When Jerry Berger covered the Massachusetts Statehouse for United Press International, he said they had four reporters covering the Legislature. The Associated Press did, too.
Now, the AP has just one reporter roaming the halls of the capitol, and 鈥渉e covers more than the statehouse,鈥 Berger said. Berger laments the decline of reporters covering the goings on at Beacon Hill 鈥 but by way of the , he鈥檚 supplementing what news outlets aren鈥檛 able to provide.
As more and more newsrooms shrink or cut their legislative news coverage, Berger鈥檚 statehouse program is the largest statehouse press corps, he said. Student reporters write more than 100 articles per semester.
The program has a 鈥渟olid gold reputation,鈥 Berger said.
鈥淭hey get total cooperation from lawmakers and staff,鈥 he said. Students who have taken the course have snagged jobs at the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe, along with outlets across the state.
The program comes in the shape of a course within the College of Communication at Boston University. Students in the course, of which there were 13 this past spring, are required to write 10 stories per semester (Berger noted some students go over the mark, such as one who wrote 35 articles in just one semester).
After they write a trial story and Berger gives them feedback, the students are paired off and work directly with one of 14 partner local news outlets. A few of the outlets that consistently run student stories include , the , the , and .
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking to expand in that sense,鈥 Berger said, adding later, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to be looking to recruit some other hyperlocals.鈥
One former student reporter, , now covers the Legislature for The Boston Globe. She says that without her time in the program, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that I would鈥檝e had a job.鈥
Gross took the course in the second semester of her senior year in 2018. She鈥檇 reported for multiple internships and was the editor-in-chief of Boston University鈥檚 independent student newspaper, . But she had no political reporting experience, and Berger鈥檚 course was an opportunity to 鈥済et the experience and clips I needed to be competitive.鈥
She reported directly for the Lowell Sun to produce as a statehouse correspondent, and she used some of her articles as clips for statehouse reporting job applications.
One student last semester reported on whether immigration was becoming a more prevalent issue in Massachusetts politics, and was picked up by a number of outlets, Berger said. Other students reported on climate change and farms, prison education and gaming.
Before they even take the course, all students have to simultaneously take a course called , which teaches students how to handle public affairs reporting. Berger also teaches that.
Instead of a midterm and a final exam, Berger requires his students to produce midterm and final packages, he said. He鈥檒l assign a topic for the midterm; for example, this past spring his students put out 13 housing and homelessness stories, 鈥渂ecause of the shelter crisis here,鈥 he said.
For the final, Berger said his students choose whatever topic they want to pursue.
鈥淚t鈥檚 whatever kind of in-depth, public affairs reporting they want to do,鈥 he said