The Brief

Pregnant in high school, 14-year-old first-year high school student Giselle Meza said she feared she’d be judged by her peers. She was one of only two pregnant teens at her school and felt isolated. She missed a lot of classes, falling behind.

Statistically, Meza has about a 50% chance of dropping out of school altogether. She hasn’t; instead, she withdrew from Hanford High to participate in Helping Our Parenting Students Excel at Kings Valley Academy, a Learn4Life campus — a network of dozens of public charter high schools across the state and nation.

The HOPE program and Learn4Life structure empowered her to walk onto the campus without feeling alone. The program provided her with peer support from other pregnant and teen parents, a personalized learning plan, and the ability to bring her daughter to school.

In a designated HOPE room at Kings Valley Academy, shelves stocked with children’s books line the walls. Educational toys, playpens and swings cover the floor.

The room is a home away from home, where Meza could nurse, tend to or play with her daughter, Desirae, while continuing her high school education and gaining skills to better herself.

Teen parents have thrived in that environment, including Nevaeh D. who earned a full scholarship to UCLA after graduating from Learn4Life. “While I did my lessons, she was sleeping or playing alongside me,” Nevaeh said in an April media release announcing her graduation from Learn4Life. For student privacy, the school did not disclose Nevaeh’s last name.

“So many of them think they’re the only ones in this position,” HOPE founder Staci Roth said. HOPE, however, creates an environment where pregnant and parenting teens feel seen, safe and supported, Roth told EdSource.

After more than a year in the program, Meza, now 16, no longer feels isolated, and is comforted by “being surrounded by people going through the same thing.”

“We take away the shame and the stigma,” said Christianna Percell, assistant principal at Kings Valley Academy.

How HOPE started

Seven years ago in 2016, while working at Learn4Life Panorama City in Los Angeles, Roth noticed that pregnant and teen parents struggled to attend class. She started a group with teen moms to learn what obstacles were preventing them from coming to and staying in school.

Schools needed to do more to support them, she said. She designated one classroom for the group of teen parents and brought in swings and bouncers, diapers and wipes.

“Just made it their safe space,” she said.

By 2018, HOPE had grown from eight to 63 students in the Learn4Life schools, as word spread that parenting students could bring their kids to campus.

At varying levels, HOPE is now a part of 48 Learn4Life centers in California. Some schools only provide baby supplies and access to support groups, while larger schools have separate classrooms for its HOPE students, which, to Roth, has been the best way to achieve the organization’s goal of creating a safe space for parenting students to feel supported.

Learn4Life’s Hanford location adopted the program three years ago with about a dozen parenting teens. Today, the program serves almost 60 teen parents, said Lindsey Hoskins, the supervising teacher who oversees the HOPE program in Hanford.

“I was a teen parent,” Hoskins said. “There was no place I could take my baby.” She said she remembers having the choice of dropping off her child while she was at school or staying home to nurse the baby.

As a result of HOPE, Hoskins said student parents aren’t dropping out like they were before the program’s implementation.

Being supported

The HOPE program allows students with children to bring their kids to school, so they can work toward a high school diploma at their own pace while receiving mentorship, supplies and peer support. Students have access to essentials such as diapers, car seats, strollers, cribs, clothes and toys, so the teens don’t feel pressured to work as much or to spend their earnings on baby supplies.

Instead, the student parents can focus on their education and their children, Roth said.

The program provides resources by connecting the teens to community partners, providing transportation when needed or simply offering encouragement.

“We may be providing diapers and formula now while they’re at school,” Roth said, “but at the same time, connecting them to where they can get that in the future if they need it.”

The peer support ensures the parenting teens don’t feel alone and allows them to learn from each other, Roth said.

In the HOPE room, parenting teens often step in and help with a crying baby that has colic, Roth said. Or during a support group meeting, they’ll bounce ideas off of one another to treat a rash. “They’re their best teachers to each other.”

Teen parent Nevaeh earned a scholarship to UCLA after graduating from Learn4Life, which allowed her to continue her studies while bringing her daughter to the Hanford campus.

