Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2008 > May > 07 > Entry
ABC News opening ‘digital bureau’ at UT
University of Texas journalism students could wind up on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “World News” and “Nightline” in the fall when ABC News opens a “digital bureau” here as part of an new initiative called ABC News on Campus.
Only five universities around the country have been invited to participate. Besides UT-Austin, the program includes Arizona State University, Syracuse University, the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The UT bureau will open in September under the supervision of broadcast journalism lecturer Kate Dawson, a 14-year TV news veteran who spent her career at Fox News Channel, WCBS in New York and ABC News Radio. She joined the UT faculty in 2006.
“ABC was really impressed with UT’s credentials and considered this a great journalism school,” Dawson said.
The ABC News-campus partnership will create a multimedia bureau at UT that will include new video and computer equipment, paid internships for student staffers and a paid position for Dawson as the faculty adviser. The first student bureau chief is Sara Loeffelholz, a senior from Aledo. The other bureau staff members have not yet been chosen.
“These college bureaus will extend the newsgathering reach of ABC News throughout the country,” said ABC News president David Westin in a statement. “In addition, they will enable us to nurture bright young journalism students, giving them hands-on training from some of the most seasoned news professionals in the business and the opportunity to see their work appear on ABC News platforms.”
No doubt ABC also sees the campus initiative as a way to lure some of the country’s 33 million 18- to 25-year-old viewers into watching TV news. Younger viewers have abandoned nightly newscasts since the arrival of online and cable news.
The UT bureau will receive training and on-site mentoring for the student bureau chief and faculty liaison at ABC News headquarters in New York twice a year.
Every day, year-round, students will pitch stories to the ABC news producers. If one is accepted, the bureau will engage its multimedia operation. A print journalism student might write the script, a broadcast journalism student might do the standup and several students would be in charge of shooting and editing, with online additions available, too.
“This is an amazing opportunity,” Dawson said. “We’ll learn from each other and have access to resources at the other college campuses… . ABC News is interested in a variety of issues, from campus security to features on college trends. They want the college student’s points of view, which is something you don’t see very often on network news.”
In the fall, the UT group also will help out with ABC affiliate KVUE’s general election coverage.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Local news
Comments
Click here to report comment abuse.