The team behind Hunter News Now, a live newscast on issues and events for the Hunter College audience, wrapped the first show of its third season on March 6.
Prof. Sissel McCarthy, whose Studio News Production students create the program, said the class did a great job communicating and organizing, which are real-world attributes highly valued in the media industry.
McCarthy also pointed out that her students are gaining advantageous experiences through the class, adding “This is not a lecture class at all, it’s a workshop. They’re doing what they’re going to do when they get out in the professional world.”
‘Television is a team sport.
You cannot do it on your own.’
– Prof. Sissel McCarthy
For a more seamless production, the class teams up with Peter Jackson, chief digital media CLT and production coordinator, and his highly-skilled student interns.
Explained Jackson: “The interesting sort of twist is that it’s Professor McCarthy’s class, but it’s my interns that run the studio. The collaboration between the two is key.”
It was also a team effort to prepare for the show. The class met up a week prior to the shoot and discussed story ideas to determine which would be included in their 20-minute telecast.
Because of the small window between conceiving and then producing the show, Co-producer Alexandra Ali said, “You just have to be persistent. … A lot of things are out of our hands.”
Case in point was finding on-air sources for the March 6 show. “It took us a while to find our guest,” she added. “We tried to get in contact with a lot of people.”
Student Co-producer Annie Murphy agreed it was crucial to be proactive, given that students only had a week to plan for the show.
“It was more of having a trillion questions and answering a trillion questions,” she added. “It’s a lot of thinking on your feet and having back-ups. You just have to prepare for everything.”
The show featured a variety of elements, including hard news, a guest-speaker, arts and sports, and lighter stories within Hunter College. To watch the March 6 show, check back soon on the Hunter College Journalism YouTube channel.