More Rutgers-Newark journalism students get hands-on multimedia experience in new sound studio and newsroom-classroom
'We’ve seen a surge in enrollment since we started offering multimedia reporting, because students realize we get it.’
–Robin Gaby Fisher
Students cluster in a room, tapping notes on iMac keyboards. Enthusiastic, inspired and filling the new newsroom-classroom at Rutgers-Newark in surprisingly large numbers, they talk passionately about their craft: What makes a good narrative? And, how should the story best be told – through words, still photos, video or a combination of the three?
A few steps away, a professional-type sound studio awaits, primed to assist the students as they produce and refine their multimedia creations.
Welcome to today’s state-of-the-art journalism lab, where students not only learn the rule of developing an appealing story – showing and telling – they put it into practice.
Much has changed here since 2011, when David Sloan, an Emmy award–winning executive producer at ABC News, donated $10,000 to the journalism program. Disney, ABC’s parent company, promptly matched that gift and did the same one a year later when Sloan donated another $10,000.
“What motivated me was a simple taking stock of the spectacular things that the campus gave me,” says Sloan, who studied journalism at Rutgers-Newark and graduated in 1976. “Rutgers-Newark changed me. I became the kind of person I wanted to be: outgoing, present, a force in the room.”
In recent years, the convergence of video, audio, imagery and written narrative has become increasingly powerful in the practice of successful journalism, says Snyder, now the director of the American Studies program at Rutgers-Newark. “Consider: Every major newspaper has a substantial internet presence. The goal is to educate our students to function effectively in that world.”
The first $20,000 from Sloan and Disney funded a sound studio where students conduct interviews. The second donation, in 2012, purchased 12 iMacs and Final Cut Pro X video editing software, recommended as “essential to know” by the professional journalists Gaby Fisher queried. “Working experience with Final Cut will give students a one-up on the market – and it’s a tough market,” she says.
They badly needed the extra space. Since 2008, the journalism major has grown from 38 students to 90. “We’ve seen a surge in enrollment since we started offering multimedia reporting, because students realize we ‘get it,’” Gaby Fisher says.
“In the beginning, the students were a little afraid of multimedia,” she continues, “but it’s been incredible to see them gain the confidence to master creating their own three-minute videos and writing the accompanying stories. Once they grasp the creative part of making video – and with these students it’s all about the visual – I believe that they will be able to walk into any newsroom and be an asset.”
And that’s the goal. “It’s a visual world; everything is mobile and is happening in real time,” says Bumper DeJesus, video and multimedia editor for The Star-Ledger, who has served as a guest lecturer in Gaby Fisher’s classes. “In the past, when news organizations covered a story, editors would assign a writer, photographer and videographer. There is no separation of duties anymore; one reporter does all three jobs. But regardless of the medium, storytelling is still storytelling, and journalism programs, like that at Rutgers-Newark, are harnessing that power of combining strong narrative structure with technology.”
The skills taught in the program transcend the field of journalism. “In our current culture, people need multimedia skills in all kinds of businesses,” says Gaby Fisher. “The skills our students are learning are transferrable to corporate entities and nonprofits, to publishing, advertising, public relations and many other industries.”
As a working journalist herself, Gaby Fisher understands that authenticity is the key to teaching journalism, and she recruits professional writers and multimedia specialists as instructors. “It’s especially helpful to study with someone who is in a newsroom now rather than someone who hasn’t had a connection to the industry in some time,” says Kristine Villaneuva, a junior whose career goal is journalism.
Senior Krishna Kashiwala, who admits to being not very tech-savvy when she began her coursework, has learned how shooting news videos allows her to dig deeper into stories – a skill that she says will be helpful after she graduates and pursues a law degree. “Videos give a story more life. It makes a difference when you can see a source’s face and expression, when you have a clearer idea of their tone,” she says. “It gives the sources more authority. And as a reporter, I find that to be very powerful.”