The College of Communication and Information established The Media Center this year to create more opportunities for students to get exceptional hands-on opportunities to learn through experience. That goal is already coming to fruition in The Media Center’s first endeavor, in collaboration with the School of Journalism and Media, to produce coordinated coverage on a news topic, in the form of the Election Project.
“We have all of these amazing outlets housed within the college now and co-located and it’s important to find ways we can increase the power of our reporting,” said Professor Nick Geidner, The Media Center director. “We can get to a point where we’re doing more reporting than most local and regional newsrooms because we have a number of different outlets, we have students in classes, and all these different things we can do to elevate their work.”
From the Classroom to the Public
The Election Project has been ongoing this fall semester and includes a wide array of coverage ranging from The Daily Beacon’s election guide to an ambitious Election Day live show produced by The Volunteer Channel.
Students in classes within the School of Journalism and Media (J&M) have produced work for the Election Project, including print and TV pieces, social media content, and more. Much of it has been civic-minded, including information to help voters understand everything from the basics of voting to covering how University of Tennessee, Knoxville, students are viewing the elections.
“Most young journalists cut their teeth on Election Day, so in many ways, we’re starting that process early. Their professional journey here starts on day one, and the sooner we get students into real coverage, the better,” said J&M Professor and Director Amy Jo Coffey. “Recent examples of our students as active journalists include our USA TODAY Paralympics coverage team and individual student journalists, like Pierce Gentry at WUOT-FM, who has provided critical Hurricane Helene coverage for the region.”
Here’s a round-up of the extensive work done through J&M classes for the Election Project, many of which can be found on the Election Project webpage:
- Social Journalism, taught by Assistant Professor Mustafa Oz, created social media pieces about the election.
- Assistant Professor of Practice Brittany Tarwater’s classes produced several video segments about the election, many of which will be used as part of the Election Day show.
- Professor Rob Heller’s students designed billboards encouraging people to get out and vote.
- Students from Professor Mark Harmon and Professor of Practice Melanie Faizer’s Multimedia Reporting classes created numerous print stories about the election.
Coffey said it’s exciting to offer students these experiences because, as J&M’s slogan states, “Hands-on from day one” is the best way to prepare them for their future careers.
“The more we can integrate our curriculum with the practice of doing journalism, the better off our students will be,” she said. “We think that’s the best way to prepare them for the profession. It’s something employers are looking for, and it’s what gets students hired and sets them apart from others.”
TVC’s Election Day Coverage
Grey Macnicoll, TVC executive producer and a senior majoring in journalism and media, said the TVC team wanted to tackle producing a special this semester so they could get experience planning, producing, and airing something at a larger scale than their typical news segments. Assistant Professor of Practice Brittany Tarwater, who is advisor for TVC, suggested they do the special about the election, on Election Day.
“And we thought that was a great idea. We’ve been covering the election since we started, so we’ve had a backlog of content we were able to pull from, which is probably why we were able to pitch it,” Macnicoll said.
The students and Tarwater immediately got to work creating a schedule that is a mix of pre-recorded segments and live interviews for the special, Voting Matters, that will include: Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon; Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs; Tennessee House Representative Gloria Johnson, who is currently running for a seat in the United States Senate; and Theotis Robinson Jr., the first black undergraduate student to graduate from UT.
The Election Project coverage and TVC’s election news has centered on students as their main audience, covering topics such as absentee voting, what to bring to the polls, and what to expect as a first-time voter.
The special will also include topics of interest to a broader audience, such as an Electoral College explainer, changes in polling places due to Hurricane Helene’s impact, and even a unique piece on the Battle of Athens. They’re interviewing Pierce Gentry, a senior journalism student and part-time reporter for WUOT 91.9 FM, about his experience as a first-time voter. They’ll also interview J&M Professor Amber Roessner, who has expertise in election reporting and provided her perspective with a piece she wrote, Reporting on the 2024 Presidential Campaign with Context.
While Macnicoll is producing the live show, it will be anchored by TVC Managing Editor Kylia Berry and Assistant Editor Gracyn Thatcher. The special will air from the college’s Patricia D. Williams Terrace featuring Neyland Stadium as a backdrop, posing new challenges as TVC has never produced a full special outside its studio. While the production is a challenge, Macnicoll and Berry both said it’s exciting and they’re ready to flex their skills and knowledge.
“We would have not taken such a heavy lift had we not had full confidence they could execute on it. They are so smart and so capable, and this is not student-quality work—this is professional-quality work. That’s the standard they have set all semester, and this will showcase all the work they’ve been doing all year,” Tarwater said.
The Voting Matters airs 10:30-11:30 a.m. Nov. 5 and will be available for viewing via the Election Project webpage.
The Media Center’s Coordinated Coverage
The Election Project was an excellent way for The Media Center outlets to get their feet wet on producing coordinated coverage, and Geidner has been impressed with the students’ output, proving that they’re ready to take on even more.
“It was a good natural opportunity to bring everyone together and start understanding how everyone can work together,” he said. “I think they’re going to be able to put on a good show and this is going to be a proof of concept for bigger projects going forward.”
Now that The Media Center has proven it can handle a large scope of coverage, Geidner is already planning next semester’s topic: the opiate epidemic in East Tennessee. He said his graduate-level reporting course, TVC, and WUOT will all be involved in this new project, and they’ll have the opportunity to dive deeper into the issue than most news outlets can.
“We’re talking about more than a dozen students and professionals reporting on this one topic. I can’t imagine there are many newsrooms in the country that can put that level of people on to a single topic, but because of our funding and setup, we’re able to do this,” he said.
These endeavors aren’t just fluff pieces to give students a chance to do work. The standard has been set for students to produce high-quality journalistic content that will help them seamlessly transition from students to working professionals. Geidner chose a topic that deeply impacts the region and has numerous angles for them to cover, from the current state of opiate use in East Tennessee, to how entities are using payouts from the National Opioids Settlement.
“Not only do we want to do that work, but we want to partner with local media outlets to help fill in news holes,” he said. “I think we’re in an incredibly powerful place. These opportunities show students they can do big things in our community.”