BCNY at The New York Times
Members joined Terry Parris Jr., Public Square Editor at Headway, an initiative by The New York Times, to discuss civic engagement, journalism, and the upcoming election. This convening is part of a project in partnership with Chalkbeat exploring how teenagers engage with and perceive the 2024 presidential election and their own civic involvement.
Making Headway
Members dove right in, introducing themselves and describing the upcoming election in various ways with words like, “illusory,” “surreal,” and “intense.” Terry rounded out introductions with his own word: “underestimating.” Terry explained that he feels people underestimate the amount of power they have as individual voters, as communities, to use their civic power for local elections such as the NYC mayoral primary in June.
Terry then introduced journalism and his ongoing professional journey within it. With decades of experience as a journalist, Terry now has the privilege to investigate and write about what he is passionate about, what fits into his mission to democratize journalism and create projects that are community engaged and oriented. An example of one such project was his award-winning MISSING THEM project with THE CITY, Columbia Journalism School’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation, Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, Columbia Journalism Investigations, and The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, which set out to record the name of every New Yorker who died of COVID-19 and tell a story about their life. This project coincided with Terry’s mission because it responded to a status quo of COVID-19 obituaries mainly featuring wealthy, white people, which reinforced an exclusivist history of journalism where only certain groups were represented or had their stories told. By telling the stories of New Yorkers affected by COVID-19 from all walks of life, this project served to make journalism more inclusive of and engaged with other communities.
A Brief History of the Times
Members then learned about the workings and history of The New York Times. They were surprised to find out that the Times has existed since 1851 as a family-owned business, with the name “Times Square” in Manhattan being in reference to The New York Times building. After fielding guesses from the boys and young men, Terry revealed that the Times has nearly 6,000 employees and 1,700 journalists- reporters all over the world covering all kinds of things from all kinds of desks and teams. Its long history coupled with its enduring mission to cover stories from all around has made the Times one of the biggest and most powerful news organizations in the world.
The Small but Mighty Museum
Terry rounded the day off with a tour of the New York Times newsroom, showing members their small but mighty museum and the main floors where hundreds of journalists work daily to create what people see in the paper. The museum featured iconic memorabilia, including the Pulitzer Prize and its many winners from the Times and a wall of personal signatures dedicated to the newspaper from decades of United States presidents.
We would like to give a huge thank you to Terry for creating an engaging and meaningful dialogue that elevated our members’ voices and fostered genuine connection. Our members resonated deeply with Terry’s sincerity and his passion to utilize engagement reporting to empower communities.