The best way to learn journalism is by doing journalism. That’s the educational philosophy at Santa Ana College in Santa Ana, California.
The college offers three associate’s degree media tracks: An A.A. in Journalism for students planning to go to four-year institutions to earn bachelor’s degrees in journalism, an A.A. in Communications and Media Studies, and an A.A. in Broadcast Journalism. The broadcast journalism program falls under the purview of the Digital Media Department. The other two are administered by the Journalism & Media Studies Department, for which Sarah Bennett serves as the department chair.
E&P spoke with Bennett during the winter semester break. She was at her home, south of Los Angeles, where some friends had come seeking refuge from the devastating fires. Bennett reported that the air quality was poor and orange-tinted. Had school been in session, her students no doubt would’ve been writing about the fires to the north and how they had already impacted their campus and surrounding communities. Bennett feels real-world experiential learning is paramount for aspiring journalists, though not all her students are intent on choosing journalism as a profession. Some are merely interested in learning about the field or acquiring media-savvy skills for future careers.
“We had three retirees or career changers last semester,” Bennett said.
“I would say their aspirations are really as diverse as they are,” Bennett said of the students.
Bennett has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from USC’s Annenberg School. But before she earned her four-year degree, she was a journalism student at Santa Ana College.
In 2015, she returned to the community college as adjunct faculty and adviser to el Don, the award-winning student-produced magazine. By 2016, she’d accepted the role of full-time professor. “This was where I discovered I wanted to do journalism,” she recalled. “I took a night class in magazine writing and got hooked into the program.”
On average, the journalism and communications and media studies programs have between 50 and 70 students each year. In addition to Bennett, there is just one other full-time professor, plus a few part-time adjuncts. The curriculum trains students in everything from narrative storytelling to social media and media entrepreneurship to visual journalism.
The department is preparing to relocate later this year to a new mobile classroom facility on campus. It’ll have a conference room, a creator studio with a green screen and a podcasting studio. They have a dozen or more workstations with dual digital displays, and they’ll have archival space for print copies, microfiche and digital editions of 100 years of el Don, the student-press news magazine.
100 years of el Don
The first issue of el Don was produced on the campus of Santa Ana College on Dec. 16, 1924. To mark its 100th anniversary last year, the college hosted an archival exhibition at a local art gallery.
The college funds el Don, and it’s part of the curriculum. Students earn credits by enrolling in one of three courses where they produce print issues, a website and social media posts. The experience also allows students to build their portfolio with clips and get real-life experience reporting on a community they’re a part of.
Highly regarded in the student-press community, el Don has received many awards.
“The administration listens when el Don publishes an opinion piece,” Bennett said.
In between el Don issues, the students also produce their own zines, which she described as “scaffolding” for the bigger print edition.
“I think of them as TikTok in your hand because you can read them in a minute or two, and they’re usually focused on a single issue,” Bennett explained.
And the students love producing print and reading it, she reported.
“Every day, there’s another horror story about Meta or X, where these digital public spaces are no longer safe or have reliable information. I see a lot of people, especially our students, who are rejecting digital information. They don’t want to doom scroll anymore,” Bennett said.
All 100 years of the title are in the process of being digitized.
Building a foundation for the future
Graduates have gone on to further their journalism studies and ultimately work for outlets like the Orange County Register, The Los Angeles Times, USA TODAY, People Magazine, Rolling Stone and many of the major TV and cable news networks.
Still, the students Bennett works with understand the challenges of the job market that awaits.
“I don’t think any of them have delusions that they are going to walk out of a journalism program and get some full-time six-figure job,” she said.
“We’re a community college and a predominantly Hispanic-serving institution,” Bennett explained. Often, students express a need or interest to launch their careers close to home in Orange County.
“A lot of them are trying to stay local, and they see gaps in news and information in their own communities. So, we talk a lot about how they can fill those gaps and then how to get paid to fill them,” she added.
“On the first day of class, we discussed where they get information. Where do you get your news? Is any of it local? Does anyone know what’s happening just beyond your front yard? This year, I showed them a story from my local source in Long Beach about a change in how trash will be picked up and a new composting plan. This is useful information, I explained. It may be a boring public affairs story, but we know about it because someone took the time to go to a planning meeting with the sanitation department and provide me with this essential information,” Bennett said.
“We had one student who graduated a few years ago who is an excellent public affairs reporter. She’s the mother of three and wanted to do public affairs reporting in Orange County. That’s her home, and she wants to hold public officials accountable,” Bennett said.
She imparts to her students that local news is often where national news outlets mine for stories.
“I keep telling them that their stories are important and matter. People are interested in what’s going on in your neighborhoods. When we go back to class, we’re going to have a Trump presidency, and our school and community has a lot of undocumented people,” Bennett noted. “I can’t imagine that anyone in my class would be untouched by at least one or two degrees of separation by any policies intended to round up or deport undocumented immigrants. A lot of eyes will be on a city like Santa Ana. It'll be a flashpoint because it’s a sanctuary city in the middle of Orange County, which is unheard of and rare.”
Gretchen A. Peck is a contributing editor to Editor & Publisher. She's reported for E&P since 2010 and welcomes comments at gretchenapeck@gmail.com.
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