By Danielle Ngamegni
Philip Merrill College of Journalism faculty and students who attended the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner were present when someone fired shots inside the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. on the evening of April 28.
According to The New York Times, Cole Tomas Allen, the suspected gunman, is facing charges for attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump, who attended the WHCA dinner for the first time as president.
Lillian Gray, a freshman journalism major and one of the recipients of the WHCA scholarship, said she was eating her meal amongst other scholarship recipients when they were disrupted by the sounds of loud bangs.
“I was very nervous, because I had just gone off the phone with my mom,” she said. “I was scared, I didn’t know if there’s gonna be another attack.”
Rafael Lorente, dean of the journalism college, recalled the frantic state of guests trying to protect themselves and the C-Span camera lying on the floor before getting out his phone to record what happened.
In immediate action, a swarm of Secret Service agents rushed into the room gathering Trump, Cabinet members and other high-ranking government officials. Once attendees were cleared to get up from under the tables, the students promptly began to report on what they had witnessed.
“We were still shaken up, but I think the adrenaline that kicked in for us to do our job,” said junior journalism major Ashley Neyra.
Christi Parsons, director of Capital News Service’s Washington, D.C., bureau and a former president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, emphasized the importance of reporting accurately while under pressure. She heard accounts of several eyewitnesses claiming that the firearm discharged and the suspect was dead.
“You can’t always trust eyewitness accounts or even official accounts,” Parsons said.
In that moment, she, along with Merrill student journalists, chose not to write that they heard gunshots because they weren’t sure of what they had heard then. They prioritized reporting specific facts and what they were certain to be true.
Despite this traumatic experience, it did not deter journalism students from their journalistic duties.
Gray said that this event pushed her more into journalism after seeing how professional journalists set aside their fears to inform the public.
Neyra, who also received a WHCA scholarship, explains that it made her more passionate about pursuing journalism, while acknowledging the risk of reporting situations like this.
The journalism college recognizes the challenges of reporting while experiencing trauma and offers counseling services to students who need them.
Lorente said the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism partners with the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma to provide resources to student journalists who cover sensitive topics.
Featured Image: The outside of Knight Hall, which houses the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Photo by Kendrick Brown.