Everybody knows the victims were nice people, and that they were good, and they had this one thing they liked that they were passionate about, but nobody knows what makes them, them," said Rebecca Schneid, the paper's co-editor-in-chief.
The students said the paper will focus on the "Never Again" movement created by their classmates in the wake of the shooting.
"Until there's a [legislative change), we want the spotlight to be on the activism…"said editor Nikhita Nookala.
Today the paper released a "manifesto" in The Guardian which lists nine key changes the students would like to see in the country. This manifesto includes banning semi-automatic weapons that "fire high-velocity rounds," establishing a "database of gun sales and universal background checks" and raising the firearm purchase age to 21."
While these issues may be debated by politicians, the paper's staff said they remain cognizant of the differing opinions within the school.
"In our paper, we attempt to remain as nonpartisan as possible," Schneid says.
One item the student reporters said they refuse to print is the name of the shooter, Nikolas Cruz. "There is not one of us on this publication that believes that he deserves any more publicity than he's already getting and we don't want to contribute to that," Schneid said.
The debate over arming teachers was also addressed by the students.
During the shooting, photographer Emma Dowd said "I felt safe in that situation having a teacher than can console me and calm me down and reiterate that I'm safe. I wouldn't feel safer if the advisor I was with had a gun."
During tomorrow's march, the students said they will both report and take action.
"I haven't realized that this march might end up becoming a historic march that's remembered in the history books," Trejos said.
The panel was hosted at the Newseum in Washington, DC.