journalism – The Oberlin Review

Proposed Journalism Concentration Deserves Support

November 1, 2019

“We decided to take an approach to the story that a national outlet might not, and reach out to the university,” Andrew Howard, a managing editor for The State Press, Arizona State University’s student newspaper, said in an October interview with The New York Times. “I’m not sure we ever expected to get the scoop that we did.” Howard was referring to his publication’s story about Kurt Volker, former special envoy to Ukraine, and his resignation from the Trump administration due to involvement in inappropriate pressure politics with Ukraine. The Press was the first publication of any kind to break the news. “Just a college paper” — it’s a phrase used to diminish the importance of college...

In The Locker Room with Jenna Gyimesi, College Senior, Varsity Athlete, Columbia School of Journalism Graduate Student

May 10, 2019

College senior Jenna Gyimesi can be found on every corner of the campus. At the Review office, we know her best as our hardworking News Editor, but she is also a varsity field hockey player, an equestrian team and fencing team member, vice president of the class of 2019, co-chair of the Student Honor Committee, and a triple-major in Politics, Law and Society, and Philosophy. However, Gyimesi will be directing her efforts toward a different campus in New York City after graduation. Next y...

OTC: Sydney Allen, Review Editor-in-Chief

May 10, 2019

College senior and Review Editor-in-Chief Sydney Allen is a classic Obie with a wide range of interests. Throughout her tenure as a writer and editor, Allen has covered a broad range of campus and community news, including the launch of the Academic and Administrative Program Review, controversy about Gibson’s, and much more. When she’s not editing articles in the Burton Hall basement, Allen can be found on the field as a member of the varsity women’s lacrosse team, working with students a...

From the Perspective of a Black Journalist

February 15, 2019

Perspective is one of the most important aspects of journalism. I believe that every single voice matters, because every voice has a story behind it. I want to take this time to thank every single black journalist who has paved the way for me to be in the position I am in today. Without trailblazers in journalism such as Ida B. Wells and Frederick Douglass, who used their perspectives to tell their stories despite the oppression they faced, my voice would be diminished. With that being ...

Heidi Brown, OC ’93, Investigator

Gabby Greene, Staff Writer

March 2, 2018

Heidi Brown, OC ’93, is a former journalist for Forbes Magazine in Russia. She covered the Russian business environment after the collapse of the Soviet Union and has written extensively on Russia’s oligarchs and governmental corruption. She now works for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority as an investigator. Brown delivered a talk on Russian politics, titled “Beyond the Oligarchs” in King Building Monday. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What drew you to Russia’s business scene? I did not have any interest in business or being a business journalist when I was at Oberlin or when I decided to commit to journalism as a profession. After I graduated, I went to New York, and ...

Journalism Must Acknowledge Hate

Taiyo Scanlon-Kimura, OC ’15

December 8, 2017

To the Editors: College junior Kameron Dunbar recently wrote an impassioned criticism of disproportionate whiteness within media publications, which he argues leads to “uncontested platforms” promoting whitewashed perspectives (“Whiteness of Student Publications Threatens Integrity”, The Oberlin Review, Dec. 1, 2017.) In reference to The New York Times article “A Voice of Hate in America’s Heartland,” he writes, “It allows the bias of sectarianism and segregation to freely enter the American subconscious without opposition, priming us to respond to these irrational and abhorrent ideologies not with alarm, but with dereliction and indifference.” While I fully support greater diversification of loca...

Whiteness of Student Publications Threatens Integrity

Kameron Dunbar, Columnist

December 1, 2017

When’s the last time you saw a Nazi at the grocery store? If not yesterday, maybe you saw a picture of one in The New York Times’ profile of Tony Hovater — bonafide and self-avowed white nationalist. In their article “A Voice of Hate in America’s Heartland,” originally titled “In America’s Heartland, Nazi Sympathizer Next Door,” the Times willingly gave a white supremacist an uncontested platform for his unabashedly racist views. When faced with criticism over the style of reporting and lapses made in nearly all respects, the Times defended their coverage of bigoted Hovater in “Readers Accuse Us of Normalizing Nazi Sympathizer, We Respond.” They responded, and responded poorly. “Our reporter and hi...

Sensationalist Media Compromises Credibility for Click Bait

Editorial Board

September 22, 2017

In the past, the College has been a target for outside news sources that cherry-pick the Review’s pieces on topics ranging from the cultural appropriation of food in the dining halls to the contentious dismissal of former professor Joy Karega. Their goal is to malign the credibility of colleges like ours. Last week, The Washington Times marked another chapter in the on- going manipulation of our reporting by twisting our story on Chair of the Board of Trustees Chris Canavan’s email revealing the deficit and consequent declaration of financial cuts (“Enrollment Drop Creates Financial Shortfall,” Sept. 8, 2017) to argue that the College’s underenrollment results from a reputation fostered by its studen...

College Newspapers Best Illustrate Campus Life

Editorial Board

May 19, 2017

Oberlin students are often presented as coddled, spoiled and so obsessed with political correctness that we have lost touch with reality, choosing to embrace a liberal utopia instead of facing the “real world.” If four years working at The Oberlin Review have taught us anything, it is that this portrayal could not be further from the truth. Stories like alleged cultural appropriation in dining halls have been lifted by national media outlets in a way that grossly misrepresents reality on campus. Major news organizations would have most believe that protests wildly erupted in food fights, with students quivering in dorm rooms for shelter. In reality, students were proactive. They identified a problem, initiated d...

Journalists Must Remain Adversarial

Editorial Board

February 3, 2017

“You’re not supposed to be sycophants,” Barack Obama told journalists in his final press conference as president. “You’re supposed to be skeptics; you’re supposed to ask me tough questions.” President Obama’s message could not be more timely for those covering President Trump’s administration, as now more than ever, journalists must remain vigilant in reporting on the facts — and no, not the alternative ones. With the day-to-day antics of the Trump administration — from perpetuating myths about the inauguration turnout to Kellyanne Conway’s ludicrous sound bites — it is pivotal that journalists commit themselves not only to producing holistic news stories, but to highlighting the stories that r...

Off the Cuff: Michele Norris, Author and Former NPR Host

September 16, 2016

Michele Norris is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist who spent nine years as the host of All Things Considered, NPR’s longest-running program. After graduating from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Norris began working as a print journalist at the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Norris then accepted a job at ABC News, where she worked for 10 years. Norris was NPR’s first African-American female host, and was awarded Journalist of the Year by...

Holistic Approach to Journalism Necessary for Campus Newspaper

Editorial Board

September 2, 2016

Oberlin students likely spent the summer plagued by the question, “Is Oberlin really like that?” in reference to The New Yorker journalist Nathan Heller’s investigation of student activism on campus (“The Big Uneasy,” May 30, 2016). Though Heller faced backlash for supposedly favoring outspoken activists, the Review Editorial Board applauds the way he curated voices from all walks of life at Oberlin and allowed these accounts to drive the piece. Heller’s piece reflects what we hope to accomplish at the Review this year: to strive for a holistic narrative that gives agency to those involved in the story. Instead of reaching for an unachievable goal of pure objectivity, we want to let the voices of stude...