Each year, seniors who are a part of the Blue Ridge Virtual Governor’s School participate in the Capstone Project. These students present projects on an important issue of their choice through an internship, community service activity and research paper. 

  LCHS senior, Emily Eppard, is a BRVGS student who is currently interning with The Central Virginian to tackle the key issues of media bias and misinformation in the news.        

  “There are many concerns that the news people are consuming is either biased or entirely fake,” Eppard said. 

  “I believe it is crucial that people, especially voters, be educated about issues and events,” stated Eppard.

  With the internet, people are allowed to share any information they want regardless of a reliable source. “People trust the information they read on the internet blindly, even when they should do more to verify the reliability of a source,” Eppard said.

  Eppard’s mentor, David Holtzman, is the editor of The Central Virginian with whom she accompanies to events. 

  Mr. Holtzman has taught her “the importance of getting people’s input, but still reporting the facts,” Eppard said. The Central Virginian is an information source for Louisa voters; this is why Holtzman and Eppard focused on the actions of both candidates in order to fairly display their actions. 

  Not only has Eppard researched top candidates such as Abigail Spanberger and Nick Frietas in order to prepare interview questions, but she has also been able to help write an article for the newspaper. Along with that, she has sat in on an interview between Holtzman and Spanberger, and has been able to edit pages before they’re published.

Her internship with The Central Virginian has given Eppard an insight on bias in the media and a hands-on experience with journalism.