Posted January 28, 2010
Journalism students boost community news
| The neighborhoods surrounding Temple, often neglected by mainstream newspapers and TV stations until a crime or other sensational event occurs, form the core beat for senior journalism students at the School of Communications and Theater. In the past year, this commitment to the surrounding community has led to new partnerships with several hometown news outlets, which come at a crucial time as local papers struggle to survive. |
 Photo by Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University
Temple journalism students have taken to the streets, producing audio, video, still photos and written stories on issues of interest and concen to local communities througout the Philadelphia region.
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Under the direction of professors Chris Harper and Linn Washington, students are now serving as reporters for www.yourcommunityvoice.net, www.westphillynews.com, www.neastphilly.com, and their own website www.philadelphianeighborhoods.com. They produce multimedia content — audio, video, still photos and written stories — on issues of interest and concern to local communities, including Germantown, Nicetown, Port Richmond, Strawberry Mansion and West Philadelphia. In the past several months, they’ve looked at Brewerytown’s real estate power struggle, water testing in Germantown and practicing the combined art of fighting and dance in West Philly.
“The university provides a real function in the community through these partnerships and local community news is getting a new viability,” said Harper. One such news outlet that has expanded its content and reach with the help of Temple journalism is WestPhillyNews.com. “When Philadelphia Neighborhoods (the Temple journalism news website) came along, I noticed a lot of overlap in what we were trying to do,” said John Myers, founder and editor of NorthernLiberties.org and WestPhillyNews.com. “I reached out to the folks at Temple as a way to bring the stories of Philadelphia Neighborhoods to a wider audience. In turn, the students provide a lot of unique content for our websites.” Such partnerships make good economic sense. For the past several years, news outlets have faced a rapidly changing landscape. Costs are up, advertising dollars are going elsewhere and readers are going online for news, said Washington. “Web-based community news sites allow for fast, affordable distribution and creation of information,” said Myers. As part of their capstone course, senior journalism students work out of the multimedia urban reporting lab based at TUCC and venture out in teams of two and three. They learn the central skill of modern-day journalism, known as convergence, wherein stories are told through all available media. Students also learn the importance of communications within a community. “We concentrate on making things better in the neighborhoods and bringing new things into the schools as well as the local businesses and organizations,” said Crystal Taylor, general manager of Your Community Voice, which covers Northeast Philadelphia neighborhoods including Olney, East and West Oak Lane, Fox Chase, Castor Gardens, Lawncrest and Logan. “We give a voice to the voiceless — there are so many segments of the community that don’t get their stories told,” said Harper. And as Myers aptly puts it, “When neighbors share information with each other it strengthens the community.” What’s next for the community partnerships? Both the professors and the news editors are talking about the power of mobile phones. Not every home has a computer, but nearly everyone has a cell phone and this is increasingly how people are getting their news today. “We want to grow with Temple and make it part of our family,” said Taylor. “We want to work together on new projects that will assist in helping the communities our newspaper covers.” |
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