Facing adversity, finding journalism

Two cherubs tell the stories of what they've gone through, what they've overcome, what they hope to accomplish

By Amy Parlapiano

When Jazz White walked through the flooded streets of New Orleans two years ago, her father was holding a small video camera.

“I got in front of the camera, stood in the water and said, ‘Hurricane Katrina has just hit. I’m Jazz White. Stay tuned for the aftermath of the storm on ABC-26 News.’”

White said she had no idea at that point those words were being echoed by television stations across the country.

“When I got to Mississippi, I actually watched the coverage and realized just how serious the storm really was,” White said.

The hurricane that hit her hometown only increased White’s interest in broadcast journalism, something she’s wanted to do since she was a child.

“I wanted to show what was really going on,” she said. “A lot of the coverage wasn’t doing the city justice. We were thought of as a Third World country. Yes, bad things happened, but that doesn’t define the city.”

White decided to apply to and attend the cherub program so she could pursue her dream of broadcast journalism, and portray the news in a fair and balanced way.

“I want to show both sides of the story,” she said. “I want to tell the truth.”

Fellow cherub Ally Bain also has strived to show both sides of the story, petitioning for the needs of people with medical issues. Bain, who has a digestive illness known as Crohn’s disease, was denied access to one of the private restrooms at an Old Navy store three years ago. She contacted the media, as well as a local Illinois state representative, and a year and a half later, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a law known as “Ally’s Law.” It stated that anyone with a medical emergency was allowed access to private restrooms in any establishment in Illinois.

“The reporters I talked to didn’t just want to get their job done,” Bain said. “They wanted to talk to me.”

Through the law vote, Bain worked with radio, broadcast, newspaper, Internet and magazine journalists. This inspired her to explore journalism as her field of interest, and she applied to the cherub program.

“I wanted to be the one writing the news, not the one in the news,” she said.

As White and Bain ended their cherub summers, they said they looked forward to continuing to enhance their journalistic skills in order to achieve their goals and look after those who aren’t getting their story told.

 “My writing grew through the struggles,” Bain said.