PBS Utah, in partnership with Amplify Utah, is proud to announce a historical cross-campus collaborative bringing together student-led newsrooms from four public Utah universities and colleges. Student journalists participating in this first-ever Utah College Media Collaborative will produce multimedia content looking broadly and in-depth at stories around guns at school -- timely as ever with the Marshall Project this month reporting that mass shootings, including on college campuses, are happening more often.
Students from the University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University and Salt Lake Community College were selected from a pool of applicants based on their skillset, experience and dedication to the mission of the collaborative, which is to embark on this training and work together to produce in-depth and unbiased reporting, representing multiple perspectives.
Each team will produce packages with a core area of focus. Journalists from University of Utah’s U Student Media and The Utah Daily Chronicle team will produce video, USU’s The Statesman will do audio pieces, Weber State's The Signpost will create social/digital and contribute Spanish translation, and SLCC’s The Globe will write an in-depth feature series. Students will also participate in a training administered by representatives from PBS Utah and Amplify Utah that will provide resources and tools for producing content from conceptualization to completion.
“We’ve seen the impact of quality journalistic collaboration in Utah over the past two years with the award-winning Great Salt Lake Collaborative,” said Marcie Young Cancio, executive director of Amplify Utah and assistant professor of journalism at the University of Utah. “As a founding member of that collaboration, Amplify Utah has seen the value in bringing newsrooms together to cover important stories. Offering similar opportunities to student journalists is crucial in fostering this type of work in the future.”
PBS Utah was awarded a grant from POV, television’s longest-running showcase for independent nonfiction films. Since 1988, POV has been awarded and known for its unforgettable storytelling and timeliness, putting a human face on contemporary social issues. The grant will support the work of this collaborative along with other engagement activities surrounding the film, While We Watched, co-presented by the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). The film follows Indian journalist and media personality Ravish Kumar for two years as he faces misinformation and ratings-driven editorial decisions.
Laura Durham, PBS Utah’s director of Programming and Community Engagement, said the organization is thrilled to join forces with Amplify Utah to encourage the next generation of journalists. “PBS is known for being America’s No. 1 trusted news source for 20 years in a row now,” Durham said, “and PBS Utah is dedicated to extending that trust to our Utah viewers and communities. Fact-based and unbiased reporting is crucial as communities battle a barrage of fake news, sensationalism, and opinion pieces disguised as journalism.”
Journalists participating in the inaugural student media collaborative include: Jamie Faux, Madeline van Wagenen and Prabhjot “P.R.” Bhatia from the University of Utah; Caitlin Keith, Leah Call and Maren Archibald from Utah State University; Marianna Lopez Luritta, Brisa Odenthal and Megan Swann from Weber State University; and Sean Stetson, Kyle Forbush and Teresa Chaikowsky from Salt Lake Community College.
About Us
PBS Utah airs PBS programming plus award-winning, locally-produced documentaries and series. Recognized as one of the leading public television stations in the country, PBS Utah is committed to serving and engaging with Utah communities through its diverse productions and its educational and outreach programs. PBS Utah is always evolving to provide Utahns with relevant programming and services while maintaining its core values of integrity, fairness, independence, education and innovation. PBS Utah also provides three other broadcast channels: WORLD, PBS KIDS 24/7 and Create. PBS Utah broadcasts from The University of Utah.
Amplify Utah supports and facilitates student journalistic storytelling to celebrate diverse points of view. By partnering with local journalism programs and traditional media, we cultivate an environment that encourages stories to be shared widely and made easily accessible for our communities to read, hear, watch and engage.
Contacts
Laura Durham, PBS Utah, ldurham@pbsutah.org
Marcie Young Cancio, Amplify Utah, marcie@amplifyutah.org
