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| Friday, January 21, 2000 CONTACT: David Hazinski, 706/542-4976, hazinski@uga.edu UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA BROADCAST NEWS STUDENTS START LIVE, DAILY NEWSCAST ATHENS, Ga. -- Approximately 30 broadcast news majors and two dozen telecommunications students from the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia will begin broadcasting a live newscast on Athens area cable. Starting Monday, Jan. 24 the UGA students will produce a 30-minute newscast which will air live weekdays at 5:30 p.m. and replayed at 11 p.m. Newsource 15 will be broadcast each day, Monday - Friday, throughout the spring academic semester. The newscasts will include local news gathered by teams of students, local weather, sports and national and international news downlinked from closed-circuit CNN and CBS satellites. "These aren't pretend newscasts." David Hazinski, head of the broadcast news program said. "Students cover automobile accidents, city council meetings and protests the same as their professional counterparts." While the news program is primarily a teaching vehicle, it also serves as Athens' only locally produced television newscast. In addition to covering news the Newsource 15 students will also produce a community-oriented program called "Beyond the Arch." Reporters will profile those emergency physicians, magistrates, school counselors and others who are involved in the local community. "Every aspect of the shows is produced by students. They own the on-air product," Hazinski added. "There are two supervising faculty, but all we do is guide a bit and critique. They learn by doing." Hazinski does have a lot of help, though. Through what's called a "professional shadow" program, professional broadcasters from Atlanta regularly work with students in the UGA broadcast newsroom. "We have upwards of two dozen professionals who come out and spend the day working with students during the semester, many of them from CNN," Hazinski said. "We find a lot of the top folks volunteer to help train the next generation of broadcast journalists." CNN Headline News president Bob Furnad co-teaches with Hazinski and UGA broadcast news instructor Martha Cameron. Cameron is starting a Newsource 15 Webcast that will be part of the training this year. "We're finding that our students get jobs at television stations, but have the same skills that make them attractive to online information companies," she said. "We're expanding that part of their education." The Grady College broadcast news program is heavily supported by organizations like CNN, Cox Broadcasting, WAGA-TV, WXIA-TV, GPTV and BellSouth Mobility. Students work in an experimental newsroom using the latest technology. The program has its own satellite truck, is licensed for both CNN and CBS News material, and uses digital editing and video equipment still rare in many professional newsrooms. Alison Alexander, head of the department of telecommunications, said, "We no longer train students for only the lowest level of broadcast news. We have tremendously intelligent students who have to know a great deal about technology as well as the implications of what they are reporting on to succeed. This program combines both in a hands-on way." Tom Russell, dean of the Grady College, said the broadcast news program is an example of how professional journalism and communications companies support education. "The vast majority of the money for the newsroom came from broadcaster donations matched by lottery dollars" he said. "We're fortunate to have such strong support, not only in broadcast news, but in all other segments of the industry as well." Newscource 15 airs on channel 15 on the Intermedia cable system.
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