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Students also learn life skills, such as financial planning, lessons about child development, health and nutrition, as well as job readiness and career skills.

Over time, HOPE programs have added elective classes to teach parenting skills; Roth said students can learn to be better parents while gaining needed credits to graduate.

Created based on student input, skills classes range from preparing for childbirth and breastfeeding to building healthy relationships and co-parenting. Hoskins said students can pick a topic that’s specific to their life or situation. Some of Hoskins’ students have completed classes for potty training and teething — which has allowed them to gain confidence and address the challenges they currently face as a parents.

“They feel so empowered to take care of their little ones,” Roth said.

According to a 2010 study of women in their early 20s, 53% of women who became moms as teenagers graduated with a high school diploma, in contrast to 90% of women who did not become teen parents.

Such statistics, Roth said, were the driving force behind HOPE’s goals: teaching teens how to parent and to support their family while encouraging and equipping them to go to college or find a career after high school.

Students supported by the HOPE program graduate at a 6% higher rate, according to Learn4Life and HOPE statistics.

Addressing the whole child

Several parenting students said they joined HOPE because they no longer felt comfortable at their traditional schools after becoming pregnant, the Learn4Life staff said.

“We’ve heard the stories from our students (about) how they felt at their school when they found out they were pregnant,” Roth said.

To break that cycle, HOPE staff builds supportive relationships, Roth said.

“We say we’re going to be here, and we are here,” she said. “We say we’re going to support them, and we do support them. It’s life-changing for them to have someone who asks about their day (and) to call your teacher in emergencies.”

HOPE students can be teen mothers or fathers as well as students who help care for their siblings. Kristen Cooper, 17, nearing the completion of her sophomore year, brings her one-year-old brother to the program while her parents work. She said she gained trusting relationships with adults because of the program.

The HOPE and the Learn4Life school model allows staff to build lasting, meaningful relationships with students by addressing all their needs.

The school’s model focuses on one-on-one instruction, flexible scheduling and personalized learning, said Ann Abajian, a spokesperson for Learn4Life. Students, including those in HOPE, have the option to work virtually or spend minimal hours at school.

A “team of teachers” manages students’ action plans and goals as they get “layers of support” through tutoring; one-on-one, small group and traditional class instruction; three school counselors and an onsite therapist; resiliency programs, such as yoga, meditation and classes that teach organizational skills and coping mechanisms; and an alumni support group.

That support helps students navigate their challenges, including not being able to attend a traditional school because they’re dealing with social-emotional trauma, working every day, helping care for a sibling or raising a child.

Staff members are trained to be trauma-resilient education professionals who provide tools to build the resilience to face their past, present and future, said Roth, who is also the school’s coordinator of trauma-resilient education.

Students who take part in the HOPE program, Roth said, come to the Hanford campus for one-on-one instruction with their teachers. The difference for HOPE students is the designated space to bring their children.

Meza, the student who joined HOPE to avoid judgment at her traditional school, spends a lot of time on campus because she feels more comfortable there than in her own home, she said. There’s more room for her one-year-old daughter to play, and she gets the help she needs from staff.

“I’ve been doing better than ever, honestly,” Meza said about now being nearly finished with her first year of high school.

HOPE is ‘different’ from other youth parenting programs

Schools in California have operated youth parenting programs for decades. Currently, programs are under the umbrella of Cal-Learn, a state program designed to encourage pregnant and parenting teens to graduate from high school or gain the equivalent, become independent and form healthy families.

Sixty percent of teenage parents who are currently receiving welfare will depend on government aid for 10 or more years, according to research noted in the legislation that established Cal-Learn to address the “unique educational, vocational, training, health, and other social service needs” of teen parents.

The Youth Parent Program in Clovis Unified, for example, serves parenting teens who are trying to graduate.

With a 91% graduation rate, the parenting program supports students on their journey to finishing high school and helps them gain basic parenting skills, district spokesperson Kelly Avants said.

