Journalism class examined past coverage by the World-Herald on race

During the spring 2022 semester, a class of College of Journalism and Mass Communications students examined past coverage by the Omaha World-Herald to determine if the coverage was true, fair and accurate.

In the fall of 2021, former Omaha World-Herald editor Randy Essex approached Shari Veil, dean of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications, about partnering on a project to examine past OWH reporting to determine if racism existed in its coverage. Dean Veil agreed and quickly tapped two of the college’s faculty, Joseph Weber, Jerry and Karla Huse professor of news-editorial, and Shoun Hill, Buffett-Mangleson-Sartore Chair of Photojournalism, to teach the course.

“The project presented a tremendous opportunity for the college,” Veil said. “Our students gained a deep understanding of bias and racism in reporting, while helping the state’s largest newspaper examine its history and improve its practices.”

The class was conducted as an independent investigation. The Omaha World-Herald assisted in archival research and the editors deferred to the students and faculty in the course’s examination of past coverage.

Twenty-one students ranging from freshmen to graduate students, took the course. They worked together to identify which topics to focus on, including past historical events and eras. “We sought to cover topics from Wounded Knee to George Floyd,” Weber said.

The Omaha World Herald linked to 18 student reports in the article "UNL journalism class explores World-Herald's past coverage of race" by Christopher Burbach on Dec. 18, 2022.

• The Omaha Bus Boycott of 1952-54
  
  • by Samantha Rojewski

• A Sit-In that Led to Progress at the University of Nebraska at Omaha

  • by Carly Jahn and Caitlyn Gish
• Black poverty in Omaha: A “dismal” record
  
  • by Sophia Walsh and Zach Wendling

• The Will Brown Lynching

  • by Emily Cameron Shattil and Dan Shattil

• Diversity Remains a Challenge for the Omaha World-Herald
  

  • by Emily Cameron Shattil and Dan Shattil
• North Omaha Community Remembers the Innocence of Vivian Strong
  
  • by Helen Howard and Bousaina Ibrahim

• Sen. Ernie Chambers and the Omaha World-Herald

• by Margarita Shmakova

• A look at news coverage of police brutality by the Omaha World-Herald

• by Margarita Shmakova and Saadi Ali

• Streets in Turmoil: 1966 and Omaha’s Racial Troubles

• by Layla Omari and Lauren Paatela

• The Lynching of George Smith

• by Dan Shattil and Emily Cameron Shattil

• The Jenkins Family — a Fall From Grace

• by Sophia Walsh and Zach Wendling

• A Freeway Splits an Omaha Neighborhood

• by Landon Wirt and Austin Knippelmeir

• Wounded Knee – A Massacre, Not a Battle

• by Saadi Ali, Erick Estrada and Amber Rodriguez

• George Wallace Brings Demagoguery to Omaha, Spurring Riots

• by Caitlyn Gish and Carly Jahn

• A Rush to Judgment? – the Rice/Poindexter Case

• by Odelia Amenyah and Grace Kovar

• Ethnic hostility was entrenched in Omaha: The anti-Greek riots of 1909

• by Odelia Amenyah and Grace Kovar

• The Omaha Star and the Omaha World-Herald saw North Omaha differently

• by Landon Wirt, Austin Knippelmeir and Samantha Rojewski

• The Omaha World-Herald’s Coverage of Critical Race Theory

  • by Layla Omari and Lauren Paatela