How one community is rallying behind a young reporter's dreams

“CBS This Morning” shows people coming together in unlikely ways in a new series called “A More Perfect Union.” In this latest installment, we meet a teenager with an eye for the fundamentals of journalism, who is finding encouragement from his community. CBS News correspondent DeMarco Morgan met Geoffery Rogers in upstate New York to learn how he’s fulfilling a dream to become a reporter.

Geoffery Rogers spends his time after school in his newsroom, looking for answers in his hometown of Rochester, New York.

“I get out of school, if I have any homework, I’ll try to do it at least and I go downstairs to my office in the basement. I listen to the scanner and follow up on any stories that I have,” Geoffery said. “This is my little newsroom.”

“When you show up to a fire, when you show up to a scene, what’s the first thing you do?” Morgan asked.

“Well, I actually stand back because I don’t want to get yelled at by officers and stuff. And I ask the people around — did they see anything, what happened?” Geoffery said.

The 14-year-old cub reporter, who taught himself how to operate a camera and audio equipment, created his own news broadcast, “Geoffery Show Live,” last year.

“When did you say, ‘I want to become a reporter?’” Morgan asked.

“It was actually about three years ago, when I seen a car crash right up there,” Geoffery said. “I just seen like three news teams pull up. I start asking them questions and stuff. A year or two later, I got an iPhone and that’s where it just hit off.”

“Are they ever intimidated by your hard questions?” Morgan asked. “Do you ask hard questions? Or do you go easy on them?” 

“Sometimes, they can’t answer some of my questions. That’s what makes me mad. But I just keep going and go around the questions, trying to be slick with it. Just make sure I get that question,” Geoffery said.

“So you already know how to be slick,” Morgan said.

“Yeah,” Geoffery said.

“Like a real journalist. How to get it,” Morgan said.

“Oh yeah, I’m slick,” Geoffery said.

“He was so into covering his news beat that he knew when the new police shift is coming on for the day,” said Rochester Police Chief Michael Ciminelli, who gave the eighth grader working media credentials. “He’s really formed a bond with a number of the street officers in that neighborhood.”

Because in this city, Ciminelli said, people want to see their neighbors succeed, and police are there to help.

“We’re very impressed. I’m always looking for him out there and we’re really hoping that he pursues his passion and we’re going to do everything we can to help support that,” Ciminelli said.

“I am very proud. I am,” said Geoffery’s mom, Lacarla Carter. “I just tell him, ‘Don’t be out too late, you know, and make sure you know there’s other people, other reporters and cops around to protect you.’”

“All these officers out here, they got my back,” Geoffery said. “Officer Stan Kaminski, he’s a good officer. He helped me with everything. He helped me when I was getting bullied.”

Turns out Geoffery’s curiosity about the police and the neighborhood he cares so much about attracted the attention of bullies.

“Other kids would be like, ‘Oh he with the police… let’s beat him up.’ You know, stuff like that,” Geoffery said.

“So, they didn’t like you because you were befriending cops,” Morgan said.

“Yeah,” Geoffery said. 

Tired of the bullying from his peers, Geoffery took his concerns directly to City Hall.

“About two years ago he called me up and said, ‘Mayor, I’m getting bullied in my neighborhood and I want to know what are you going to do about it?’” Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren recalled. “So he told me he wanted me to come over to his house and he wanted to interview me because he was the youngest reporter and I said, ‘I have got to meet this kid.’”

“I was not about to let these people hang up on me. Of course not — I wanted to accomplish something,” Geoffery said. “I see her all the time now. It’s so amazing how I got so close to somebody. It felt like I just met the president.”

“Here you had this young kid that was standing up for himself and he was saying, ‘Listen, I know that government is supposed to serve me and help me,’” the mayor said.

By asking questions, the teen made the city’s elected officials work for him. The chief said he and the mayor have a shared vision for building trust in their community.

“We’re trying to incorporate this culture into our police department, where part of the working day, when time permits, for these officers to get out of their cars anywhere where they can interact with people in a positive level.”

Right now, that means two hours a night, one day at a time for Geoffery. He said he knows progress can be slow. 

And that means keeping his eyes and his camera focused firmly on the future.

“I’m want to be something big. I’m want to be actually remembered in this world,” Geoffery said. 

“We need you at CBS, OK?” Morgan said.

“All right. Yeah, alrighty,” Geoffery replied.