The University Station Alliance, with the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News and Current, hosted this webinar May 2, 2024. The webinar was moderated by Peter Dominowski of U:SA and Scott Finn of CCN. You can find the entire video and transcript at this link.
Panelists were Jenna Dooley, news director at Northern Public Radio at Northern Illinois University, Chelsea Naughton, digital engagement manager at America Amplified, and Katelynn McIlwain, managing editor at KBIA-FM at the University of Missouri.
The panelists shared their experiences and insights on the benefits and challenges of involving students in election coverage. Topics included engaging the community in election coverage, funding internships, media literacy, safe reporting, and how to mentor students in journalism programs.
Here are resources that were mentioned during the webinar that your station may find useful:
Jenna Dooley has created a handbook for interns – you can find that here.
https://www.northernpublicradio.org/public-radio-101
KUOW also has an amazing guide for working with students:
https://rjionline.org/news/introducing-the-youth-media-starter-guide/
KBIA and Northern Public Radio are focusing on audience engagement in its election coverage – see what that looks like here:
https://www.kbia.org/tags/america-amplified
And here as well:
https://www.northernpublicradio.org/illinois/2024-03-07/what-we-learned-during-our-voter-listening-events
Tons of great resources on engagement journalism on America Amplified’s website:
https://www.americaamplified.org/
Current’s story on AA here:
Christine Zirneklis of PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs shared these resources:
- Student Reporting Labs: election toolkit for student reporting
https://www.story-maker.org/library/2024-election-tool-kit/ - Helpful election safety resources from Election SOS
https://electionsos.com/ - SRL election coverage with students that will be available for resharing or connecting with student reporters:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1cdPlIHnOFlbU3hDm45VLS-IAqljB8qdgEynxEQbLc-8/edit?usp=sharing
NAMLE has resources for teaching media literacy:
National Association for Media Literacy Education (namle.org)
In Grand Rapids – great example of university station local funding for high school student journalism:
https://www.wgvu.org/education-kids/gvsrl/
RELATED ARTICLES IN CURRENT
Current has extensive resources in its story archive – check out these links below:
There are 19 public media and nonprofit news organizations’ innovative elections project worth checking out in Current’s Local that Works dates (in front of the paywall!) Many can be “scaled” down. Steal these ideas!
PREVIOUS WEBINARS IN THE U:SA/CCN SERIES
Hosted by: Peter Dominowski / U:SA and Scott Finn / Center for Community News
March 7: Developing Public Media/University Partnerships
Guests: Tanya Ott, Mercer University, and Brian Duggan, KUNR, Reno
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12xlRlZdp2HIOVpBx1Zpvd6gxe6IVyBe-/view?usp=sharing
April 4: How We Did It: a Deep Dive into How One Public Media Station Grew its Relationship with One University
Guest: Professor Christopher Evans, Howard University