The program is meant to “come alongside” students who are teen parents, ensuring they have access to transportation, nursing, counseling, academic support, encouragement to “stay in school, pass their classes and ultimately graduate,” and the skills to “parent well,” Avants said.

Through the program, teen parents can learn areas such as basic infant CPR, lessons on childhood development and ways to be engaged parents.

But HOPE is different, Hoskins said, because it’s on Learn4Life campuses, where educators can give students what they need with specific programming, such as personalized learning and the elective classes picked by students.

“We meet them where they are,” Hoskins said.

‘Impacting generations’

The percentage of teen parents who do not finish school contributes to high incidences of their own children not graduating.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the children of teenage mothers are more likely to drop out of high school, give birth as a teenager and face unemployment as a young adult, among other findings.

“(Teen pregnancy) has such a generational impact,” Roth said. “This population has its own obstacles and trauma that go along with (being a teen parent).”

Acknowledging those “high statistics,” Roth and Hoskins said the aspects of the HOPE program — bringing kids to campus, graduating from high school, gaining life and parenting skills and learning about careers — are “impacting generations.”

“I would be struggling still,” 18-year-old Mayra Hernandez said in hindsight. Her mom, also a teenage mother, didn’t graduate from high school. Hernandez, considered an 11th grader, said she is better able to manage her time as a mother and student because of HOPE’s and Learn4Life’s model. She is dual enrolled in high school and the West Hills Community College District and works two jobs to pay her bills.

She considers herself on track to graduate and pursue a career. Hernandez gained nearly 60 credits in just a month at Learn4Life, has completed a semester of college through dual enrollment and plans to either become a traveling nurse, ultrasound technician or a medical professional in the Navy.

Hernandez said it will be “inspiring” for her son to see her graduate.

Meza said she once viewed the military as her only option after graduation, but now after high school, her goal is to become an ultrasound technician — all because HOPE expanded what she viewed as her choices.

“A lot of our students will tell you, ‘I would not graduate high school if it wasn’t for Learn4Life and the HOPE program,’” Hoskins said. “Things that are deemed not possible are happening.”

A normally sleepy school board race in northeast Long Beach has gotten an unexpected injection of partisan politics and campaign spending this year.

For 14 years, incumbent Long Beach Unified Trustee Diana Craighead has easily held onto the District 5 seat. First appointed to the board in 2012 to fill an empty spot, she has often won re-election without facing a challenger. This year, though, it’s a three-way race among Craighead, grassroots organizer Sara Pol-Lim and charter school teacher Maureen Flaherty. Flaherty’s presence in particular, and her association with a national conservative group Moms for Liberty, has raised the stakes and spurred powerful players in Long Beach education to try to influence the outcome.

Flaherty has advocated for vaccine choice rather than mandates, barring trans girls from girls’ sports and curriculum that “educate[s], not indoctrinate[s].” She also wants parents to have more control over the types of books students have access to in school.

She has collected endorsements from a litany of conservative politicians, including gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco, the current sheriff of Riverside County. Her ties with Moms for Liberty, an organization that has advocated for book censorship and against curriculum on critical race theory and LGBTQ rights, have spurred LBUSD teachers to organize against her.

The Teachers Association of Long Beach, the union that represents thousands of certificated employees in the district, has thrown its weight behind Craighead — some members motivated less by Craighead’s platform than by fear of a win for Flaherty.

Chris Callopy, executive director of TALB, lived and taught in Orange Unified in the 1990s and 2000s when voters elected and later recalled conservative school board candidates, what Callopy called “precursors to the current MAGA and Moms for Liberty movements.”

At a union meeting last month, Callopy warned his membership that a similar school board takeover in Long Beach could threaten their civil rights and protections as teachers — especially for members of the LGBTQ community. “This is crisis mode,” Callopy said, “Pay attention and get involved.”

In response, TALB has endorsed Craighead and so far used about $45,000 in political action committee funding to support her campaign — including through mailers, opposition research, door-knocking and even an attack ad against Flaherty that claims she is “Too MAGA for school board” and “Wrong for our kids.”

Flaherty said TALB is misrepresenting her priorities.

