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Elusive Story: The Chicago Tribune Examines "No Child Left Behind"

Abstract

CSJ-09-0019.0PO This case study examines long-form journalism, and the dilemma for a reporter when the story she intends to write is not the story she uncovers. In fall 2003, Chicago Tribune education reporter Stephanie Banchero started to follow a student taking advantage of the “choice” provision of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education act to transfer to a better school. Third-grader Rayola Carwell seemed a promising subject for a feature story about how education policy affected real children. Over the next four months, however, Banchero found that Rayola’s mother, Yolanda, was interfering with the child’s chances for success. As her editors helped Banchero shape the story, they pointed out what she had been loathe to admit—that this was no longer solely a story about whether a government policy was effective, but about the influence of family life on a child’s educational success. As the story shifted increasingly from a sole focus on the child to include the mother, Banchero considered how best to let the mother know about the story’s new direction.

Through class discussion, students will begin to understand the process of producing long-form journalism. They will learn about how a long lead time means wide latitude in what the final story will actually be. As they follow Banchero’s reporting on Rayola, they will see how unfolding events can undermine an original hypothesis—sometimes to the discomfort of the reporter. They should also debate the responsibility a reporter has to a source unfamiliar with journalistic norms: on-the-record, off-the-record, or the meaning of an open reporter’s notebook. How explicitly, and how often, should a reporter explain these norms as well as what will appear in the final version?
This case can be used in a class about feature writing; education reporting; or ethics.
Credits:

This case was written by Julia Ioffe for the Knight Case Studies Initiative, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University . The faculty sponsor was Professor LynNell Hancock. Funding was provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. (1009)

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