The Journalism Society: An Interview By Fatima Junaid

If you could tell the entire school one story that you think deserves to be heard, what would it be?

"I would tell the story of our support and maintenance staff. We often measure our school’s identity through academic awards, debate trophies and sport victories. But our daily routine runs on the work of people whose names most students do not know, which is why I believe their story deserves to be heard the most"

Do you believe a journalist’s job is to tell people what happened or to make them think differently about what happened?

"It begins with the former, but its ultimate responsibility is the latter. A journalist must first be an uncompromising reorder of facts, reporting accurately, objectively and without bias on what happened. Without a commitment to truth and precisions, journalism loses its trust. However, facts alone rarely create insight. The real power of journalism lies in contextualizing those facts by asking the deeper “why” and “how” so that readers are challenged to examine their own assumptions see different perspectives and re- evaluate what those facts mean for them."

What is something happening in school every day that you think deserves a story but most people completely overlook?

"The silent struggle and triumph of students maintaining a balance in an increasingly intense school environment. Specifically, the unseen creative or personal micro-commitments people maintain alongside their academic pressures."

If our school were the front page of a newspaper tomorrow, what would the headline be?

"Powered by Caffeine and Last-Minute Panic: Is Anyone Actually Reading the Syllabus? I would choose this headline because journalism meets readers where they actually are. It uses humour to capture the shared student experience of balancing heavy workloads, shifting deadlines, and sheer survival instincts."

Iffat Asim