“They’re attacking me without knowing my real positions,” she said, adding, “I’m not one thing. I have multiple beliefs.” She clarified that she wants all students to thrive and feel they belong in school and that she voted for gay rights in the past.

She’s been critical of teachers unions, saying they protect lazy educators. Flaherty said TALB’s campaign against her shows they’re afraid she has a real shot, even with Long Beach’s Democrat-heavy electorate. “They’re obviously worried that I have a chance of winning or they wouldn’t be doing that,” she said.

Craighead and her other challenger, Sara Pol-Lim, espouse more liberal political ideologies.

Craighead has championed a model of governance that aims to boost student performance and close equity gaps — focusing on the performance of Black students in particular. Though outcomes have lagged, Craighead has vowed to “stay the course” in the hopes that more significant improvements are on the horizon. She supports, and voted for, the district’s equity policy and inclusion of the district’s immigrant community.

Pol-Lim, who arrived in California as a Cambodian refugee in 1983, said she jumped into the race relatively late for pragmatic reasons. She decided she couldn’t “afford to just be a bystander anymore” when she learned about the district’s $70 million deficit and declining enrollment. She has advocated for a proactive approach to balancing the district’s budget by seeking alternative funding sources. And she says promoting student and teacher belonging could be keys to boosting both retention and outcomes, she said.

Pol-Lim has raised more than $19,000 for her campaign, primarily small monetary donations from individuals and organizations across the city, she said, as well as a loan to herself and about $3,000 in in-kind donations. Flaherty has raised less than $2,000 in total. And Craighead’s campaign has amassed more than $50,000, mostly in donations and in-kind support from TALB as well as some direct donations. She’s also accumulated endorsements from Long Beach’s largely liberal political establishment, including Mayor Rex Richardson, Rep. Robert Garcia, State Sen. Lena Gonzalez and Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard on Wednesday said safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be provided, under unspecified procedures, after President Trump paused a U.S. military effort to guide merchant vessels through the strategic waterway.

"With the end of the aggressors' threats and in light of new procedures, safe and sustainable transit through the strait will be facilitated," the Revolutionary Guard's navy command said in an online statement. It did not give details about the new terms.

The Strait of Hormuz — an important passageway for oil, fertilizer and other goods — has been effectively closed since the U.S. and Israel launched their attack on Iran on Feb. 28, disrupting global energy supplies and pushing up fuel prices. Iran has attacked commercial ships that want to transit the strait without its approval. The U.S. has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports since mid-April.

Moments after the Iranian statement, President Trump wrote online that the war would end once an agreement was reached with Iran, but he warned that U.S. bombing would resume if not.

"Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran," Trump said. "If they don't agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before."

Iran has confirmed receiving a U.S. proposal and said it is under review.

"The American plan and proposal is still being reviewed by Iran, and after summing up its points of view, Iran will convey its views to the Pakistani side," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei told Iran's state ISNA news agency on Wednesday, referring to mediating country Pakistan that has relayed messages and hosted talks between Iran and the U.S. NPR has not confirmed the details of the proposal.

This is a developing story that will be updated.
Copyright 2026 NPR

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Ted Turner — the bullish founder of CNN and a suite of other cable channels, not to mention a bison steakhouse, a non profit designed to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and an international sports competition — died Wednesday at the age of 87. He had announced just before his 80th birthday that he had Lewy Body Dementia, a degenerative disease that causes dementia and muscle failure.

Turner never seemed at a loss for brass or chutzpah.

"If Alexander the Great could conquer the known world, why couldn't I start CNN?" Turner once told Oprah Winfrey.

He launched the Cable News Network — the nation's first continuous all-news television station — on June 1, 1980, at a converted Jewish country club in Atlanta. The network broadcast news 24/7 from that point on and indeed built a global array of bureaus.

Former CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan says Turner took inspiration from 24-hour radio stations that relayed news headlines, and endless sports highlights on ESPN. Turner remained baffled why the broadcast giants — ABC, NBC and CBS — hadn't launched cable stations.

