"just say no" to three point lighting - Library - Mount Saint Mary College

Broadcast Journalism
From left to right: Torie Wells, Matt Gelb, Sabina
Kuriakose, and Meghan Lisson. All five of the
Syracuse Bureau staffers traveled to Rome to
help with the production of the “Rome Stop” of
the 2008 GMA Whistle Stop Tour.”
evergreens that don’t come with a strict deadline attached to
them, the students do occasionally find themselves caught in
the whirlwind of a breaking national news story. The bureau
at Newhouse provided assistance to ABC News during a plane
crash in nearby Buffalo, and a deadly shooting rampage in
Binghamton. “It’s getting used to moving and working quickly,
as we would in a real newsroom,” Wells adds.
“We’ve stopped calling them student journalists,” a news
director of the ABC affiliate in Phoenix says, “they’re simply
journalists. They may not be totally polished, but we’ve only
had good feedback about their work.” The Cronkite School
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supplies a daily regional news feed, aptly called the Cronkite
News Service, and the ABC News On Campus journalists
regularly post their work on it. When the news director chooses
one of their stories and places it in a show rundown, it will be
viewed in the twelfth largest television market in the country.
In addition, the five participating bureaus place the bulk of
their stories on the ABC News On Campus web site. And at
times, the students see their video reach the lofty heights of
the network’s flagship news programs like Nightline, Good
Morning America, and World News Tonight. “I’m watching
my video on ABC News London,” Emily Graham says with a
touch of awe in her voice. “I never imagined I’d be working for a
network while still going to college.”
The On Campus program is approaching its first
anniversary, and there have been some pleasant surprises
along the way. “Sometimes we’re the instructors, telling the
student journalists how to do it better,” John Green recounts,
“and at other times we learn about content. We might think
we know what twenty-five-year-olds want to see, but we don’t
really. It’s an interesting hybrid.”
Sabina Kuriakose and Matt Gelb in
Rome, NY, helping to get MOS sound
for GMA and the Whistle Stop Tour.
From left to right: Meghan Lisson, Sabina Kuriakose,
Jason Tarr, Torie Wells, and Matt Gelb. It is a photo of all
bureau staffers sitting in our bureau office on the Syracuse
University campus.
So while the producers and editors at the network file the
rough edges and provide a layer of nuance to the skills of their
prodigies, the unbridled enthusiasm and lack of bureaucratic
cynicism expressed by the students can be refreshing. “I think
they’re also learning from us,” Graham states enthusiastically.
“We have newer and younger ideas, and we’re not afraid to take
a risk in our story pitches.” Her mentor, Susan Green, concurs,
“I think the folks at ABC News figured out it’s a blast working
with students. It serves as a reaffirmation and re-energizes the
career journalist, as well, so it works both ways.”
And in stark contrast to our times, the future looks very
promising. The program will expand to a sixth campus in the
fall, with the potential for further additions in the future. “In
these economic times, it would be so easy to cut a program like
this, but David Westin hasn’t,” Green relates. “He’s pleased
with the message and I like that. We’re investing in the future
of the students.
Carl Filoreto is an award-winning DP, and his company
is Elk Run Productions, Inc. (www.elkruntv.com), which has
a roster of clients that spans corporations, production houses,
crewing agencies, and broadcast and cable networks, including
Dateline NBC, The Food Network, and The Travel Channel.
Prior to starting his business, Carl won seven regional Emmy
awards, numerous national and regional National Press
Photographers awards, and multiple awards from Colorado Ski
Country and the National Snowsports Journalists Association,
while working at KMGH-TV in Denver, WTNH in New Haven,
and WGGB in Springfield, Massachusetts.
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