SU student journalists keep reporting
SHIPPENSBURG - Student journalists at Shippensburg University managed to keep both SUTV and the SU newspaper, The Slate, running this week without the presence of their faculty advisers by partnering with each other.
By the time the strike ended late Friday afternoon, the students said they had gained valuable experience they might not have had without the strike.
The young broadcast journalists-in-training usually send their scripts to their adviser, Dr. Kim Garris, to edit and critique. The Slate print journalists depend heavily on their faculty adviser, Dr. Michael Drager, for advice and help in not only putting out the weekly print edition but doing daily updates to the Slate website and social media pages.
But with SU faculty on strike, both staffs had to come up with an action plan.
Both the SUTV and Slate staffs participated in brainstorming sessions the day before their faculty advisers - who belong to the local chapter of the Association of Pennsylvania College and University Faculty union - went on strike early Wednesday morning.
They knew one thing: they wanted to cover what what SUTV's news director Darby Sells calls the station's "story of the year."
The solution was to partner not just in sharing and developing ideas, but also in sharing those all-important proofreading chores and critiquing each other's work.
"I think what we have been able to accomplish (without advisers) showcases our skills as media journalists," Sells said. "It shows what we have learned, and how well our professors have taught us."
Watch: SUTV reports on faculty strike
Mary Grace Keller, the Slate's editor in chief, agrees, saying Drager "taught us very well."
"We see ourselves as young professional journalists," she said of her staff.
As a result, Keller and Slate news editor Troy Okum were up well before dawn Wednesday and waiting on Prince Street at the entrance to SU's Old Main for Wednesday's strike to begin.
They went out to the strike site at 4:30 a.m., even though the strike order wouldn't come down from APSCUF President Ken Mash until 4:59 a.m.that day.
As soon as the strike began, the student journalists were videotaping interviews and writing stories to post on social media and the Slate website, www.theslateonline.com. Since that time the two editors and their staff have been covering the strike around the clock.
SU student journalists cover faculty contract dispute
Keller and Sells agree that the breaking news situation in which they had to cover the strike without the help of their advisers has been "a huge learning experience."
"We missed our adviser, but I think we did okay without him," Keller said.
Because The Slate goes to press once a week, publishing every Tuesday, the print journalists depended heavily on social media and the website to get the word out to not only SU students but the world around them about the strike.
At SUTV, where broadcasts are normally done once a week also, the station's student journalists decided to break out of the once-a-week mold the first day of the strike with a special broadcast that evening.
Sells is proud of the fact that they were also able to do it themselves. The only help they had was from SU Director of Broadcasting Mike Gardner, who called Comcast Wednesday to make sure the airways were free for a 8 p.m. SUTV special report to viewers.
Both Keller and Sells say that while the need for a strike by their professors is unfortunate, the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a breaking news situation has been a learning experience they would not have had otherwise.
"This hands on experience is much better than any class," Sells said. "We have had to take on the role of reporter, editor, producer -- everything... No class can teach you to excel like that."
Follow SUTV's broadcasts on Comcast Channel 82, on campus on SU's Channel 28, or at the station's website, sutvnews.com, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SUTVNews/.
Follow The Slate at www.theslateonline.com/, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSlate/.
The two news outlets also have Twitter and Instagram accounts and post there regularly.
Vicky Taylor/ 717-262-4754