{"id":343,"date":"2020-04-17T16:10:28","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T20:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/ccim\/?p=343"},"modified":"2022-12-01T15:37:22","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T20:37:22","slug":"covering-covid-19-at-a-distance-tips-and-resources-for-student-journalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/ccim\/2020\/04\/17\/covering-covid-19-at-a-distance-tips-and-resources-for-student-journalists\/","title":{"rendered":"Covering COVID-19 at a Distance: Tips and Resources for Student Journalists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, thousands of high school students and their advisers were scheduled to travel to Nashville for an annual spring conference that draws attendees from around the country.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a time when scholastic journalists get an opportunity to come together to share work from their schools, and get access to workshops taught by professional journalists and college advisers who are eager to help the next generation of storytellers.<\/p>\n

But the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed how the world lives and works, so organizers at the National Scholastic Press Association \/ Associated Collegiate Press decided to not only make the workshop digital but expand it by creating a series of national town halls, called Pacemaker Master Classes. The Pacemaker Award is the Pulitzer Prize of high school and college journalism, and Pacemaker winners \u2014 including Ball Bearings Magazine and the Ball State Daily News \u2014 are considered to be the best publications in the country.<\/p>\n

The first week of the Master Classes welcomed nearly 400 students from across the country and featured three advisers, including Ball State\u2019s Lisa Renze-Rhodes, the director of the Unified Media Lab and adviser to Ball Bearings Magazine, Byte Magazine, and the Ball State Daily News, which won its most recent Pacemaker in November<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The advisers shared story and source ideas for newspaper, magazine and broadcasting teams that are still working to produce daily or weekly content, but are doing it while quarantined inside their individual homes.<\/p>\n

The goal of the Master Classes, said Laura Widmer, executive director of ACP\/NSPA, is to \u201cfocus on good practices and showcase excellent examples of strong journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Week one of the classes looked at ideas for how to cover COVID-19 at a distance, and included tips and tricks for young journalists.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy go-to tip is to tell storytellers to find a face,\u201d Renze-Rhodes said. \u201cThat\u2019s harder to do when you can\u2019t actually sit down and have an in-person conversation with someone, but it\u2019s certainly not impossible, as journalists like those at the Daily News prove every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot

Screenshot from the first Pacemaker Master Classe featuring Ball State’s Unified Media Lab Director, Lisa Renze-Rhodes.<\/p><\/div>\n

Other reporting tips included:<\/p>\n