MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle on Tuesday enthusiastically embraced advocacy journalism, praising teen reporters from Parkland high school as more “impactful” than any gun control group. Ruhle eagerly pushed the students on what more they could do to sway the 2020 presidential election.
She cheered, “There is not a gun control group that was as impactful as you and other students were on the midterms. The 2020 election is coming. How important is it to people of your generation?”
Obviously, everyone supports these students highlighting the lives lost and putting a spotlight on the issue of gun violence and what can be done about it. But as far as Ruhle is concerned, There’s no debate here: More gun control is the solution. She marveled about “what has happened in gun control since the shooting” and lobbied:
Twenty six states have passed laws. Just yesterday, the state of Texas passed a bill on gun storage. A bill that the NRA opposed and lost. When you think about all that has been done, all that you and other student have changed in the last two years, are you surprised and what's next?
Blurring the lines of journalism and the Democratic Party, Ruhle highlighted the rabidly anti-Second Amendment 2020 candidate Eric Swalwell: “I think of Eric Swalwell. He launched [his campaign] with a town hall with Parkland students.” She continued:
In the last presidential election, gun control wasn’t a top priority. We know it’s impacted voters. In the midterms, there was a 31 percent increase of youth voting. But that still leaves 70 percent of young people not getting out there. What’s going to change young people’s minds?
Rebecca Schneid, the editor in chief of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School student newspaper embraced the idea that it’s the responsibility of journalists to accomplish gun control. She spoke to Ruhle of “politicians that don't necessarily listen to us and what we have to say.”
A transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.
MSNBC Live
5/28/19
9:55AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Today, winners of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize will gather here in New York to celebrate stories that changed our conversations, rocked societal norms and uncovered harsh truths over the last year. One group of extraordinary reporters attending that ceremony did not win, but they got a very special mention when the winners were announced back in April. For an assignment they did not ask for, a memorial issue for 17 students and teachers whose lives were tragically taken at an attack at their high school.
DANA CANEDY( Pulitzer Prizes Administrator): I want to break with tradition and offer my sincere admiration for an entry that did not win, but should give us all hope for the future of journalism in this great democracy. The entry is from the staff of the Eagle Eye student newspaper at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which submitted the obituaries of 17 coaches and classmates that were killed during their tragic shooting in their school in February 2018.
RUHLE: The reporters from Florida’s Sun Sentinel paper, who did win for their coverage of the Parkland tragedy, will bring the editors and newspapers from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas newspaper, known as the Eagle Eye, to today's ceremony. I'm honored to have those editors and journalists here. Eight of them join me now. Rebecca, you and Hanna are the paper's editors in chief. How surprised were you to get this special announcement?
REBECCA SCHNEID (Editor in chief, The Eagle Eye): I think we were extremely surprised. When we decided to apply for the Pulitzer Prize, I didn't think we really expected to win or to even get a mention at all, but what we wanted to do was to show the work of student journalists, it means something. Just because we're not working full time, just because that's not our job, we're putting our hearts and souls into this story and we are working than a lot of our classmates working overtime to try to get these stories in and make a difference in our community. Just as professional journalists do. We wanted to show that meant something.
RUHLE: The work of you and your classmates has transcended even just this paper when you think about what happened in gun control since the shooting. Twenty six states have passed laws. Just yesterday, the state of Texas passed a bill on gun storage. A bill that the NRA opposed and lost. When you think about all that has been done, all that you and other student have changed in the last two years, are you surprised and what's next?
HANNAH KAPOOR (Eagle Eye co-editor in chief): I think we're definitely surprised. It is often hard to fathom the gravity of the situation we found ourselves in. But just seeing all the change that is happening it is both heartwarming and we're very grateful to see that. People are listening to us. It goes to show that people want change and it is just a matter of raising awareness and fighting for that.
RUHLE: Dara, what are you going to do in terms of continuing to raise awareness? I mentioned those stats. There is not a gun control group that was as impactful as you and other students were on the midterms. The 2020 election is coming. How important is it to people of your generation?
DARA ROSEN (Eagle Eye associate editor): It's so important. It is so important to get out and get informed and to know what you're voting for and to actually show up and vote is the most important thing. And I think, as young people, we all know to do it and I think through, like, the movement that we spread that, like, need for voting and youth voters.
RUHLE: Will the movement continue, Brianna? I think of Eric Swalwell. He launched it with a town hall with Parkland students. In the last presidential election, gun control wasn’t a top priority. We know it’s impacted voters. In the midterms, there was a 31 percent increase of youth voting. But that still leaves 70 percent of young people not getting out there. What’s going to change young people’s minds?
BRIANNA FISHER (Eagle Eye associate editor): Now that there are more people from the school that are going to be able to vote and now that we're going to be in college, we're going to be able to vote and all our friends. And I think more of an increase in people caring more and listening to the news and looking at what is important to them and that increased after what happened at the school.
SCHNEID: I think everyone, people, they recognize now after, not just what happened at our school, but what is happening at schools around the country that this is their lives that are at hand. This is our future that are in the hands of these politicians that don't necessarily listen to us and what we have to say. That's why it's the job of whether it be student journalists or journalists to get out there and interview kids and listen to their voices and raise up their voices so that we have a say at what happens in our future.
