Friday, August 29, 2008
Student media to collaborate on campus news coverage
 This semester, the University of Southern Indiana’s three student media outlets – The Shield student newspaper, 820 The Edge WSWI radio station, and Access USI, the student-produced television news program – plan to share content and converge talents and resources on new radio and television programs, as well as on the Web.The convergence program addresses the multitude of skills today’s communications professionals need. “Our students will need to know about print, audio, and video, and this will give them that opportunity,” said John Morris, instructor of radio/TV and WSWI general manager. Erin Gibson, instructor of journalism and faculty advisor for The Shield, said, “We can’t equip every student with every skill, but we can teach them the flexibility they will need. Print reporters are now armed with video and still cameras. They have to tell stories in a different way. One of the most exciting aspects of the convergence of student media is that the students are going to learn from each other.” The first program is Issues on the Edge, a radio show that fulfills WSWI’s public affairs mission as stated by the FCC. The first episode, a 30-minute interview with USI President H. Ray Hoops, will air at 8 a.m. Sunday, September 7, on WSWI. Hoops, USI’s second president, will retire in June 2009 after a 40-year career in higher education. “It’s an honor to have Dr. Hoops as our first guest,” Morris said. “He truly understands the area of higher education and specifically where USI has come from and where the University is going as it continues to meet the higher education needs of the Tri-state.” Issues on the Edge will air at 8 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month. Each media outlet will post video or audio of the show on its Web site, and The Shield staff will report on the interviews. Impact USI is a new television program devoted to subjects of interest to students in which a roundtable of student media will interview a USI newsmaker or discuss a campus issue. Designed to increase student involvement, the program will air in lieu of Access USI twice a semester. Access USI is broadcast live at 9 p.m. Thursdays on Cable Channel 12. “USI has strong opportunities in mass media for students and we are becoming stronger with these efforts,” said David Black, assistant professor of broadcasting and faculty advisor for Access USI. “This is just the start of what should be a permanent working relationship between our student campus media.” Wendy Knipe Bredhold News and Information Services wkbredhold@usi.edu 812/461-5259 |
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