This summer marked the second time that I have returned to a newsroom since leaving in 2009 to finish my graduate degree and begin teaching. Of course, back in 2009, the Kentucky newspaper newsroom in which I worked had not yet figured out how to use social media in reporting, and our multimedia efforts could be classified as meager at best. Now in 2017, every newsroom on every platform uses both social media and multimedia.

In 2014, I joined five other journalism educators from across the country who were selected as visiting professors in social media through AEJMC and Scripps Howard. I spent two weeks with the staff of the TCPalm.com and its three newspapers on the Atlantic coast of Florida and practiced how to use social media in reporting and writing. That program allowed a journalist from TCPalm.com to come to my campus in Kentucky and show our students the social and digital media skills they needed.

This summer, I completed a three-week internship at WTVF-NewsChannel 5 Network in Nashville, Tennessee through the National Association of Television Production Executives program. The NATPE program provides funding for professors to immerse themselves in the television industry for two to four weeks in the summer.

Learn New Skills, Refine Old Ones

For faculty, new technology adds something new that we have to learn every year, or really every minute, to teach our students. Those of us on tenure tracks must also produce research or creative projects in addition to service. These other obligations often leave very little time for professional development.

Most nights after I finished my shift at WTVF-Newschannel 5, I worked through ways that I could incorporate the tasks I did into my lesson plans. These things ranged from the little things, like building a collaborative culture, to major things like turning a one-minute morning show multimedia package on deadline to the continued push for innovation in digital and social media.

For instance, the producers started their morning meeting by walking around the table and grooving to music from one of their phones. Those steps not only got in some much-needed exercise, they provided an invigorating atmosphere to get the work day started. I plan to use that technique with my classes, especially those early in the morning, because it created a great culture. Eight years removed from my own newsroom experience, these are the little things that I have forgotten that can help students build a better working environment.

The best part of my experience came from actually getting out there with the reporters, photographers and multimedia journalists. As the professionals shot their packages, I shot alongside them, wrote my own scripts, voiced my own work and then edited it on deadline. Plus, I wrote my own web stories and even shot a Facebook promotional video for another journalist’s story. Reporters and photographers were gracious about sharing their feedback to help me improve my skills and in turn, this feedback can be used to show my students the value of continuing to learn and improve outside the classroom.

Wright and Murray State alumna Amy Watson, morning anchor for NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, look over a script inside the newsroom.

Make Connections

Although programs like AEJMC/Scripps and NATPE provide a structure to place educators back in newsrooms, professors can rely on their own connections or their past experience.

Simon Perez, an associate professor of broadcast and digital journalism at the Newhouse School of Syracuse University, returns every summer to KPIX in San Francisco to report as a multimedia journalist for two weeks.
“I have more credibility in the classroom,” Perez said. “I know students will listen more intently when I start with; ‘Last summer, when I covered …’ The end-of-semester student reviews uniformly show they appreciate having a professor who still does it.”

Perez brought back his scripts, raw videos and airchecks for his packages and then used them in the classroom. By doing this, the students learn with actual news footage rather than something from a website or textbook. Like Perez, I brought back scripts, packages, VO/SOTs, social media videos and social media posts to use in my multimedia classes this fall.

During my time at NewsChannel 5, I learned how to use CrowdTangle, a social media monitoring service, and I’ve developed lessons for my classes as a result. My time spent with the digital and social production teams showed me that students have to understand how to write and report on social media, and they absolutely have to know how to use analytics for content creation strategy.

Empathy for Students

Besides bringing back materials for the classroom, the immersion allows professors to remember the challenges of working in the field. Among the things I encountered: Excessive heat warnings (it’s Nashville in the summer where the humidity turns the air into air you can wear), a lawn that had not seen a mower in weeks that we had to traipse through to get inside an abandoned house, and the logistics of finding a parking spot in a crowded city. These may seem like trivial matters to some, but try to cart your gear in a 106-degree heat index up a hill. I had blocked many of these logistics of reporting from my memory.

“I have a better understanding of the difficulty of what it is I’m asking the students to do,” Perez agreed. “Lugging a camera and tripod around in the snow/heat, being told ‘no’ all day, having interview subjects cancel at the last minute, watching batteries expire at the most inopportune moments, seeing the computer crash during editing – it all happens to me just as it happens to them.

“I’m more empathetic and encouraging, but I remain consistently demanding.”

Perez also said his experiences every summer remind him about the steps an experienced journalist takes for granted such as placing a microphone on an interview subject, and so he demonstrates that skill to students.

To that end, Perez turned his experiences into a blog from which he pulls materials for course readings in his TV reporting class.

Wright set up her own MMJ station inside the newsroom. (Photo: Leigh Landini Wright)

I didn’t keep a blog, but I did shoot a series of interviews and b-roll with reporters, photographers, digital producers, producers, associate producers and anchors. By doing this, I practiced my skills with shooting and editing, and I’ve created class material that should engage students more than a traditional textbook.

No matter whether it’s a national program such as NATPE or AEJMC/Scripps Howard, journalism professors have to remain current with this ever-changing industry. After seeing the value with completing two successful “internships” through national programs, I plan to do my own program like Perez has done. Whether it’s a newspaper, TV or radio newsroom, the experience of gearing up and getting out there provides valuable experience for us and for our students. We haven’t even started the semester yet, and I’m already thinking ahead to next summer and multimedia projects I can produce for a local outlet.