"To him it was just the most logical thing in the world and he couldn't understand why nobody else was doing it," Jordan says. "So he was going to do it."

Sixteen years later, NBC (in partnership with Microsoft) and Fox would launch sibling cable news channels. Each ultimately found success by embracing strong (though opposing) points of view. Broadcast networks subsequently sought to replicate the original cable ethos with stripped down streaming services.

Turner, a colorful figure with a Southern drawl and rail-thin mustache, had pronounced views himself, often (though not exclusively) of a liberal bent. But he wanted his station to reflect the news, not ideology. He thought human understanding across borders would benefit from reporting on stories and people around the world.

"He was a visionary, a trailblazer, a rabble-rouser, a do-gooder — and he thought there would be a market for it," Jordan says.

Ted Turner sits in his office in October 1986. "He was a visionary, a trailblazer, a rabble-rouser, a do-gooder," says former CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan.

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Turner often carried a mischievous twinkle in his eye. And his values had been incubated in an earlier era.

Jordan joined CNN in 1982 while he was still in college, working overnights as a desk assistant during his first few years. Back then, Turner often slept in a pull-down Murphy bed in his office above the newsroom. He would come down to the newsroom to grab coffee, Jordan recalls, but did not usually interact with the staff. The first time they met, Jordan says, was because Turner had a guest.

"It was Raquel Welch," Jordan says. "They were both in bathrobes. And Ted was so proud of himself for having such good company that he introduced himself and Raquel Welch to everyone in the newsroom at 4 o'clock in the morning."

"Chicken Noodle News"

CNN has been a mainstay of television journalism for so long it's hard to remember that it was often underestimated in its infancy.

In the 1980s, many people didn't understand what the fuss was about, longtime broadcast journalist Joie Chen recalls.

"Many people didn't even have cable yet. I didn't have cable growing up," says Chen, who joined CNN as an international anchor in 1991. "In those early years, you know, CNN was just considered 'Chicken Noodle News' and Ted Turner was at first just considered a dilettante."

CNN became a training ground for journalists who would be hired by better paying outlets. Chen left CNN in 2001, later working at CBS and Al Jazeera.

"Look, we were young and at times very shoddy, but we were the only game in town and we did some extraordinary things," Jordan says.

Over time, whenever news was happening, CNN was there. CNN broadcasted live when catastrophe struck the space shuttle Challenger and its crew in 1986.

And in 1991, CNN experienced a defining moment — effectively owning television coverage of the first U.S.-led war against Iraq. It was the only U.S. network able to broadcast live from Baghdad as bright flashes from bombs lit the sky.

Anchor Bernard Shaw and Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Peter Arnett were among those CNN journalists who projected calm under fire.

Chen recalls Turner never intended for his journalists to become famous and, she contends, he underpaid his staff.

"We were always told Ted's mantra was, 'You are not the star; the news is the star," she says. She left CNN at the end of 2001.

Competition grows

Even as he struck an exuberant tone, Turner's mood could swing to depression. He also battled again and again with rival media tycoon Rupert Murdoch – and even threatened to do so with his fists in Las Vegas, as The Guardian recounted.

Murdoch's New York Post in turn questioned Turner's sanity. Meanwhile, Turner maintained a friendly rapport with the late Cuban autocrat Fidel Castro.

Ted Turner and his actress wife, Jane Fonda, at their wedding ceremony in 1991.

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In later years, as CNN competed not just with other cable channels but digital news outlets and social media, it lagged behind its TV peers in ratings. Executives turned over prime time to higher-rated opinion panel discussions featuring ideological clashes.

Conservatives and pro-Trump commentators repeatedly accused the network of listing to the left.

But it retained its journalistic DNA to a significant extent, rising to the moment as its reporting teams covered political developments, natural disasters and armed conflicts. That was part of Turner's legacy too.

Turner married and divorced three times; his third marriage was to Hollywood and fitness star Jane Fonda in 1991.

He also took on lots of debt – and investors – to make ambitious deals at a time when his main rivals, including Murdoch, were launching all-news cable stations. Eventually, it became too much.

