New media

NEWTON -- Among the 15,000 journalists expected to cover the Democratic National Convention this week will be a dozen who are too young to drive themselves to their assignments. Some have not yet hit 5 feet tall, which is why their coverage of General Wesley Clark's bid for the presidency included the tidbit that the reporters "asked these questions with CNN and FOX news cameras using their heads as camera-supporters."

They are staffers from The Daytime, circulation 3,000, an award-winning monthly newspaper published by the Frank Ashley Day Middle School here. When the students applied for press credentials, their principal, Paul Stein, wrote a letter enclosing their school photo identifications instead of the required IDs. "Because they are 12 to 14 years old," Stein wrote, "they do not have other government identifications."

It worked. The paper garnered credentials for 12 students. Eight passes -- five for the perimeter and three for inside the hall, but none for the convention floor -- will be rotated among them. If that seems a lot for a paper so small, consider that these journalists are too young to work solo inside the FleetCenter bowl where the convention will take place. A pair will go in, chaperoned by a teacher. Several other staffers without FleetCenter credentials will cover parties and other convention-related events.

They've made lists of the Democratic members of Congress and the Democratic governors. The youngest, least-experienced students will carry cards with pictures of prominent politicians -- House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, for instance, and Senate minority leader Tom Daschle -- so they'll recognize potential interview subjects when they see them. The older staffers already know what the officials look like.

"We like to think we're on the same level as other media going to the convention. We're going to try to be aggressive about getting interviews," says Rachel Magid, 13, who served as coeditor in chief last year. "For a lot of the candidates it's weird to have a 4-foot-something person interview you, but for us it's pretty regular. Earlier in the year we interviewed the governor. Every time we win an award, Kerry and Kennedy write us letters. We're kind of public figures, I guess, for people our age."

While this is the first national nominating convention the 24-year-old paper is covering, it is, as Magid suggests, hardly its first foray into politics. The lead picture in last September's issue showed Governor Mitt Romney flanked by four students and, in a classic Daytime pose, holding a copy of the paper. "When they got Howard Dean, they handed him a copy of the one with Romney, and he folded it over," says Marjorie Montgomery, a retired social studies teacher and 1989 Massachusetts teacher of the year who's coordinating political coverage.

The Daytime, which publishes every month but July, reports on Newton elections and statewide contests, as well as school news. Every four years, it covers presidential races, from the New Hampshire primary to the general election. This time around, Daytimers snagged interviews with most of the Democratic candidates and covered events where they spoke. Carol Moseley-Braun got them into Rock the Vote. "I have to say we had incredible success," says Michael Elsen-Rooney, 13, last year's other coeditor. "It was quite a rush. It was both invigorating and inspiring and very good for any aspiring journalist."

Mindful of their audience, they always ask what about a candidate would interest middle school students. "Well," Senator Joseph Lieberman told the paper, "I am going to make your future better because I am going to keep you safe."

The Daytime's modus operandi is persistence and connections. Students will call and e-mail campaign headquarters. They're not afraid to push forward in a crowd of reporters and ask questions. If anyone knows somebody, or somebody who knows somebody, they'll use that link. "It's something we take pride in," says Elsen-Rooney.

One student's family, he says, "was friends with good friends of one of Kerry's campaign managers." A Day teacher is friends with a campaign official for vice presidential candidate John Edwards. Elsen-Rooney hopes his cousin's friend, who works for NBC News, can help get him an interview with Tom Brokaw.

Nervous earlier in the year that they might not get the credentials they wanted, they enlisted the help of state auditor Joseph DeNucci, father of five Day graduates and grandfather of three current students. "They were trying to be proactive. They had kids who were planning vacations," says Brian Keefe, a spokesman for DeNucci. "The auditor did what he would do for anybody who called for help."

The Daytimers will not be the only middle school journalists at the convention. Time for Kids is sending two 12-year-old girls. Of the 16 students coming with Y-Press to report on issues of interest to youth for The Boston Globe and other outlets, 10 are age 14 or younger. A handful of school papers will be there, too, though convention officials couldn't say how many are from high schools or middle schools.

The Daytime has ambitious plans for the convention but few interviews nailed down, so, with many students away at camp, Montgomery is working the phones. The students would like to talk to politicians' children. They'd like to interview media bigwigs. Michael Bergan, whose mother used to teach at Day, works with Philip Johnston, chairman of the state's Democratic Party. He's helping The Daytime get access to events. "You should see some of their stories," Bergan says.

The paper, which has a staff of more than 100, covers everything from budget cuts and curriculum controversies to school sports and club news. Save for its newsroom and its adviser's salary, the two-section broadsheet sustains itself on ads that students sell. Stacks of last year's issues are stored beside bookcases filled with "Harry Potter" novels. On the walls are enlarged copies of pictures of Daytime reporters with VIPs.

One shows a sixth-grader named Andrew Holbein interviewing John Kerry in his 1996 campaign for the US Senate against Governor William Weld. Near the end of the race, Kerry's campaign received permission from Holbein's parents to use footage from that interview in a television ad.

Holbein is now 21 years old, 6 feet 3 inches tall, and a student at Wesleyan University, but back then he was more than a foot shorter, asking Kerry why he thought he'd do a better job than Weld. "He was against the minimum wage," Kerry says in the ad while Holbein furiously takes notes in a big spiral notebook. "I fought to raise the minimum wage so in a couple of years, when they pay you for what you're doing, you can earn a decent living." The camera catches Kerry putting his hand on Holbein's shoulder.

"It was my Daytime shining moment," Holbein says. "Most people, when they look back on pictures of themselves in middle school, think they look pretty awkward. I look back on it fondly but slightly flinching -- not flinching, but slightly squeamishly."

This week, ever the teachers, the Daytime chaperones plan to gather discarded campaign placards to post on bulletin boards in upcoming social studies classes. "If you can get them involved in middle school," says Montgomery, "you have them forever." They'll ask someone to do the same at the Republican convention in New York.

"Joe DeNucci has brought us stuff from other conventions. It's literally stuff from the floor. Sometimes it has a footprint on it," Montgomery says. "We always make a trip to New Hampshire just before the primary and collect stuff. When we went to McCain headquarters in 2000, they said, `You're from Newton? You've probably never been in a room with this many Republicans.' "

One Republican they know is Robert Provencher, the paper's senior adviser. He's staying home during the convention. "It belongs to the kids," he says. "If it were the Republican convention I would feel the same way. This is their moment of glory."

Seth Simons, who is 12 and will be a news editor next year, is missing a camp trip to Mount Washington to go to the convention. He's questioned the Pledge of Allegiance in Daytime columns. "We need to be taught how to stand up for ourselves, even to people in positions of power," he wrote.

His parents once drove him to New Hampshire for an Edwards event, but the candidate rushed off before Simons could ask any questions.

"I've learned about the chaos of trying to cover political events, and I'm sure I'll learn more about that," Simons says. "If you raise your hand, they'll notice you because you're a kid. We've been told to barge to the front. I haven't been to anything as chaotic as this. I know I need to get as close to the person as I can so they notice me."