UC's first student news broadcast goes live
UC journalism students get real-world experience through on campus news studio
For the first time, University of Cincinnati students are stretching their skills in a broadcasting studio offered through the journalism department in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Fifteen students write, produce, edit and anchor the productions under the direction of journalism Professor Brian Calfano.
Student journalist Rowan Hetzer anchors newscast. Credit/Hannah White
UC’s media bureau course recently set up the UC Student News Network broadcast as an opportunity for journalism students to gain experience in their chosen track and in the most practical portions of the field. In addition, student journalists gain experience with editing software and working in teams with tight deadlines.
“What we’re doing is this lean, mean approach to video-based journalism that uses the most important tools and the most important types of workflow that the students are going to have to know if they’re going to go and do this work, and that means a focus on the kinds of roles they are most likely to encounter: A reporter, the producer and an anchor,” Calfano said.
Student journalist Preston Baker leads studio production. Photo/Hannah White
Many of the students working on the broadcast, including Preston Baker, are from Calfano’s media bureau course.
"It was part of an independent study I did last semester, so in the fall, that was pretty much just setting up everything you see in here," Baker said, gesturing to the cameras beside him and the anchors’ desk in front of him.
Set up much like a photography studio, the room contains a large desk and white screens to allow for editing software to insert the backdrop of a story.
Baker, director of news operations for the broadcast, does all the editing and studio filming for the show. He does most of his work on campus in a small room in Clifton Court Hall.
"For the show itself, the anchor is in here, but for a lot of the stories they’re out wherever the people are that they’re talking to, Baker said. "I have to go out and take cameras and film people every once in a while, but the important stuff that I do is in here."
Despite being a newscast partially filmed on campus, the broadcast covers not only campus news but also community and nationwide events.
Real-world experience
"We want this to be looked at as a legitimate news operation, not a student-run or a student-based or a UC-specific news outlet that focuses on the campus," Calfano said.
Bella Livingston works on a newscast. Photo/Hannah White
Bella Livingston, another student from the media bureau course, is a reporter and anchor for the broadcast. She believes it is great preparation for the future.
“The future of journalism right now is MMJ — being a multimedia journalist — so you do everything on your own. You’re shooting, you’re editing, you’re writing the script,” Livingston said.
“It’s not just you bring a producer along, you bring a photographer along anymore. It’s everyone doing everything. So, being able to be in that position and edit and shoot and see how these very expensive pieces of equipment work is extremely beneficial for everyone because now we’re not going into a job completely blindsided.”
She has learned a lot from UC’s journalism department, but the journalism experience is not the same everywhere.
“We have learned how to utilize our resources and start from scratch and create something that’s amazing,” she said. “I have friends that are in journalism departments at other universities. I’m not saying that those universities are bad, but they’re not teaching them as much as this department is.”
Calfano agreed, adding that in some ways UC’s journalism program can be better than most.
Focus on professional futures
Technology behind the making of the newscast. Photo/Hannah White
“We really want to keep our focus on the meat and potatoes of what the students must be able to do and what the industry wants them to do when they first start out," Calfano said. "It’s how we’re different from a lot of places that have this fully fledged student station.”
To make sure the broadcasts fit into the busy schedules it caters to, the broadcast will be broken up into five-to-eight-minute chunks, two or three times a week.
Upcoming episodes will focus on supermarkets that are outlawing plastic bags, experiences with telehealth, preventing car break-ins, police community relations, the Brent Spence Bridge infrastructure and its eventual replacement, the trauma Navy SEALls face in the line of duty and more.
The broadcast will be on channels 802, 803, 804 and 860 through Fioptics cable and 4, 8, 15, and 24 through Spectrum as well as online.
Featured image at top: Brooke Burkhardt, featured anchor on the newscast. Photo/Hannah White
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