In 1996, Turner sold CNN and the rest of his company, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., to Time Warner for about $7.34 billion – a move he deeply regretted. A few years later – in 2000 – Time Warner sold itself to AOL, against Turner's wishes. The AOL deal is considered one of the worst mergers in U.S. corporate history. Turner has called it "one of the biggest disasters that have occurred to our country."

In 2001, his marriage to Fonda — a source of strength – ended. And shortly after that, he was completely out at AOL, separating from the company he'd spent a half-century building.

"I lost Jane. I lost my job here," Turner said in a 2012 interview on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight.

He added, earning laughter from Morgan, "I lost my fortune, most of it, got a billion or two left. You can get by on that if you economize,"

Yet he demonstrated resilience. "You carry on. And I found other things to do."

"Other things to do"

Turner had been finding other things to do for years. He was relentlessly competitive and an accomplished yachtsman — he won the America's Cup sailing competition in 1977.

In the 1970s, Turner bought a television station and made it into the national "superchannel" now known as TBS; He also bought the Atlanta Braves to ensure content for it. The Braves became one of the nation's most popular baseball teams during the generation he owned or ran it; the team appeared repeatedly in the World Series in the 1990s and early aughts.

In 1986, Turner launched the Goodwill Games, an international competition meant to bypass the Cold War fights that had broken out over the Olympics. It lasted until 2001.

Turner hoisted the Commissioner's Trophy after his Atlanta Braves won the 1995 World Series against the Cleveland Indians.

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In 1997, as Turner was being honored by the United Nations, he pledged to donate a billion dollars to it. With that money, he created what's known as The UN Foundation that has helped the international institution endure.

As the years progressed, Turner created the Nuclear Threat Initiative to secure loose nuclear weapons in the former Soviet republics and elsewhere. He also gave widely to conservation and anti-global warming efforts. His philanthropy helped inspire the "Giving Pledge" of Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and other billionaires – and he was one of the first signatories to it.

He also founded Ted's Montana Grill with hopes of making bison a popular alternative to beef. Turner had been raising bison on his many ranches, and saw the restaurant chain as a way to reach customers while saving the species from extinction.

"I was 10 years old when I first read about them," he told Bethesda Magazine in 2015. "I said then I was going to work hard, see if I can make some money, and then I'm going to buy some land and raise bison and see if I can get the herd back away from the door of extinction."

In his final years, the flamboyant showman retreated from the public eye. Ever direct, he publicly acknowledged his affliction with Lewy Body Dementia, or LBD, in 2018. He spent much of his later life out of the public eye, whether in Atlanta or riding horses and fishing at his vast properties in Montana.

Copyright 2026 NPR

LAist reports on local issues for — and with — communities across Southern California, but chances are most readers have never spoken with a journalist before. Your stories and experiences power our reporting, so it’s important that people know what to expect when they speak with a reporter.

That’s what this guide is for.

Below are some tips from our newsroom on what to keep in mind when talking to a journalist.

Remember: You are the expert on your own life

Tell the story you want to tell about yourself.

Be honest. Truthfulness and facts are central to journalistic ethics.

Also know your worth. Reporters come to you for a reason. They may be intimidating because they have a mic or a camera, but you have a perspective they need. Media outlets also want to expand their audiences, and that includes you.

Common questions

How can I get a journalist’s attention?

Contact reporters by social media or send them a personal email — at LAist, contact information is available on our staff page. If you meet a reporter, get their business card. It will usually have a direct phone number to talk with them.

Will all my words be published?

Probably not. Journalists are often working with a limited word count or air time. They will likely use one short sound bite or quote from you. It’s also possible they will not use your interview at all. Reporters and their editors decide what will get published.

Can I see a copy of the story before it's published?

Probably not. It is against journalistic ethics to have sources review a story before it’s published. Imagine if a journalist were to do a piece about government corruption. You wouldn’t want the government agency to review the story and edit it. Editors review stories for accuracy.

When will the story be published?