Leigh Landini Wright is an assistant professor of journalism and head of the journalism sequence at Murray State University in Kentucky. Prior to teaching, Wright worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for 16 years in far western Kentucky. Her research focuses on best practices of social and digital media in the newsroom and in the classroom.

The post How Journalism Educators Can Flip the Script with a Professional Summer Internship appeared first on MediaShift.

Podcasting & Audio

“If you do not teach podcasting 101, you need to get there,” said Jason Norris, founder and owner of OntheGo.FM.

Podcasting can find a place in many journalism classrooms without a lot of training for faculty or additional expenses for schools. The tools (recording apps and editing software) are cheap and accessible. Panelists varied on their responses for editing software, but most agreed that the free program Audacity served as a starter before advancing to Adobe Audition. Panelists also varied on their responses for recorders, and many said their students prefer to do most of their audio work on their smart phones.

If you’re not quite to the point of teaching a full podcast, consider adding audio assignments, like the “audio diary.” Kim Fox of the American University of Cairo, Andrew David, a former BBC reporter, and Jennifer Williamson of Virginia State University shared their audio diaries. Each person recorded snippets of “a day in the life” and edited the audio for a short diary. This assignment could allow students to have an easy introduction to audio recording and challenge them to think critically about the natural sounds they need to tell the story. (Fox also recommends “Radio Diaries DIY Handbook,” to get started.

Brian Rackham of Northern Arizona University teaches his students audio production skills, storytelling techniques, writing for the ear and alternative radio production. He realized innovation made up the missing piece, so he used radio and podcasting as an example of how to innovate. “I wanted them to make sure that they knew there was a business here,” Rackham said. “I used radio and podcasting as an example of where we are today. … We will spend a day talking about innovation, podcasting, storytelling and then have a lab day with hands-on exercises.”

Rackham capitalizes on the popularity of podcasts with hands-on assignments. For instance, his students listen to five minutes of a podcast and then discuss or write a critique. From there, he gives them an interview assignment and requires transcription. They then edit their interviews in Adobe Audition and have to write and produce intros and outros. By the end of his class, the students will have produced a podcast, found graphics and written scripts.

“They also get insights on innovation,” Rackham said. “It reinforced the idea that journalists must be able to produce content across all the platforms. Don’t get too married to one piece of software because tomorrow it will change.”

Andrew David interviews Faith Sidlow of Fresno State about her experiences teaching audio during BEA 2017. (Photo: Leigh Landini Wright)

Live Streaming

Live-streaming video dominated the discussion of social media tools, from Periscope to Facebook Live to Instagram Live.

Gina Baleria of San Francisco State sets up a “secret” Facebook account for her class, so they can practice Facebook Live skills without a public audience. Students often had issues with looking at the camera when they did Live selfies, she said, and also found switching from selfie mode to shooting surroundings a challenge.

Good Facebook Live requires good audio, Baleria said. She recommended a $50 microphone and a stabilizer. Students also have to get comfortable with responding to viewers by name and encouraging the audience to like and share the stream.

“Once you start going live on Facebook for real, you can actually format it as MP4s and include it at the end of a resume reel,” she said. “It’s practice, practice, practice. You can’t mess up going live.”

Mobile Journalism

Ask Mike Castellucci of Michigan State University what his go-to video camera is, and you might be surprised. He pulled out his iPhone and showed clips of news stories he shot entirely on his phone for WFAA in Fort Worth, Texas.

The tool is native to students, he said, though they need guidance when it comes to shooting good video, video sequences, and gathering quality audio.

Even though the phone is more than sufficient, Castellucci said his sources at times were “visibly underwhelmed” when he showed up for the story with only his phone. But still, it’s his go-to tool.

“As for the cons, I’m trying to come up with one, and I can’t,” he said.

Google: Still Cool

Mike Reilly with Google News Lab shared several fun things journalism educators can do students. Google Earth Pro can show historical images, which can make for good backgrounds in a broadcast story about a place. Google Earth Timelapse can show 32 years of changes to a location, and it’s easy to embed.

Reilly showed examples from Google Earth about the exterior of the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. He saw several photos tweeted that showed the outside of the club where a mass shooting happened last year, but when he ran the photos through Google Earth, the photos were not of the Orlando club. This tool can be useful for fact checking.

Besides the Google Earth tools, Google Trends can help journalists discover terms that trend on Google. These trends can then be useful in news stories about comparable topics. Google Trends can also help students identify the terms that audiences search for, which could inform story ideas and SEO-friendly headlines.

With a notebook (and laptop) full of ideas and inspiration from BEA, it’s time to begin revamping classes for fall. New tools. New ideas. New energy.

Leigh Landini Wright is an assistant professor of journalism and head of the journalism sequence at Murray State University in Kentucky. Prior to teaching, Wright worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for 16 years in far western Kentucky. Her research focuses on best practices of social media in the newsroom and in the classroom.

The post Big Ideas From BEA 2017 on Podcasting, Live Streaming, Google Tools appeared first on MediaShift.