NESCom Students Learn at The Bangor Daily News
On November 3, 2009, seven journalism and radio broadcast students from The New England School of Communications went with advisor Anne O’Reilly to The Bangor Daily news to cover the election and produce coverage for 89.3FM WHSN.
“What went on tonight is the same as when I worked at Mutual Radio Network,” O’Reilly says.
Broadcasting live from the Bangor Daily News on election night.
The journalism students would get new information from the BDN’s staff around the office, as well as the webpage and Twitter webpage, and then use that information to send back to NESCom for students there to broadcast on WHSN. As part of the on-air news updates, students at the BDN would prepare scripts and report updates live.
Webmaster Jeff Tuttle said that this was the first year the BDN had students. This year every news outlet in Maine received their election results from the BDN.
“It is a good year to be here. We usually pair with public television during presidential elections.”
Rick Levasseur, Night News Editor, spent the most time with the NESCom students. He offered his advice for future journalists.
“The big thing is listening to the people that you interview. You can come in with a preconceived idea, but you have to be flexible. The interview could lead to another angle. You have to be persistent, pay attention and hang on to your dreams.”
Eric Russell, BDN reporter, was working on questions 2 and 4 throughout the night.
“Be versed in all forms of media and learn more about the web and audio,” Russell advised.
Along with election coverage, Leigh-Anne Hurley, junior at NESCom, was able to interview Executive Editor Mark Woodward, who announced his retirement from the BDN after 39 years. This was Woodward’s final election and Hurley asked him to recall previous election memories.
Woodward recalls the Gore/Bush election when the other news outlets were already announcing Gore as the winner.
“We were all here until 3 a.m., but it was too close to call. We are in the business of reporting the news, not forecasting the outcome,” Woodward says on the decision the BDN made to postpone the announcement of the winner.
Along with Hurley the journalism and radio broadcast students participating in election night included Paul Wolfe, junior at NESCom , who provided the radio equipment and made sure the audio was sent to WHSN, Christian Wagner, sophomore at NESCom,who provided updates on the BDN Twitter page and candidate races, Wes Hart, sophomore at NESCom, who reported how the BDN covered the election, Tim Simpson, freshman at NESCom, who reported on how the internet helped with the coverage of the election, Robert Nesbitt, junior at NESCom, who reported the on the referendum questions and Nikky Raney, freshman at NESCom. Also involved in the WHSN election night coverage were NESCom students Sean Stackhouse, Tim Ferris, Rick Fitzgerald, Monique Pelletier, Mary Jane Ferris, Selina Rivera, Mark Dumont, Brendon Finnemore, Tony Zore and digital photography student, Paul Floyd.
“It was fun for one night, but not every day,” Simpson said as the night was ending.
The all around reaction from the students was accomplishment and enjoyment.
“It was great to be here, and I definitely could not have gotten the same experience if I didn’t participate. I enjoyed seeing how the newsroom worked and how much time actually goes into it,” Hart says.
Promotion on WHSN helped the BDN’s Twitter page gain new followers as the updates were announced over the radio and listeners wanted to get news right away.
The night that the NESCom students spent at the BDN is one that will shape the opinions and future goals of the students who attended.
article by Nikky Raney
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