Students from the Truman Media Program pose for a photo in the News 12 studios.
BRONX, NY – News 12 the Bronx bills itself as being “As Local as Local News Gets,” and students from the Truman Media Program got their own hyper-local look at News 12’s Soundview studios on November 11th.
During the tour, students met with reporters, anchors, producers, assignment editors, graphic artists, technical directors and even the meteorologist. Students got to see first-hand how story ideas are generated, and how they’re investigated and turned into a story that they see on television each night.
2001 Truman graduate Raymond Raimundi invited the students into the studio while he anchored a 11:30am newscast. Although media students have toured News 12 many times in the past, this was the first time that they actually were able to stand inside the studio and watch the broadcast live.
Students watch carefully as director Moziah Sterling and producer Alexa DePalma run the 11:30a.m. broadcast at News 12 the Bronx.
“I wanted them to see how much of what they’re doing inside the classroom directly correlates with how News 12 produces a show,” said Media Teacher Mr. Dave Roush. “They don’t realize until they get here that the software they’re using, the way the shoot video and even the cameras they’re using are directly linked.” Mr. Roush occasionally works as a reporter, assignment editor and anchor at News 12 when he is not teaching.
“It was really cool,” according to sophomore Hector Tirado. “The control board with all of the colored lights was like watching the director play a giant video game!” he said.
Students listen as Meteorologist Mike Favetta explains how the weather system works at News 12.
“I definitely could see myself doing what Jose does,” said sophomore Moses Perez. He was referring to News 12 videographer Jose Sanchez, who demonstrated the video cameras and live remote “backpacks” that allow newcasters to send a live signal from anywhere that they can pick up a cellular network or WiFi access.
To round out the trip. Meteorologist Mike Favetta gave students a tour of the weather center and showed them how he creates graphics for the day’s newscast. They even got a cameo appearance on Mike’s Facebook page. You can see it by visiting http://www.facebook.com/trumanhs
Sophomore Christina Martinez got to try her hand at anchoring during the trip to News 12 on November 11th.