June 06, 2012
Sixth annual TV News Camp set for June 24-29
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Aspiring broadcast journalists have the opportunity to learn about the profession and hone their skills later this month during the sixth annual TV News Camp at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Slots are still available for the camp, which is open to high school students.
“This is an excellent opportunity for high school students to see what they are interested in for their next step of their lives,” said Gregory Todd, news director for WSIU-TV’s award-winning River Region Evening Edition.
“This gives them a chance to whet their appetite and let them see what goes on in a TV newsroom and how a television newscast is put together,” he said. The College of Mass Communication and Media Arts will host the camp, June 24-29. The program gives students a basic look into television and radio news operations, including field reporting, news writing, shooting and editing video, and then presenting their stories during live-to-tape newscasts.
Media Advisory
Reporters, photographers and camera crews are welcome to cover the students and their camp experiences. For more information and to arrange times, contact Greg Todd at 618-453-5282, or by email at gregtodd@siu.edu.
The registration fee is $110. Registration is available online at dce.siu.edu/index.php/Academic-Camps/TV-News-Camp or by phone at 618/536-7751.
Students learn every facet of a newsgathering operation, including broadcast writing, producing, performance, video journalism, editing and field reporting. Students will cover a real news story, conduct interviews, operate cameras and microphones, and then write the story and edit the video and sound, Todd said.
Todd, along with faculty members Joey Helleny and Eileen Waldron, and Darryl Moses, associate director for video and television services with WSIU Broadcasting Service, will give students hands-on experiences that strengthen their abilities.
The non-profit Illinois Broadcasters Foundation provides funds for both the TV News Camp and the college’s Girls Make Movies camp.
Dennis Lyle, president of the Illinois Broadcasters Association and CEO, said the news camp is integral in introducing young students to broadcast journalism and notes the camp’s success. Many students who attended past camps are now either studying or working in broadcast journalism, he said.
“The face of broadcast journalism is changing daily and with those changes come new challenges for broadcast journalists yet new opportunities for employment,” he said. “Technological advances in the way we as a global society communicate have changed the way today's newsrooms cover and report the news. The SIU News Camp not only gives its students a glimpse at the reality of broadcast journalism today, but opens their eyes to the many options available to them in choosing a broadcasting journalism career.”
The camp experience also has prompted several former participants to enroll in SIU Carbondale’s nationally recognized radio-television program. Chris Slaby of Edwardsville, who earned a degree in radio-television in December, attended the 2008 camp. He is a newscast producer at WICS, the ABC affiliate in Springfield, and will begin working on a master’s degree in the public affairs reporting program at University of Illinois-Springfield.