Throughout its decades-long history, Pepperdine Graphic Media has seen hundreds of students learn the ropes by reporting on news both on campus and in greater Malibu. Last fall, student journalists with the Graphic faced the daunting task of reporting on the Borderline Bar & Grill mass shooting, immediately followed by the Woolsey Fire.
“The one thing that struck me right away about this particular group of students was how quickly they answered the call to action,” their advisor, Dr. Elizabeth Smith, said in a phone call with The Malibu Times. “ … No one could have completely prepared them for [it].”
Graphic news editor Madeleine Carr, in a previous interview, said, “What was really interesting, as being both a student and reporter, I realized how important our role as student journalists is because it’s easy for, I think, other people to put student journalists down. They don’t understand how important it is until it comes to moments like this. It was really affirming in that way that what we’re doing is important.”
Reporters were on the scene in Thousand Oaks overnight following the Nov. 7 shooting—peers had been present at the dance hall. Later, they learned freshman Alaina Housley had been killed. Hours after that, they were covering two fires, Hill and Woolsey, from Pepperdine.
Senior Mary Cate Long—the newspaper’s managing editor who designed a 60-plus page special edition, “In the Midst of Tragedy,” released after the fire—said in an email, “Learning of people’s stories and having the privilege to portray that hurt, beauty or truth to other people in an impactful way is a job that I hope I will always be able to continue.”