Through study and hands-on practice, students in the Broadcast Journalism Concentration are trained in the fundamental principles, techniques, and craft of contemporary journalism through a combination of lecture, demonstration, in-class, hands-on production, and project-based work. The first half of the concentration provides a foundation in journalistic skills in this digital age, and students learn to research, produce, shoot, write, report, narrate, and edit news projects suitable for broadcast and the internet. Each student produces a series of pre-recorded news projects, shot both single and multi-camera and edited on Avid Media Composer. In the second half of the concentration, students apply what they have learned to NYFA News, our own biweekly news magazine. Students learn the process of show production and gain studio experience as they rotate positions that include anchor, reporter, writer, producer and director.
Projects include the VO (voice-over) in which students use video and natural sound to help tell a story, the News Package, through which each student introduces a newsworthy idea, initially as a 'story pitch, and then shoots their own footage, conducts interviews, writes, edits and narrates. Students also learn how to do 'stand-ups and develop graphic elements for the story, including (but not limited to) lower-third ID's and story locators. In the Interview Profile project, students learn to identify good interview subjects, appropriate locations and work on the skills and techniques of asking questions that elicit news, a relevant story and/or important information. The Long-form Story project focuses on the development and production of a report that runs six minutes or longer and is more complex than the standard news package, introducing multiple characters through the use of classic narrative storytelling.