The popularity of social media has revolutionized the way many of us learn about current events. The ability to read online breaking news stories from around the country and world certainly has changed the way we consume journalism.
Yet, despite lower television news ratings and newspaper sales, local high schools have incorporated into their curriculum programs that teach broadcast and print reporting skills.
“Who knows where the media is going in the future? In this digital day and age, anything can happen,” said Brother P.M. Hannon, a teacher at Monsignor Farrell High School and executive producer of the school’s network, WFBN-TV.
He said Farrell students are gaining valuable skills by producing a live weekly show on the closed-circuit TVs that is broadcasted to the student body during homeroom.
“By preparing kids to handle themselves in front of a camera, they are also learning how to stay poised and handle any situation in life,” Hannon said.
USE OF A NEW STUDIO
Over in Staten Island Technical High School, students are using their new production studio — which took over five years and $1 million dollars to build — to produce educational programming that is aired on Staten Island public access television.
Most of the students who participate in this extracurricular activity at Staten Island Tech admit they have been bitten by the journalism bug and are using the experience as a step toward a career either in front of or behind the camera.
“I’m not really interested in the speaking part of it; I’m more interested in the technical aspect,” said student Nicole Vuono. The 16-year-old is one of a handful of students who manages the high-tech control room and is in charge of directing the cameras in the studio, from behind a glass wall.
“They wouldn’t be able to do their job if we didn’t do ours,” she said.
The high-end studio, the brainchild of longtime Staten Island Tech teacher Frank Mazza, also is used as a way to extend the learning from the classroom.
“We encourage all classes, whether it be math, science or even social studies, to produce a skit based on what the kids learn in the classroom and use the video as a way to reinforce what they learned,” said Mazza.
The educational pieces that are shot in studio also can be uploaded online.
Staten Island Tech Principal Vincent Maniscalco shared another benefit of learning the traditional art of journalism: having an edge over other students come college application time.
“Although students will have to present their college application, their grade point average and their SAT scores, this is just another added-on feature in which students can present themselves to universities and colleges,” he said.
BEING A REPORTER
But not all journalism classes focus on reporting via a broadcast medium. Cadence Turner has taught reporting skills at the Journalism Institute at Curtis High School for over two decades. “When I started here, we didn’t even have a computer,” she said.
As media has changed over the years so has Turner’s curriculum. Today she focuses on how a quick piece of information received via a tweet or Facebook message can be developed into a long-form print story or podcast that offers more details.
“Journalism is about getting information,” said Turner. “Students learn how to get the information with good questions and learn how to solicit the information from people.”
Recognizing that social media is now a leading way people receive their news, she teaches her students how to use social media sites as a journalist.
“Writing a tweet is like writing a headline. Students need to know the fundamentals of journalism and how to write well, even if they are reporting via social media,” she said.
Learning the skills to be a reporter can be beneficial even if a child’s career path does not include being a journalist. Strong writing ability, composure, public speaking skills and building an inquisitive mind add to a student’s assets when applying for college.
Family Fun runs each Tuesday in the Relationships section of the Advance. Sherrina Navani is a freelance writer. She can be reached through the newspaper at email@example.com.