Empathetic Engagement in Journalism: Findings from a Personal Interview Process

By Julia Barton, Nathan Hyun, and Alex Song

This interview process was extremely eye opening to how to engage with a source on an extremely personal level. In communicating with one source, we were able to learn that applying to colleges after graduating high school or taking a gap year may limit one’s ability to qualify for many merit scholarships, regardless of their test scores or grades, which can substantially increase the already hefty financial burden of college. We also learned that some students at USC, particularly Black students, see many of the actions taken by the university as theatrical when it comes to addressing publicized issues.

The importance of empathy

These conversations were made possible through empathy. Having an open dialogue and sharing personal experiences with the source helped to make them feel comfortable sharing. Encouraging the interview subject to ask questions also helped this feel like more of a two-way conversation.

Values and needs

A consistent value that came up within the interviews was empathy both when it comes to nurturing existing relationships and examining the actions done by the university. Empathy has become more relevant during this period of COVID-19 where everyone is undergoing unique hardships. Failure to acknowledge these hardships will lead to misunderstanding and mistrust between individuals and communities.

The biggest need that we found was the need for financial support. College already presents an advantage for financially able students who are able to engage in unpaid internships and create their own independent projects. Students who have to juggle two jobs on top of their coursework will fall further behind due to the lack of available resources they have. This has become even more relevant during COVID-19 due to the fact that a lot of the student jobs that were available on campus have been shut down due to the online semester.

Higher education and information sources

Higher education is really important, but it doesn’t matter where someone receives it. Therefore, the pathway to the best job, or education, does not really matter what school you go to. Especially in a diverse area like L.A. there are many different pathways that work. There is no right answer for education per say.

Furthermore, there were many different outlets where our sources got their information from. It was just a matter of how they used them to their advantage and how they could use the information to help them. Our sources got useful information from family such as their older siblings, news from online sources like the New York Times and CNN, and friends that might live close or on the same campus as them. Some types of community engagement projects that might serve our interview sources the best are research projects where people submit facts about where they live and grew up. Another project that might be interesting is holding community events and catering the events to the type of people that live in the community, such as a harvest party on Halloween.