Loyola University New Orleans’ School of Mass Communication is embarking on a new partnership with Gray Television to create a “Producer Incubator Lab.”
The new on-campus student laboratory will bring producers from Gray Television stations around the nation to Loyola to help coach and educate aspiring producers, as well as give lectures on all aspects of production in the television broadcast industry.
“We’re living in a fast-moving digital age where the newsroom is changing rapidly and where journalists are facing increased demands to juggle responsibilities and produce important stories that serve their communities,” said Mike Smith, director of talent recruitment and retention for Gray Television. “Producers are the heart of a television station, and we recognize that some of the most crucial parts of their development start in the classroom. We’re excited to be training tomorrow’s newsroom leaders.”
|For 10 consecutive weeks during the Spring 2019 semester, Gray Television will send one
visiting professional per week to spend two days in classrooms and lab settings working with SMC journalism students. The 10 professionals will be producers drawn from 10 different markets around the country. They will address all aspects of the production of a newscast, from story generation to vetting sources and streaming news.
The production incubator program will be integrated into the Senior Capstone experience, a
mandatory semester class in which senior journalism students draw on the skills gleaned
throughout their college experience to produce a professional weekly live broadcast. In the
Digital Communications Lab at Loyola, journalism students work on HD cameras to record live and taped interviews and shepherd them to post-production in a state-of-the-art television production studio and installation room.
In the Digital Communications Lab, Loyola now has added capability of multi-channels of
Skype-enabled live shots with a professional, broadcast quality. Students will use the new
equipment to train for broadcasting live shots and interviews.
Sonya Duhé, professor and director of the School of Mass Communication, noted, “Through this partnership, we will continue to expand journalism students’ view of what is possible and what is critical in the newsrooms of tomorrow so that they enter the workforce personally and professionally prepared to succeed.”
Smith added, “Our employees are very excited to introduce the latest tools and technologies in broadcasting and provide hands-on learning to the future leaders of the newsroom. We at Gray believe this will also be a rewarding experience for our employees as they get to interact on a very organic level with students studying new media and have a meaningful impact on the careers of aspiring producers. Gray TV is committed to developing the next generation of journalists.”
Atlanta-based Gray Television owns TV stations in 57 markets and is seeking regulatory approval for a merger with Raycom Media.
