As America’s oldest president was sworn in and millions worldwide marched against his nascent administration, a group of 10 Ithaca College journalism students was helping a national news outlet get a sense of what was happening on the ground.
One of those students was Reesa Hylton, a Purchase resident and sophomore journalism major. The students, chosen by their professors, traveled to Washington, D.C., to cover the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump on Friday, Jan. 20, as well as the Women’s March on Washington the following day with PBS NewsHour. Some students helped PBS’ social media and digital production teams, while others were on general assignment, conducting interviews and gathering footage of the historic events.
Hylton, 19, worked with one of the social media teams, dispersing into the crowd and speaking with attendees of both historic events, and then tweeting them out to PBS’ social media managers for further dissemination.
What she gathered from her experience were the varying viewpoints of many of the participants at both events.
Hylton said the march for women’s rights was the polar opposite of what she experienced on Inauguration Day.
“Saturday was a lot more positive and hopeful, even though [people were] protesting a situation that, for many people, is not ideal,” she said, adding that the she saw the march as “uplifting.”
Hylton added that the inauguration was exciting in its own right, as it provided her and her fellow student-journalists a huge opportunity to witness the final step in the peaceful transition of power from one administration to another. There was added security compared to the march, and one word she used to describe the event was “intense.”
“[The atmosphere] felt like it was coming from a place of strong discontent,” Hylton said. “What we learned from a lot of the people we interviewed is the reason that they supported Trump was because they were really unhappy with how everything was going.”
She added that responses on Friday were “gritty,” and that while there was excitement that their candidate won the presidential election, the feeling among some attendees, though surprisingly diverse, she said, was not “totally inclusive of everyone.”
Hylton said it was also interesting to see “less extreme” Trump supporters, who were willing to talk to her group, despite the distrust that has developed in some citizens, most notably Conservatives and Republicans, toward the press following the presidential race.
One moment that stood out to Hylton at the inauguration was seeing a group of people who met at the Washington Mall—complete strangers—deciding to protest Trump and stand up for their beliefs together. “I thought that was a really special moment, where they felt so at home with [each other],” she said.
She also mentioned that while looking for interviewees on Jan. 20, her group encountered three men who didn’t necessarily support Trump, but were present in support of “America in general.” Hylton said they were interesting to talk to, and when she asked if their message of love and inclusiveness would be supported by the new president, the trio replied that “we have to do what we can, hope for the best, and support [him].”
Hylton shared her thoughts on the press now that the Trump administration has been installed, saying that it will be more important than ever to ensure the First Amendment. “There also needs to be outlets that are just giving the facts out, bringing that to a [wider audience],” she said.
Hylton made an important observation on Friday. “There were a lot of misinformed or just completely uninformed people,” she said, referring to the Trump supporters she spoke to. “It’s the job of journalists everywhere to provide information in an accessible and informative way.”
On rebuilding trust between citizens and the press, Hylton said that it will be hard, as people are inclined to pay attention to what they believe in, and only tune in to news outlets that align with their beliefs.
In late 2016, Gallup polling found that only 32 percent of Americans have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of confidence in the mass media, the lowest in the poll’s history; any sense of trust in the press has dwindled over the years.
“[Trust] has to start at a young age,” she said, adding that following a wide variety of news outlets is important in identifying fact from fiction.