It depends on the type of story. Some stories are short and may air on the radio or be published online the same day you talk to the reporter. Other times a reporter might work on a story for several weeks or months. It’s OK to follow up with the reporter who talked to you and ask when the story might be done and ask them to let you know where you can read or hear it.

Can I speak with a fact-checker?

You are welcome to ask reporters about their fact-checking process or how they make sure a story is accurate. Not all outlets have fact-checkers. If the story is an investigative story or a long-form or magazine format, designated fact-checkers are more common. At LAist, reporters and editors are responsible for verifying information.

What if I am asked about something that makes me feel uncomfortable?

Your story is your own and during an interview you have full control over what you say to a reporter. Answer questions in any way that makes you feel most comfortable, and you can always decline to answer a question.

What do I do if a reporter asks me about my immigration status?

You don't have to disclose your immigration status to a reporter. If it's directly relevant to the story, a trustworthy reporter will explain that and also tell you how they'd handle the information. You can decline to answer.

• More on how LAist handles this topic

How do I determine if the newsroom I'm speaking with has a specific point of view?

It's a great question and relates directly to media literacy — meaning how well you can spot misinformation, disinformation and bias. The reality is that we all have points of view. Here are some tools to check on where a publication falls across the political spectrum:

• FAIR's (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting), which describes itself as a "progressive media watchdog group" has this media literacy guide.
• PEW Research Center, which describes itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan nonadvocacy organization, has information on sources most popular with different political perspectives
• You should be able to find information on who funds the work on the site (corporations, individual owners, subscribers, members and so on).
• You can also check out this interactive chart tracking media outlets across the political spectrum (note that you may need a paid version to search smaller outlets). Ad Fontes Media, which describes itself as a "public benefit corporation" which they said means they are "a for-profit business with a stated public mission," has been publishing its analysis since 2018.

Is everything I say usable in a story?

You can come to an agreement with reporters ahead of the conversation about how your words can be used:

• “On the record”: This means that everything you say in your conversation with the journalist can be quoted, published and attributed back to you. By default, you should assume any exchange you have with a journalist is on the record unless you mutually agree otherwise. 
• “On background”: This means that you are sharing information with a journalist that can be referenced in a story, but is not directly attributed to you. 
• “Off the record”: This means that you are sharing information that is not for publication. People may share experiences or tips off the record if they want the journalist to be aware of the information but don’t want it mentioned in a story. Remember that “off the record” only counts if both you and the journalist agree to it. 

It's worth noting that different newsrooms may use these terms slightly differently. You should confirm with the reporter that you have as shared understanding of the meaning.

Do I need to pay to be in a news story? Can I get paid?

No and no. You will not pay or get paid to be in a news story because this is against journalistic ethics. Anyone who receives payment for a story could be swayed to bend the truth.

What if the reporter gets my story wrong?

If you feel that the reporter misrepresented your story, you can ask for a correction or an update to clarify a point. Reporters want to get the story right and they don't want to incorrect or misleading information to go unchecked. That said, corrections deal with information that is factually incorrect, so you should be ready to explain what was wrong and why. Under California law, you have 20 days to demand a correction and the publisher has to respond within a set period of time.

• More on California civil defamation claims and the definition of defamation.

How can I prepare for an interview?

Think about the main points you want to get across in your interview. What are the most critical things for the reporter to know? Some people like to organize their thoughts into three major points. If you are not used to telling your story, you may want to have a friend ask you some questions to practice. Depending on the story, a reporter may also ask if you have any pictures to share that they can use to help tell the story.

Get involved with LAist

Ask LAist reporters questions

You can reach out to LAist reporters through the contact information listed on their bios. All our editorial staff, including the teams reporting, editing and producing news, are listed here.

How else you can be a part of LAist's reporting

Aside from contacting journalists directly, you can share your story with LAist through short surveys and meeting us in person. Learn more here.

This guide was originally written by former LAist early childhood producer Stefanie Ritoper, with contributions from Mariana Dale. Cato Hernández and David Rodriguez also contributed to this guide.